Diana Gabaldon

In 1772, Jamie Fraser is asked by the governor to help protect the colonies for King and Crown, but thanks to his time-traveling, twentieth-century wife, Claire, Jamie is aware of the ultimate result of the American Revolution.

A Breath of Snow and Ashes

Eagerly anticipated by her legions of fans, this sixth novel in Diana Gabaldon’s bestselling Outlander saga is a masterpiece of historical fiction from one of the most popular authors of our time. Since the initial publication of Outlander fifteen years ago, Diana Gabaldon’s New York Times bestselling saga has won the hearts of readers the world over — and sold more than twelve million books. Now, A Breath of Snow and Ashes continues the extraordinary story of 18th-century Scotsman Jamie Fraser and his 20th-century wife, Claire. The year is 1772, and on the eve of the American Revolution, the long fuse of rebellion has already been lit. Men lie dead in the streets of Boston, and in the backwoods of North Carolina, isolated cabins burn in the forest. With chaos brewing, the governor calls upon Jamie Fraser to unite the backcountry and safeguard the colony for King and Crown. But from his wife Jamie knows that three years hence the shot heard round the world will be fired, and the result will be independence — with those loyal to the King either dead or in exile. And there is also the matter of a tiny clipping from The Wilmington Gazette, dated 1776, which reports Jamie’s death, along with his kin. For once, he hopes, his time-traveling family may be wrong about the future.

Samantha Jackson

"Has anyone ever told ye what a comical fellow ye are, uncle Jamie?"

Bria

It's really the same things over and over again but I've way too much time to stop at this point.

Andy Sporring

Tracie McMurray

I wish I had read this book before I watched season 5. They borrowed heavily from it!

Jaclyn

Amazing, AMAZING, story!!!! After the tough time in fiery cross, I was so ready for things to pick back up and omg they DID!! This one was everything I wanted it to be, it was action packed, the DRAMA!!!! THE FAMILY MOMENTS! THE TEARS!! I’m such an emotional mess finishing this one but wow this is one of my favorites, SO SO GOOD!!!

Robin M Cabana

I really enjoyed parts of this book, but it was way too long! There were way too many subplots and Diana Gabaldon could have left some of them out. The action is good - when you get to it. And poor Claire - she really has to go through a lot in this book. I hope life is a little easier for her in the next one!

Allison Francis

I finally finished it after a year of reading it!

Kaitee Tredway

Kristina Masone

Brandy Allen

Elena Enns

As always the writing is amazing, though I am starting to feel as though there isn’t much plot in these novels as there were in the first three. Overall, still a good read.

Lori Keenom

I love the relationship between Jamie and Claire. But, it took me awhile to finish this one. 

Would recommend it if you have read the other books in the series. I will finish the series, but I am going to take a break from it.

b.andherbooks

I tried holding off as long as I could before reading this one, because I'm so scared to run out of story. However, returning to Fraser's Ridge and all my favorite people was just so damn enjoyable (even though the library copy I was reading vexed me the entire time due to the broken binding).

Basically, revolution is brewing in the colonies, and the Frasers, Mackenzies, and other denizens of Fraser's Ridge need to figure out when and how they will declare for the revolutionaries. Various horrible and dangerous things happen, and LOTS of medical procedures are performed. Claire finally distills some ether, which will play a huge role later in the book, and Brianna creates little gadgets and tries to get running water to her and Roger's homestead. We get more info on Ian and why he left the Mohawk, and Fergus and Marasali have another baby (and oh baby what a baby). There's kidnappings, more time travel talk, and one big huge snake living in their midst that turn Jamie and Claire's life upside down. And holy crap, that ending!

My one quibble as usual with Gabaldon's writing style is that it takes 500 pages for her to 'set the scene' and then holy shit let the crazy times roll. And the ending felt very rushed to me. Basically from the Bonnet stuff-the resolution, I couldn't believe all of THAT took up so little page count. 

And of course, with that flippin' ending, I want to read the 7th book so very badly...but I'll wait :)

Spoilers ahead of the jump.

(view spoiler)[-Jamie and Claire, despite being "old" (mid-fifties) are still super hot, super sexy, and so happy being together. I love their relationship and their firm strength in the others regard. Even with naked native lassies keeping you warm or flippin' Malva Christie.
-Ian. So glad Ian is back. I felt sorry for his situation, but was a little surprised to hear his wife is still alive. I wonder if she will ever return to the narrative. I hope we find a different lady for him, and soon.
-speaking of Ian, that scene where he catapults Fergus into the air so Fergus can use his hook to tear open a feather mattress made me spit my drink out of my mouth. Awesome.
-Rollo is the best dog ever.
-Brianna is still my least favorite character. She just slightly bothers me for some reason. She just always seems a bit awkward and not happy. Although, when she shot Bonnet in the head (FINALLY) that was pretty amazing.
-Lizzie and her damn Beardsley twins. Who knew. I can't get over how well that seems to be working for her, even if her father won't talk to her. So much crazy sex stuff going on in Fraser's Ridge.
-That Malva Christie story ARC kept me reading all hours of the night. I hated her so much for accusing Jamie and betraying Claire, but then when you found out WHY, gross.
-Ether blew up the house! Poor Jamie and Claire have nothing.
-That ending. They are going BACK to Scotland. They aren't dead. The newspaper was WRONG! Thank god. I did cry when Brianna and Roger took the babies back to the future. So sad.
And I just deleted half of what I typed so I'll come back to this later.

 (hide spoiler)]

Geneviève Rouleau

Manon van Heumen

As always, I enjoyed it immensely, but at times this was so slow. The book could have easily been 300 pages shorter to tell everything.

In 1772, on the eve of the American Revolution, Jamie Fraser is asked by the governor to help protect the colonies for King and Crown, but, thanks to his time-traveling twentieth-century wife, Claire, Jamie is aware of the ultimate result of the rebellion, a situation complicated by his discovery of an obituary, dated four years hence, that reports on his own death. 400,000 first printing.

A Breath of Snow and Ashes

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