An Echo in the Bone

This book was purchased as a continuation of the series.

I loved it, as as I have loved the previous 6 before this one! As always, the characters are well formed, perfectly filled out, the storyline is complex, concise and consumes my every waking thought until I finish it, again! I’ve be read and reread Books 1-7 over 30 x’s each and I still find things I’ve either forgotten or didn’t catch before!! I’ve not read Books 8-9 as many times as the others only because they haven’t been around long enough, but I’m working on it!! I read Outlander straight through after getting home from Barnes & Noble Booksellers in 1991where I bought it in the hardback in it’t first printing!! I’ve done the same thing with each successive one the same!! I’m now nearly 76 years old and having been taught to read at age 5 years old by my book loving and avid reader mother, I have become just like her!! Diana Gabaldon is my most favorite author with Sarah Woodbury being my second! These 2 authors, have written books, though very different in subject matter and style, have kept me up at night, keep my attention from the 1st page to the the last, chilling me to the bone in suspense , warming my heart and tingling my toes with the love and passion and informing me with each book!! One teaches Scottish history and the other Wales history! All their books are fiction, of course, but have so much history, people, places and things that each book is just simply the best!!

**SPOILER ALERTS ABOUND!**My overall observation of AN ECHO IN THE BONE, the 7th installment of Diana Gabaldon's outstanding Outlander series: There is a virtual whirlwind of sub-plots hitting the reader as the 1200-page volume comes to its conclusion. . .several of them not fully vetted. Example: Claire, as she walks the streets of Philadelphia and views the scores of young men being interrogated by British sentries, muses to herself how easy it would be for she, a middle-aged woman, to move revolutionary materials without suspicion; only a handful of pages later, a peer of Lord John Grey advises that Claire is about to be arrested for sedition for handing out forbidden pamphlets. There is absolutely no vetting in the interim.No doubt all of these story lines will get resolved in the next installment, yet the frustration did not take away from this reviewer's overall enjoyment of the novel. In breaking down this monumental story, I find it falls more or less into four character groups:A. CLAIRE AND JAMIE. The book begins as Claire and Jamie leave the charred remnants of the "Big House" on Fraser's Ridge to return to Scotland, where Jamie intends to retrieve his printing press in Edinburgh and bring it back to the Colonies for the Revolutionary War effort. Their voyage, however, is interrupted by British treachery and intrigue, thrusting them directly into the Revolution in upstate New York, where they face Ticonderoga and Saratoga. They do, along with Young Ian, return to Scotland, with a bittersweet reunion at Lallybroch; there is still a deep bitterness Jenny holds for Claire, to the latter's constant frustration. Towards the end of their stay, Claire is called away via a letter from Marsali; young Henri-Christian has such difficulty breathing that he must be watched as he sleeps every night--Marsali begs her stepmother to please come to Philadelphia to remove the boy's tonsils. Claire and Jamie are separated, and Jamie's return trip to the Colonies spawns an eye-opening sequence of misunderstandings.B. YOUNG IAN AND WILLIAM. It's only fitting that a major portion of this book focuses on the next generation: Ian Murray, still reeling from his tragic Mohawk past, and William Grey, the ninth Duke of Ellesmere and Jamie's illegitimate son (although Willie does not know this. . .yet). Ian comes to Willie's aid in Virginia, when Willie is gravely injured working in British intelligence. While Ian knows fully well who Willie's father is, he keeps the knowledge to himself, while both young men compete for the affections of Rachel Hunter, a young Quaker woman assisting her surgeon brother Denzel. The reader is immersed in Willie's wartime adventures; the young lieutenant experiences battle in New York City, and he's literally on the other side of Jamie and Claire at Saratoga. His "revelation" at the end of the book is mesmerizing page turning; as Jenny glibly quips: "Like father, like son."C. LORD JOHN GREY. From London to the Carolinas to Philadelphia, Lord John moves in and out of the story as he communicates with his adopted son Willie, aids and assists his nephew Henry, who is gravely injured in battle, and looks after his niece Dorothea, whom he's brought with him to the Colonies from London. Lord John also has a counterpart working in French intelligence whom he encounters after many years; this personage is looking for, of all people, Fergus Fraser; the official suggests that Fergus just might have a wealthy benefactor. (Comte. St. Germain, anyone?) And, as the story rushes toward its breathless ending, Lord John does the only honorable thing he can when he learns Claire is going to be arrested for sedition: He marries her.D. BRIANNA AND ROGER. 1980. The charm of Outlander is time travel, with groups of major characters living simultaneously in different times. Here, Bree and Roger, along with children Jem and Mandy (who has had surgery to correct her heart murmur) renovate and restore Lallybroch in 1980. Roger pursues his career in ministry, while Bree, an engineer, gets a job supervising work at a hydroelectric dam. Bree faces the "good old boy" structure of a male-dominated profession, and she does so with limitless resolve. (After all, she's Jamie Fraser's daughter). Yet throughout this story thread, Jem and Mandy continue to complain about a "boogey man" living in the kirk behind the house--a stranger who eludes Roger's search for him. Ultimately the two find each other, leading to a discomforting discovery: the "stranger" is Roger's seven-times great-grandfather William Buccleigh MacKenzie, who has accidently fallen through the stones to land in modern times. While preparing to send Buccleigh back through the stones at Craig Na Dun, Jem disappears. Has he been abducted, and if so, has the captor taken the boy back through the stones? All these question marks remain unresolved as AN ECHO IN THE BONE concludes.Obviously, with this installment, there is a lot to c...

This was perhaps one of the most entertaining books in the series I've read. It felt like several books within one. All the different storylines coming together enter changing like a soap opera lol I never write reviews but I felt like it with this book. I was literally sad when I finished it but felt even more excited to start the next one. I started reading this series last December when I first tuned in to watch the Starz version season 4. I had no idea what this Outlander thing was all about... So I decided to buy the first book and start from the beginning. I'm a fan of historical fiction books but I kinda surprised myself that I didn't just go back and watch the past seasons to catch from sheer laziness...I finally did...but only after I finished the first three books. I'm one of those I like the books better than the movie people so I didn't want to alter my imagination with watching the series before reading the books. But I have to admit although both are somewhat different (books being more light hearted with that comedic element characteristic style of writing Diana possesses and not so dreary or somewhat slow or boring the tv series in my opinion can be ...at times) both have great value and I feel the writers of the series did an excellent job with such full volume content each book holds bringing to screen this amazing story by Ms. Gabaldon.I've read every book in order including all the filler stories/books about Lord John and younger Jamie. All great.I can't wait to pair up my imagination with season 5. One thing about the tv series is the cast. All beautiful and talented and seemingly nice and genuine of character. Great casting. The first season was excellent watching ... but I still enjoyed reading the book. Also, I may be the only one out there thinking this but I somewhat feel that most of these cable network shows are somewhat pornagraphic in nature and tend to cheapen or detract from the great storyline . Reading about such things is better in my opinion because the writing skill of the author is such that it doesn't feel so graphic? I don't know... I think these networks feel that they must include such gratuitous sex scenes to keep everybody's attention or for ratings or something but come on... we're not that depraved are we? Lol just saying... These books are amazingly historically correct great story line tactfully written with a tastefully described love affair between two souls from different times. I have had the best year taking time out of a somewhat busy schedule to commit to reading all of these books and just wanted to share that with you.

4.5 starsThe Outlander series has consumed my life because I’ve done nothing else but read about Jamie and Claire and their blessed family! I don’t know what I will do with myself once I’m done with all the books! *gasp*“You’re the world I have,” she murmured, and then her breathing changed, and she took him down with her into safety. “An Echo in the Bone was absolutely fabulous and I would say it’s perfect except I thought the ending was a bit rushed, the part I’m referring has to do with Claire. When I was done reading I immediately gave it 5 star rating. After considerable thought, I settled on 4.5 because had the story slowed down a teensy-weensy bit, specifically with Claire, it would have been utter perfection.“But even things that heal leave scars.”Did the ending take away from my overall enjoyment of the book? Nope. I loved this book. Like a lot. It was EPIC! ♥“Here and there, a form stirred feebly, victim of war’s sorcery, struggling against the enchantment of death.”I know I say it every time but Diana Gabaldon can write like nobody else’s business. It wasn’t until I read this series that I really learned about lice, how they can fester in your hair and not just on your head but *cough* in your nether regions as well. *shudders* She described medical and surgical procedures that made me feel like I’m the assisting nurse in the room because that’s how good DG is!“Come to bed, a nighean. Nothing hurts when ye love me.”So much happens in this book, too much for my fragile heart to handle and there’s a particular scene that I found to be quite shocking. This shocking moment left me angry and feeling incredibly betrayed but I understood why it happened as well. I did text my friend and expressed my outrage with a few expletives to drive the point home.“It was possible to leave things behind—places, people, memories—at least for a time. But places held tight to the things that had happened in them, and to come again to a place you had once lived was to be brought face-to-face with what you had done there and who you had been.”There are rumors that Written In My Own Heart’s Blood (Outlander #8) is even better than what I just read! I don’t know how that’s possible but I can’t wait to start it!