An Echo in Bone-new Outlander book-SPOILERS

[golfgal]

Has anyone finished this yet? I just finished it last night. I will start by saying there will be another one and this book drags on quite a bit.

 

[aggielawyer]

I've been gone, so I haven't read it. Just saw a few spoilers online, so now I'm dying to read it.

 

[kristilew]

I've finished it. Kind of an abrupt ending, wasn't it?

 

[My2Cinderellas]

2 things that bugged me:

1. a big part of the story line with Lord John involved characters from the 'side novels' about him. I had thought they were stand alone stories to fill out his character. He's not my favorite character and I resent having to read those other books to figure out what's going on in Echo.

2. The ending - while the previous books are obviously part of the ongoing story, they come to a logical ending and feel like you are bringing current events to a close. This book - nope, does not have that feeling. Feels like the end of a chapter, not the end of a book. That's a big cliffhanger to leave us with for 3 or 4 years until the next book comes out.

 

[golfgal]

2 things that bugged me:

1. a big part of the story line with Lord John involved characters from the 'side novels' about him. I had thought they were stand alone stories to fill out his character. He's not my favorite character and I resent having to read those other books to figure out what's going on in Echo.

2. The ending - while the previous books are obviously part of the ongoing story, they come to a logical ending and feel like you are bringing current events to a close. This book - nope, does not have that feeling. Feels like the end of a chapter, not the end of a book. That's a big cliffhanger to leave us with for 3 or 4 years until the next book comes out.

I agree-I hope she has a good start on the next book. When they drag out like this people tend to lose interest, kind of like the Jean Auel Clan of the Cave Bear books. It has been over 20 years since she started writing the series and STILL has one more book to write (come on already-I started reading these when I was in high school and now I have KIDS in high school).

 

[kristilew]

I've been including health for Diana in my prayers....wouldn't it be awful if we never find out what happens???

Ok, I have questions re: the modern portion ending. If Roger and Bree were convinced by Mandy's freak-out that Jem was in trouble, why did they not ask her later why she wasn't upset? And why didn't they look around at least a little before taking the most drastic step possible? I know they saw the "abandoned truck" but would it have been completely illogical to check other places before going back in time, again?

 

[My2Cinderellas]

I agree-I hope she has a good start on the next book. When they drag out like this people tend to lose interest, kind of like the Jean Auel Clan of the Cave Bear books. It has been over 20 years since she started writing the series and STILL has one more book to write (come on already-I started reading these when I was in high school and now I have KIDS in high school).

I didn't know there ws another Cave Bear book due - the last book was just a rehash of the first 4. I'm sure I'll read the next book - but don't have high hopes for it.

To me - the ultimate "finish the damm story" author was Robert Jordan. I made it through 3 or 4 of the books, DH made it to 7 or 8, and there were many many more of these massive doorstops after that.

 

[cruisnfamily]

2 things that bugged me:

1. a big part of the story line with Lord John involved characters from the 'side novels' about him. I had thought they were stand alone stories to fill out his character. He's not my favorite character and I resent having to read those other books to figure out what's going on in Echo.

2. The ending - while the previous books are obviously part of the ongoing story, they come to a logical ending and feel like you are bringing current events to a close. This book - nope, does not have that feeling. Feels like the end of a chapter, not the end of a book. That's a big cliffhanger to leave us with for 3 or 4 years until the next book comes out.

Can somebody list the "side novels" for me and tell me what order they should be read in? I've just started rereading Outlander and am going to read the whole series so I might as well read the side ones too. Never read those before so I don't even know who they're about.

 

[Christine]

I am STILL reading this thing. I think I have about 60 pages to go.

I am not happy with this book. Fortunately, there have been some better parts here and there. I have always like the Lord John character in the series but never did branch out to the Lord John books.

I have to say that I am still terribly disappointed in the book.

 

[gregokdisney]

I finished it about a week ago. I was totally disappointed - and I was a HUGE fan of the series up to now.

I thought the ending was rushed and criminally cropped to get to a stopping point that seemed arbitrary.

SPOILERS!!!! Don't read any further if you don't want to know!





I was totally ticked that she devoted PAGES to Claire amputating Jamie's finger, but the fact that he's lost at sea and considered dead, and then she becomes a spy and is in danger of being arrested and marries Lord John all happens in less than 4 pages? Give me a break! I knew immediately that Jamie was dead at all, because if he was, we'd be seeing Claire's heartbreak and anguish. It didn't ring true to me at all.

The cliffhanger with Jem lost in the mine was just horrible - I couldn't believe they didn't wrap that up.

The whole thing needed some editing and polishing and I can't believe they published it that way. I couldn't spring for the book this month due to back to school expenses (I own the rest of the series) and got it from the library. Now I'm glad I didn't buy it and don't see myself buying it in the future!

 

[Christine]

I finished it about a week ago. I was totally disappointed - and I was a HUGE fan of the series up to now.

I thought the ending was rushed and criminally cropped to get to a stopping point that seemed arbitrary.

SPOILERS!!!! Don't read any further if you don't want to know!





I was totally ticked that she devoted PAGES to Claire amputating Jamie's finger, but the fact that he's lost at sea and considered dead, and then she becomes a spy and is in danger of being arrested and marries Lord John all happens in less than 4 pages? Give me a break! I knew immediately that Jamie was dead at all, because if he was, we'd be seeing Claire's heartbreak and anguish. It didn't ring true to me at all.

The cliffhanger with Jem lost in the mine was just horrible - I couldn't believe they didn't wrap that up.

The whole thing needed some editing and polishing and I can't believe they published it that way. I couldn't spring for the book this month due to back to school expenses (I own the rest of the series) and got it from the library. Now I'm glad I didn't buy it and don't see myself buying it in the future!

I am in agreement with you.

I finished this book last night.

I knew Jamie wasn't dead because of him missing that particular boat in France and paying all that he could to get on another boat.

And I agree, that part of Claire sending out criminal literature--well, where the heck did THAT come from?

Also, the whole Arch Bug ending? I mean did I skip a paragraph? What happened to him. Obviously Ian got his arm hurt.

It was just SO bizarre at the end. I am so disappointed.

 

[kristilew]

I'm wondering if her next book won't revisit some of the stuff going on at the end of this one. Kind of how Echo overlapped with the last few, rushed, chapters of Snow? Maybe we'll get some more detail. I spent a long time wondering what the heck about the newspaper announcement that was such a feature of Drums/Cross/Snow, since it was left so hanging at the end of Snow, only to be explained, finally, in Echo.

I assume Jamie did write to say that he wasn't on the boat he intended, but the letter never arrived. And I wonder if the first person, Claire version of events surrounding news of his "death" is disjointed because she is such a mess due to receiving the news. Once Jamie shows back up, however briefly, she does seem capable of focusing and describing again, with her usual detail.

Still, not as satisfying a read as the others, and a long time to wait for the next one. I'm contenting myself with rereading some of my favorite scenes from the earlier books. (And I did enjoy my WDW trip last week....imagining the Off Kilter boys as various characters....)

 

[WL Fan]

I had been looking forward for so long to having ETTB in my hands, it was like Christmas when the UPS guy brought it last month. I have to agree with the common consensus though, I wished some of the things never happened, (like the whole Lord John gotta-marry-me bit) it just didn't seem to fit. There were moments that made it worth while (Ian in Scotland) but I can't believe we have to wait 5 more years to find out what happens. 5 years?

I've tried to imagine, too, how DG must feel to work so hard on something, and then to have loyal readers say how disappointed they are in the final product. Talk about wanting to beat your head against a brick wall...

 

[fireworks fan]

I also was disappointed with the book. You could almost just read the last 150 pages and understand almost the entire narrative from that part alone. The ending was much too rushed and abrupt, and the Lord John and Claire marriage was too far fetched for me. Wouldn't Claire at least question if Jamie made it on the boat? Wouldn't she check other Atlantic crossings? It seems like she is more of a no stone left unturned sort of person.

 

[Linda in sunny SC]

Spoiler Space








One thing that really bothered me was the fact that Roger and Bree did not think to read the rest of the letters once they suspected that Jem was gone back. There might have been some pertinent information in those letters, especially if Roger were mentioned in them. Hello, forewarned is forearmed. I would have read them all at once when I first found them anyway.

 

[kristilew]

good point. They have never shown the best judgement....

 

[WL Fan]

I couldn't figure that out either, how could they (roger and bree) have not just read all the letters as soon as they got ahold of them? Who would have that much restraint?

And what was up with the guy from the 1700's that comes forward? When has that happened before? I was very confused.

 

[momtomatthew]

I was so excited for this book, but I was disappointed! I can't believe she didn't wrap up a single story line- except Ian. I felt like I had missed parts of the book the way she jumped around and forward and back. It better not be years until the next book- not after that ending...

 

[Pamlur]

I saw Diana on Thursday night. She wasn't feeling well, and didn't talk a whole bunch, but she did say that there will be a second "Companion" coming fairly soon, AND a "graphic novel" will be out even sooner. And, which we all knew, there will be an eighth book, but didn't say how far along she is with it. She had been on a huge book-signing marathon and was pretty worn out.

 

[golfgal]

I couldn't figure that out either, how could they (roger and bree) have not just read all the letters as soon as they got ahold of them? Who would have that much restraint?

And what was up with the guy from the 1700's that comes forward? When has that happened before? I was very confused.

That happened in the very first book, very early on when Frank saw a guy looking in the window at Claire....