This is a big guess, but I think that this is about the twentieth book by Diana Gabaldon that I have read. All of the books by her that I have read have been in the Outlander universe.
This book took over seven years to be published from the eighth book, Written in My Own Heart's Blood - Outlander #8. I have had it on Kindle and my To-Be-Read list for almost two years as I wasn't sure how long it would take me to read it. Surprisingly, it only took me six days to read 960 pages! Yikes!!
Now the Outlander series (book and television show) has almost a cult following and Diana Gabaldon is highly revered. But, I have not read one of her books in almost nine years and think that the books have gotten much more religious with whole pages dedicated to religious services and texts. Additionally, the length of the book is a bit unwieldy, some editing would have made this book so much more enjoyable.
The story is about a time-traveling wife Claire and her husband Jamie who live in North Carolina during the Revolutionary War. The story unfolds with the issues, drama, and hardship during a war. Of course, the story is left on a cliffhanger!
This series is exceedingly good, but waiting such a long time between the novels is discouraging and loses the motion and flow of the books. In retrospect, I wish that I had waited to "binge" all of the novels once they were done.
OVERALL REVIEW: 4.0 stars
Writing: 4.0 stars
The writing, as always, was very well done. Also, the research was really good and detailed, but maybe a bit over the top at times. I also feel as if SAT words were used continually so I had to look up obscure 18th-century words to follow the train of the plot. Additionally, there were multiple languages used by the characters and there was no glossary or dictionary that was available to define some of these words or phrases. The German and French could be discovered via the translate function. But the Gaelic is not available for translation. So that was a bit frustrating. Finally, the biggest issue for me was that editing would have helped make this novel so much stronger.
Character development: 4.0 stars
This was totally normal historical fiction as there were a great deal of characters! But way too many characters! 0It included the people and book characters of Fraser's Ridge, Charles Town (Charleston), Savannah, multiple battlefields, and the Native American villages. There were a lot of people to try to remember and juggle. At times, I could not keep them all straight.
The main characters are Claire (wife/healer), Jamie (husband/warrior/landowner), Brianna (daughter/engineer), Roger (son-in-law/lay minister), and William (Jamie's natural son/British Army captain).
The secondary characters are all of their extended family all over the Americas. This includes landed British gentry and aristocracy, Native Americans, Quakers, Patriots, Loyalists, famous historical characters, and so many more. It was a lot of people to manage and remember.
The final and tertiary characters are all of the ordinary people who live in all these locations. The were many, many tertiary characters.
Storyline: 3.5 stars
At times, it felt like there was no real plot and the storyline just kept adding more and more characters to set up the next book. This book just had so many plot lines and sub-plot lines that it was confusing at times to try and understand what was actually happening.
The main locations were North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, New Jersey, and New York.
Memorable/Informative: 4.0 stars
It was an interesting novel, but I think that it could have been so much more. As a lover of history, I really wanted fewer characters and more detail on the characters included. At times, it felt like a history lesson and not a book to read for pleasure.
Book cover: 4.0 stars
The last few novels in this series don't have the best covers, in my opinion.
Book title: 5.0 stars
I loved the title - it was a perfect tie-in to the bee hives that Claire has. It seemed to be a metaphor for what was happening during the Revolutionary War.
Gut feeling: 4.0 stars
I assumed that I would LOVE this book as I have liked the other books by this author that I have read, but this was only a strong like.
Suggestions:
A glossary of non-English terminology and a cast of characters to keep everyone straight! Additionally, the genealogy tree should have dates - that would be really helpful also!
RECOMMEND
BOOK INFORMATION
Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone - Outlander #9 by Diana Gabaldon
960 pages
Dell
Release date of 11/23/2021
INFORMATIONAL LINKS
Happy reading,
Dorothea 💜
