Drums of Autumn

Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon, 880 pages

This is the fourth book in Gabaldon's time-traveling historical adventure romance Outlander series. This book finds 20th century British doctor Claire and her 18th century Scottish Highlander husband Jamie traveling through the British colonies and settling in South Carolina in the late 1760s and dealing with the trials and tribulations that come with homesteading, including wild animals and dealing with Native Americans. Meanwhile, Claire and Jamie's daughter Brianna is watching the 1969 moon landing with her own Scottish boyfriend Roger, while both Brianna and Roger are researching historical documents to find out what happened to Claire and Jamie in the past. When they discover the death dates of Claire and Jamie, Brianna heads back through time to see if she can prevent the accident from occurring, with Roger hot on her heels. Throw in some pirates, a blind aunt, and more than a few festering wounds, and you've got yourself Drums of Autumn.

Gabaldon does a nice job balancing the multiple storylines, mixing up the adventure and romance, as well as the time periods. What drives me nuts about this series (and this book is no exception) is that Gabaldon generally uses first person in scenes from Claire's point of view and everything else (including some scenes that Claire is in) is written in third person. It's confusing, and I really wish that Gabaldon would just make everything in third person. Aside from that, the story is a good one. Not as magical as the first book, but way better than the second. I look forward to reading the fifth book in this series, now that it's come back into its own after the "sophomore slump." Fans of adventure, historical fiction, and more realistic romance would enjoy this series.