An Echo in the Bone

Title: An Echo in the Bone
Author: Diana Gabaldon
Series: Outlander, book 7
Genre: Historical fiction
Published: 2009

Recommendation: A worthy successor to the series for those who enjoyed the books so far.
Rating: 8/10

Summary: American Revolution has started. Jaime and Claire head to Scotland to pick up Jaime's printing press, but their trip there is more dangerous than they expect. Roger and Brianna are back in the 1900s trying to re-establish their lives. The book also follows William, fighting on the British side of the revolution.

Reactions: I bought this book shortly after it came out. Diana Gabaldon was on a post-release tour and came to my town, telling stories about her characters and reading an excerpt from the book. It was a good author event, though I felt conspicuously 30 years younger than the average fan in the room. When I finally decided to tackle the 800-page hard-cover, I found that my tome says "2 Maria" and that was a nice touch.

I was also somewhat prepared to lower my expectations for this book. The previous novel tied off a lot of loose ends and I saw a number of reviews complaining that not enough of the story was focused on Jamie and Claire. To my relief, I found the book format worked very well for my tastes. The story indeed switched between 3 narratives: Jamie and Claire's, Roger and Brianna's, and William's. However, the large portions of the book still followed Claire, and even the parts that didn't were pretty interesting and tied into the rest of the book quite well.

The book also suited my mood quite well. I picked it up just prior to a camping trip, which made me reflect on the conditions of life in the 1700s and just tied into the rustic feeling very well. As in many other Outlander books, there's plenty of tone-setting and descriptions of the historical events, but at the same time the plot flowed quite well and I spent more than one night reading late.

To sum it up, I suggest the fans of the series should definitely give this book a go. The only downside is that now we have another 3 year wait for the next sequel to come out.