Drums of Autumn (Diana Gabaldon)

Genre: Historical fiction (with a touch of fantasy)
Year Published: 1996

I have to say, unfortunately, that I enjoyed this installment in the Outlander series much less than its predecessors. It's similar to the first three books in most ways: same unbelievable length, same complex, adventure-heavy plot, same interesting, well-drawn characters.

Where Drums of Autumn stumbles, in my opinion, is on the plot that centers around Brianna Randall (whose provenance I won't explain here, in case others want to read the books but haven't gotten around to the first one yet). Other commentators have remarked that for a smart girl, she makes some dumb choices; I flatly refuse to entertain the argument that she should be blamed for the misfortunes that befall her.

I really hate, though, the particular plot arc that Gabaldon foists on Brianna. (Again, I won't be too specific for fear of spoilers.) I've seen it done in other books, but for a girl of her era, it just struck me as ridiculous. I don't like the whole "damsel in distress, waiting on her ass" gig. In fact, I hate it. Also, the probability . . . well. I won't go into details. I just didn't like her plot, and it dominated the latter half of the book, so the whole last 400 pages or so were pretty much unpleasant.

The thing about these books, though, is that you're too invested in the characters to quit. I have the next one, The Fiery Cross, out of the library, and I'll be beginning it shortly. I hope it's better than this one.