Review: The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon

The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The new season on television prompted a reread of what I hoped was the equivalent of the book series. Except for a couple of scenes, this book was the more the season before. Still, this read raised my rating from four stars to five.

The narrator, Davina Porter, is terrific as she is reading Diana Gabaldon’s outstanding writing. In fact, I have decided that Ms. Gabaldon is one of my favorite authors. And Ms. Porter may be my favorite narrator. I love living in the Outlander world. I not only read at night before sleep, which proves hard to leave the book for but while Diamond Painting or knitting.

I found the same issue with figuring out when the voice is Claire’s or Bree’s, or Jamie’s or Roger’s, but it was easier this time knowing the story from the TV show and having read this before. I have already picked up the next book, A Breath of Snow and Ash. Now I am nearly caught up with the television series. I just wanted to see how the Revolution progressed in the books.

I highly recommend this series and its TV counterpart.

Below is my earlier review.

These are such great books. The story continues. And now I can watch the current series on TV. But…

Until this book, Divina Porter, the narrator of all the Outlander books, was able to change the voices of most of the characters enough that a listener could tell who was talking. With Bree, Roger, and Ian grown, they all sound like Clair and Jamie. If my eyes could handle the tracking, I would try to have the book or Kindle version open to track who is speaking. Instead, I have to back up a bit to see if I can find out. Or I just keep listening, and finally, context will indicate who had just been the speaker. That throws me out of the story.

Is it me, or is this book a little less exciting? I know with Covid19 all around and the stress that has caused us all, it may be playing a part in my attention levels. I may have to reread the series later when life returns us to quieter minds. So I will try not to affect my rating on this issue. I still loved it and have already downloaded the next book. I can’t wait to see how Jamie and his men adjust to the American Revolution. What if you were on the wrong side of history and knew it but couldn’t do much about it as no one but you had access to future history? Yeah. What a conundrum! Excellent writing, Diana Gabaldon!

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One-Liner Wednesday

One-Liner Wednesdays teach us a lot!

Ta Da Tuesday

Hat done. Yay! Already started the next one.

I love decreasing on the Flexee knitting loom.

Another walk! Same trail. Kali wanted to come. She starts with wanting to run.  I try to do my best. But quickly she’s tired and I feel cruel as I have no choice but to kind of drag her along. She won’t let me carry her. It’s already equally far to continue the route to turning around. She’s okay now. Chris and I did just fine. Everything is slower with Kali. It’s like taking a toddler for a walk. A block is miles!

Obviously when I screenshot, I didn’t realize I was chatting with my son’s Significant Other.❤️

Making Monday

Just so you don’t think I’ve left my knitting behind. This hat is ready for the crown decrease.

Today’s walk looks the same but we went the opposite way. It was barely raining. We could almost walk between the drops.

I think there were less steps because we didn’t take the dog. But better time. Worrying that the lightning might start made us walk a little faster. Glad we got home before the wind started.

Made progress on the rewrites of book two. I was supposed to get another 6k this month but may have to be happy with what I will have on the 31st.

CampNano starts April 1st. This time I’m thinking of making it an autobiography. My cousin has sent me a tape recorder and tapes to start recording family memories. I thought writing it all down might help with recording and vice versa.

Anyway, happy Monday!

Health and Happiness

Here’s what made me happy.

A bit of dragon head, wing, background.

Here’s the healthy.

Kali, Chris, and I. 👍

Kali was cute. Last time I tried to take her for a walk she wouldn’t let me put her harness on. She had to stay home.

Today I was putting on my shoes. She let me know she didn’t want to be left behind. She laid still while I put on her harness.

Oh the walk she wanted to jog. So we did a few steps. Then I got winded. She pulled on me.

We went down a street we haven’t walked for a while. I nearly had to pull her. Once we got to our street, she knew where she was and wanted to run. I gave her a few more jogs then back to walking. She pulled me again.

Kali is tuckered out.

Stream of Consciousness Saturday, Rope

Roping in my ADD thoughts has always been a problem. And my many hobbies are just the tangible ideas. There are not enough hours in a day to do all the things I want to do.

That is one of the reasons I blog. It is a place to remind myself of my passions and thoughts that might just escape to the ether never to be seen again.

Today I got to open my next diamond painting. It is from the set of four dragons. I pulled it out randomly.

Here’s the unboxing.

I know it’s a dragon but I can’t figure out what I’m seeing.

It is a good size. And yes those are stray drills from previous paintings. Keeping the projects in an upsidedown bin lets the lid become a catch-tray.

My new container for the new project’s drills.

This one went sideways. But the point I was making was how clear the symbols are. What a relief from my first two projects.

I think I see a mommy and dragonet.

Here are the colors. The symbols are alphanumeric, yay!

The wax, tray, and pen. And the rope of drills. Well organized and easy to kit up. A lot of black! In fact, that’s what I got done today.

On another note. We walked 1.5 miles today which amounted to 49K steps. Wahoo us!

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “rope.” Use it as a noun or a verb. Have fun!

Finishing Friday

I had so hoped to be finished with my dragon tonight. But I will be by the time I go to bed. Here is where the progress stands.

So rather than chat about it, I plan to get back to it.

Just a quick side note. My husband and I walked a mile today. It was very nice. I prefer his company to Kali’s. She didn’t want to put on her harness. So she got left behind.

Back to the dragon…

Review: What Comes After by Robert Kirkman

What Comes After by Robert Kirkman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh, wow! I have never been so impressed with an actor and many writers as I felt reading this book. I wish I had read it before seeing the Negan comic books of this series. I might have been even more impressed to read first. That said, it leads me to give the most enormous kudos to Robert Kirkman for giving life to this universe!

This Walking Dead world that Kirkman birthed is amazing and asks so much of our society to examine. I often think that Mr. Kirkman was wise beyond his years. He seems to have human nature down to each of our kinds and how any society can become its own worst enemy by standing too hard on specific statutes while not paying attention to others. I see that in the news every day.

So the writers of the show have done everything they can to respect the author. It is hard, I’m sure, to move a story from page to people. But all along the way, all 18 issues of this comic, I see how well they do. And resounding praise for the handsome Jeffrey Dean Morgan. The comic Negan isn’t as stunning to look at, but, oh, my! Mr. Morgan has made the paper Negan come to life! I didn’t realize it before reading this book. I just saw the gorgeous man we all fell in love with on Grey’s Anatomy become with the same smile and demeanor an evil bastard you love to hate. He had every line of the comic book delivered in the same fashion. Just amazing.

If you get the chance to read these comics, please do. The Kindle version works better as I couldn’t see the text in the paper version. Kindle lets you enlarge everything. Details of the drawing are more precise. Wow! Just Wow!

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One-Liner Wednesday

Thank you Linda for One-Liner Wednesday

Starting Again

Wearing shoes and other uncomfortable clothing, I started walking again. It was a beautiful day.