Title: Drums of Autumn (Outlander #4)
Author: Diana Gabaldon
Genre: Romance/Sci-Fi Fantasy
Published: December 30th 1996 (1088 pages)
Edition: Kindle
Rating: C
(Previously reviewed: Outlander | Dragonfly in Amber | Voyager)
Drums of Autumn was not the strongest book in the series. It starts off where Voyager ended as Jamie and Claire start their new lives in the Pre-revolution colony of North Carolina. This story also goes back and forth between Jamie & Claire’s story as well as Brianna and Roger’s in the late 1960s.
The novel started out strong, but I found myself not feeling as eager to read about halfway through. Part of it felt that there was unnecessary drama added just to make sure there was drama. I feel more time could have been used to develop Brianna’s story, but perhaps it was limited by the style the author used. Most of it is written in first person pov – Claire’s. When forced to show another character’s story its done in third person.
There is also the issue that once again rape was used as a plot point. I feel that the author tends to overuse this particular trauma to create drama for her characters. Every book so far has had a major character either threatened with rape or actually raped. I feel she uses this to create her villians a bit too much, as if villains aren’t horrible enough unless they are prone to rape the main characters.
This story introduces several different characters. It also expands on Jamie’s family with his Aunt Jocasta who has a plantation (which gives drama because Jamie and Claire are against slavery). Lord John Grey returns for two memorable sequences involving Willie (Jamie’s son) and Brianna. His developing relationship with the other Frasers is interesting as well as amusing to watch. In fact I think he was probably one of the best parts of this novel.
I plan on reading Fiery Cross soon, but the books appear to get longer as I go along so no estimate as to when the review is. Hopefully it improves.
Sokorra Lewis 