Drums of Autumn - Diana Galbadon

I was introduced to the Outlander series late, first via the Showtime adaptation. After devouring the first half-season, I thought I should fill the void waiting for the next episode release with the books themselves. This is a really odd order for me, to watch the adaptation first and then go back and read the book, but for once, I'm really glad I did. Though some changes have been made in the adaptation process, I liked being able to picture the actors in their book roles. Caitrona Balfe and Sam Heughan are both incredibly good-looking and have great chemistry for their roles, and what more can I ask for in romantic historical fiction leads? I'm sure there was some upset among fans of the books with the casting--I mean, the first book was published in 1991 so there's been quite a bit of time to build a fan base--but I'm satisfied, so fig to that.

Not entirely sure if 35-year-old Sam is supposed to still be 22-year-old Jamie as he is in the books..

Summary:
Drums of Autumn is the fourth book in the Outlander series. In previous books, Claire has traveled through the stones for the third time, and have left Scotland behind to recover Jamie's kidnapped nephew Ian. They've traveled into the West Indies, naturally encountering many obstacles along the way, including a drunk "chinaman" (jesus even though that is period that makes my skin crawl), magic slaves, and the reappearance of Geilis Duncan. Book 4 opens in South Carolina, where throughout the course of the novel the Frasers establish their new home on what they dub Fraser's Ridge, hoping to finally have a permanent settlement. In the future, their daughter Brianna plots to travel back through the stones as well to finally meet her biological father and see her mother once more, but she is followed by her love Roger Wakefield, who is a descendent of Geilis Duncan and Jamie's uncle Dougal Mackenzie. Naturally, misunderstandings, danger, and hostilities with the military, pirates, and local tribes ensue.

Period costume porn. WHY ARE YOU TWO SO PRETTY.

As a reader:
There's a good reason that these books and the Starz adaptation are gaining in popularity. Diana Galbadon is adamant that she did not write these as romance, but the romance crowd is eating them up--and those of us who don't go in for your typical romance pulp find plenty to like here too. I care about these characters, enough to fume when they're doing something stupid and wilt when they're misunderstanding each other. At times this actually works against Galbadon, however--in the heightened sense of drama accompanying Roger's sojourn with the Mohawks, I found myself skimming parts to find out whether he was alive or dead. I wanted to know the next plot point so badly that I tended to skip any description and characterization in between. It's got the same quality that makes romance readers keep coming back: we're invested, we're addicted, and we need to know if they get together in the end.

As a writer:
I'm pretty dismissive of the romance genre (though more posts on that to come), not because it is a primarily female genre but because often the writing is just so. goddamn. bad. Maybe that's why Galbadon is so adamant that she's not writing romance: romance isn't regarded as literary. Whether or not that term can be applied to Outlander is debatable, but it is definitely above the romance genre in terms of technical writing skill. I use the term 'highly readable' as a compliment, in the sense that I don't stop and stumble over any of Galbadon's sentence structure, and that nothing jumps out as being a glaringly irritating idiosyncrasy such as I find in, let's say, Sarah Maclean.
Then there's the subgenre of historical romance. While I'm not incredibly well-read in the romance genre, the few that I have sampled that have fallen under the historical label have, let's say, sacrificed the historical-ness for the romance-ness, which completely ruins the entire book. Galbadon, on the other hand, has done a fantastic job constructing a historical setting that is believable. The difference? Research. Mountains and mountains of research. It's clear she's done it, and it shows. That's not to say she's perfect--there's been some corrections regarding her use of Gaelic and whatnot, but nothing so glaring that I think your average historical fiction fan would notice. Someone more immersed in Highland lore may feel differently, of course, which is always a hazard when an author tries to write of a culture that isn't their own. (Diana Galbadon is American, and, presumably, did not grow up in the 18th century.)
Galbadon makes good use of aphorisms in her work, almost tailor-made to be quoted in social media profiles and sighed over.

“forgiveness is not a single act, but a matter of constant practice”

“Your face is my heart Sassenach, and the love of you is my soul” 

“An Englishman thinks a hundred miles is a long way; an American thinks a hundred years is a long time” 

“If ye have to ask yourself if you’re in love, laddie—then ye aren’t,”

Lastly, one description that I really enjoyed:

"...she jumped,giggled in a voice like honey poured out of a jug..."

Overall: 4 stars.

Amazon: Drums of Autumn

More reviews: Drums of Autumn on Librarything (average 4.23 stars)