A Breath of Snow and Ashes

OK I am warning you now- this is an amateur's version of a book review. SPOILERS ABOUND. If you do not want to know what happens, STOP READING NOW.



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OK, I have only read the book once, halfway through the night, and the book is no longer with me and I am tired. I will complete my review using characters.

• Young Ian- I am so happy for him!!! I had begun to wonder if Ian was destined to remain alone, lost in his own head, mellowing in regrets. I was glad to see him go back to face Emily and to be able to put aside his regret for the disapointments of his hopes that he had had with Emily. Him going back to Scotland to visit also helped him reconcile the different pieces of himself- he had never said goodbye to his family or country, had not had a choice, and was gone from it before he knew it had happened. Rachel and Ian are seemingly such opposites- Ian having lived his life by violence, and Rachel having avoided violence. Ian is definately one of the characters to have gone through the most radical change through the course of the series- from the happy-go-lucky youth to the violent brooding man tinged by grief and now hopefully he will be able to reconcile the two sides of his personna more. I am continually shocked that I don't find more people talking about Ian.


• Rachel's brother- I am so happy that there is now someone that Claire can pass her medical knowledge along to- he was so accepting and even ecstatic about the ether- he accepts what Claire says, because he sees the results. After it was revealed that he had fallen for Dora, and she was converting, I understood why he had been so understanding of Rachel's confusion.


• Lord John- The political intruge in the books went way up once we got inside of Lord John's head! As William found out, Lord John has lots of connections and he isn't afraid to make use of them. At the moment we left Lord John though, his connections aren't doing him much good- he is about to tell Jamie that he married Claire when he was presumed dead- understandable for Claire's safety- and then ahem?? That is going to be one long and tense horseback ride ahead of them.


• Fergus and Marsaili and family- For all that we don't see too much of them in this book, their influence was profound. First of all, Fergus fighting off the attempted kidnappers- so funny and such a difference from the person he was in the 6th book, when Fergus was battling depression and didn't belive in himself. It would also be interesting to know more about what the final straw was that made them move to Philidelphia (better for their descendants though for during the Civil War). The kids seem to be remarkably resourceful- carrying messages between home and Fergus when he was in hiding, and Henri-Christianson's little performance was so cute. Marsaili's devotion as a mother was obvious in this book- as well as the children's devotion to their brother- staying awake at all times to keep him breathing. Wow. Of course, that also served as a plot device to have Jamie and Claire cross the Atlantic seperately.


• William- I was glad to see the friendship that developed between Ian and William before William knew of their kinship. I laughed when Ian told the Indians they were kin, and William was all 'whew they won't bother me now' when it was actually truth. I was so surprised that William still carried the rosary under his shirt. William's reaction to the truth was quite volitile, but then he has the Fraser temperment where a volitile reaction can be expected. I have high hopes that in the next book William will be able to come to peace with all of his parents. Additionally, I hope he didn't fall for Rachel too hard.


• Ian and Jenny- Poor Ian. I am happy though that Jenny finally left and decided to travel- if she had never been 20 miles from home before, she sure is now.


• Jamie and Claire- The whole commandeering a ship thing? Awesome!! The whole mucking around with the army? Not-so-awesome, though of course, thats where the story was. For people who had built up so much at Fraser's Ridge, they borrowed a bed through the entire book. I'd hate to think what a chiropractor would have to say about the states of their backs! I was so disraught when Claire's marriage to Lord John was no longer platonic... I really hope they can patch that up quickly! I wish that they had been able to be together and have those issues worked out when the book ended. They are feeling their age, and the whole getting-spectacles thing was awesome, and they are pretty consistant together. Stable, no- always moving- but consistant- yes.


• Roger, Brianna, Jemmy, Mandy- OH. MY. GOSH. How COULD we be left hanging like that?????????? This kept me awake for hours after finishing the book. William showing up- fine- what to do with him, but fine. Jemmy getting kidnapped to the past by a random dude in town? Not fine. Roger going to the past with William to rescue Jemmy? Made sense. Random dude from town showing up, evidently not in the past? NOT FINE!!!! Jemmy in the train, heading for the time warp when the portal was open in the middle of the mountain? HORRIBLE!!!! So at the moment- it is all up to Brianna- she has to rescue her children from random man from town and Jemmy from the time-warp; then she has to figure out how to reunite with Roger- whole family go to past? Just her go to the past and leave the children in someone's care? You can't send messages to the past without going there yourself!!! And this is where the book is left off? I can't wait three more years to find out what happens!!!