“These were people like that. The ones who cared so terribly much – enough to risk everything, enough to change and do things. Most people aren’t like that, you know. It isn’t that they don’t care, but that they don’t care so greatly.”
—————————-
This was absolutely an improvement on book 2, but still didn’t measure up to book 1 for me. I felt quite bored at the Claire/Frank introductory chapters, but really appreciated how Gabaldon switch to Jamie‘s POV when recounting his history. That definitely got me through that whole section of the book. I noted that it felt like Gabaldon was determined to make every sexual act Jamie had that wasn’t with Claire some kind of rape or coerced act, and wondered why subject him to such continual trauma/heartache? 

Claire’s response to Laoghaire showing up and her deep, and frankly immature, self-pity felt so confusing to me. Why would Gabaldon write her female main character is so unlikable? Unless the author also doesn’t see what’s wrong with this behavior?

I liked how John Grey returned and his existence served almost as a foil for the dynamic with John Randall. Ned Gowan is still one of my favorite characters in the entire series. I felt like the coincidence of meeting the same naturalist Jamie knew was so far-fetched, as were many of the coincidences in this book.

I was uncomfortable with the slave owning storyline, and maybe that was because I didn’t fully trust where Gabaldon was going with it. The return of a book 1 character was intriguing, as was the theory about gemstones for the passage stones.

I really feel like Jamie, Fergus, and Lord John Grey were the saving graces of this book for me. Will continue the series but hoping for more from it.