Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon (8 out of 10)

The Fiery Cross is the fifth installment in the Outlander series, which is a story to live in. The original premise has a post WWII nurse time-travel to 17th Century Scottland where she meets the man of her dreams. Adventure and romance are combined with themes about how to save lives when you have information that is out of time.

The author does such a fantastic job of creating a detailed world and characters that this is the book to read when your life is extremely miserable or boring. I especially enjoyed doing this one in an audio-book format. The narrator, Davina Porter’s crisp English accent really enhanced the tale. If you haven’t read any of this series, start with Outlander.

Fiery Cross picks up with the Frazier clan in Virginia and foreshadows the coming of the revolutionary war. With her 20^th century knowledge Claire tries to figure out how to keep her family safe. Other realities of the time are nicely illustrated and the story of Roger and Brianna is further developed. The only complaint I have about this story is that Gabaldon’s characters seem to have unusually high libidos.

Originality -8

Characters-9

Themes- 7