Friday, April 9, 2010

Que Sera Sera...

SPOILER ALERT: Dinna read unless you have read chapter 23 in AN ECHO IN THE BONE. 

Ho. Ly. CRAP. This book is so damn good I dinna know what to DO with myself!!! SO much has happened since my last blog; let's get right to it!

JAMIE SEES DEAD PEOPLE!!!!! OK wait. That's not right. But y'all know what I mean. He is having these dreams... and he's seeing Jem and Mandy playing at the cemetery at Lallybroch... and he has had multiple dreams about them in Lallybroch... and Claire remembers Lallybroch being for sale... so they KNOW ROGER AND BREE LIVE AT LALLYBROCH!!!!! I am shouting it from the rooftops! This. Is. So. Exciting!!!!! I canna WAIT for the next letter. They are going to say something about Jamie seeing the kids at Lallybroch... and then Roger and Bree are going to start looking for/finding things that Jamie and Claire have left for them - JUST like I predicted!! I can TASTE it like it was one of Mrs. Bug's bannocks ("lord of mercy on her" as my mother would say).

OK... so... next.... there are SO MANY NAMES popping up in this book that are making me go "Oh my gosh - that's so and so!" Like.... Randall-Isaacs??? HELLO?? Jack Randall's son/nephew!!! And he's a dirty dog who hangs around with Percy-the-Derelict. And how do we know this? Because Nessie (the madam who readers of LJG books know but the rest of us poor chumps are totally clueless about) told John Grey. And ewwww - he's hanging out with William (waaahh my French is terrible... please come helpppp me) to get dirt on LJG for Percy-The-Derelict! And here's poor William - knowing something ain't quite right... but not being able to figure out what it is. He knows Randall-Isaacs is interested in his dad... but doesna know why. What I want to know is if Randall-Isaacs has any sexual interest in LJG - or if he just wants info for Percy - and to meet him because, let's face it, LJG is DA BOMB and knows EVERYONE in England, France, Canada and the bad-assed Colonies!! Give Lord John his PROPERS, y'all! He da man!!!

OK enough of that - let's move on - how much did I go "RABBIE MCNABB!!!" when we got to the brothel?? Tracey doesna want to commit to the possibility that it's the same Rabbie - but I said "come ON! It HAS to be!" His wife is from the Highlands (I thought she might be someone we know but so far, there's not been much revealed about her) so it's GOT to be him. How can there be two Rabbie McNabb's?? Two Robbie's maybe... but Rabbie's? (I know, I know, Rabbie/Robbie are the same name but work with me here, people!)

LORDDDDD what else? SO MUCH DIRT! OHHHHH ROGER AND BREE!!!  HOLY CRAP - Jerry MacKenzie DIDNA DIE in WW2!!!  He WENT THROUGH THE FRIGGIN STONES IN NORTHUMBRIA!!! (Not to be confused with Umbria and Maggie Smith... Chris Cooper... ) THAT storyline is blowing my mind almost as much as Jamie dreaming in 20th century technicolor. Can you IMAGINE how badly Roger Mac will FLIP OUT if his father shows up? And they thought maybe that was who was skulking around in the broch (which Jamie isNA happy about). Poor Roger Mac canna handle a little conversation about his future career, let alone a visit from his dead father who is now a time traveler. I am going to be taken out in an ambulance when I get to THAT PART of the book.

You should have seen me reading all this on the plane today (in between telling my son to stop playing with the tray table every five seconds and telling my daughter to stop putting her iPod headphones in my ear)... I. Was. A. FREAK. At one point I reached across the aisle and whacked my husband on the arm. He was like "What was THAT for??" and I was like "What's it for??? ROGER MAC! THAT'S what it's for!" I really need an Outlander meeting with the girls STAT. (Oh and when we meet, I will be sure and ask them when precisely Roger started speaking as if he were born in yon 18th century mind you, do ye ken?)

PS - Could I have been ANY MORE WRONG about William's career choice? I truly thought the skunk and subsequent Hale hanging did him in - and he'd never choose Intelligence. Shows you what I know. One of these days I'll have to add up all my predictions/theories and see just how wrong/right I was!

21 comments:

  1. hi carol
    i,m so glad your,e enjoying echo, a lot of people online have not give it a good writeup but i loved it.
    i am biting my tongue to not comment and give anything away but order the ambulanceS now and stockpile the tissues. :-0
    i am reading "botb", just finished "lj and the private matter" and i wish i had read them before echo because things are making sense now like you said, never mind it,ll help with the reread.
    lesley :-)

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  2. I am officially midway through--p. 420, finished chapter 40. Uh. Mah. GAAAAAD. This book had a stretch in part 2 that was hard going, but it sooooo friggin good now I canna stand it!!! Carol, if you think you can't put it down now, JUST WAIT.

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  3. I don't know if it was good marketing or what, but you have to read Brotherhood of the Blade to really know who half the characters are that show up in Echo.

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  4. pcost: COMPLETELY, totally agree. I read the first two LJs b/c I was waiting for Carol to finish ABOSAA before I started Echo and because I had heard it wasn't a bad idea to read them, and I have to say I am SO glad I did. I'd say they're prerequisites. One negative about Echo for me is that it is really hard to keep track of so many new characters and storylines--it seems like there are way more than any of the other books--and the fact that I read Private Matter and Brotherhood means I already know a lot of the characters going. And honestly I don't see how you can really appreciate the LJ/Percy connection unless you've read Brotherhood.

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  5. HA! DG has a story being published in an anthology in November (?) that is all about Roger Mac's parents. I CAN'T WAIT! And when is the next discussion video? I LOVE those things!

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  6. You'll be getting more videos in short order--Carol's daughter's first communion is in two weekends, and our other sister's son's first communion is the weekend after that (the same weekend as the birthday of one JAMES ALEXANDER MALCOLM MACKENZIE FRASER), so we'll have plenty of chances to make fools of ourselves on camera. Perhaps a remote feed from a Scottish bar??? ;-)

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  7. The best description of Echo that I heard was in the OL Book Club where someone said it was more of a part 1 of 2. Tons of cliffhangers. Rabbie MacNab..at first I thought no way, he'd have to be too young. But then remembered that he was older than Fergus..so maybe. D.G. just can't let go of a character sometimes.

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  8. pcost I am afraid to read your last comment. Tracey will read it and deem it safe or unsafe for me. They are usually safe; I know I'm paranoid. LOL

    Totally said the exact same thing about marketing. And I have to admit to you that I find that type of marketing extremely offensive. I don't like feeling like I HAVE TO read (aka BUY) the LJG books to understand a book series I have spent 6 MONTHS reading.

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  9. Carol: all comments in thread are readable.

    Re: LJ books--not sure I feel the same way with the marketing thing. To me, it's not like I "have" to read it--it's more like it's another opportunity to get involved with this whole universe that DG has set up.

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  10. I don't feel like I "have" to read it - I feel like I'm "supposed" to read it. And that creeps me out a bit. And let's be honest - I call you and ask you who is who because I haven't read the LJG books. I guess maybe I'd be OK with it if I had read ABOSAA - and then had nothing to read and decided to read the LJG books - and then read Echo when it came out. But I have steadily read all 6 books (and ignored my book club books in the process!) and now find myself on book 7 and am a) dying to know what happens and b) really enjoying it. So I don't want to stop and read the LJG books.

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  11. Carol:

    If you want my advice <g>....quit worrying about it. When you get to the end of ECHO, before you start the series over again (and become, like many of the rest of us, a perpetual re-reader of these books <g>), take the time then to read the Lord John books.

    Yes, BOTB helps a great deal in understanding who Percy is. Yes, you will get to know Lord John much better -- how he thinks, what motivates him -- if you read the LJ books. But can you still understand and appreciate and enjoy the OUTLANDER books if you haven't read the LJ books? Of course you can!

    To me, the whole OUTLANDER "universe" is like an amazingly intricate jigsaw puzzle, where the pieces all interconnect. If you haven't read the LJ books, you're missing some important pieces of the puzzle, but what remains is still very complex and immensely entertaining by itself. Reading the LJ books, for me, is a way of filling in the details of the "backstory", making the overall story even more intricate and layered and meaningful -- but it isn't, strictly speaking, necessary, in order to enjoy the OUTLANDER books.

    Just my two cents worth. <g>

    Karen

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  12. Carol, I haven't read the LJ books, either. I tried, but just couldn't get into it. I have finished Echo, and probably would have understood a whole lot more about the intrigue between Percy and LJ, but it didn't keep me from understanding the plot of Echo. Like you, I am slightly offended that dg assumes that we have all read the LJ books, and writes as if we have.

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  13. I couldn't get into any of the LJ books either and I've checked them in and out of the library like 3x. But I did read the last one Brotherhood because I thought that I could figure out why I should care about Percy, etc. Well, it's a little clearer but I still don't care. As much as I LOVE OL series, I don't care for the LJ one.

    Now, if DG wants to write a series with Ian or Fergus as the central characters....that's a trip to the bookstore and one for the collection.

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  14. I don't know about you Carol..but I wouldn't oppose any background given on the LJbooks by those that have read them. I hope to read them after Echo, but I have also tried to get into them, and just haven't had the time. I would love for those that have read to give some background on characters...so I don't have to dive into them. What can I say I'm lazy;-)

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  15. I still can't believe I haven't read the LJ books! Looking back on everything I've read, I can see now how a LOT of it would have made more sense had I taken the time to read those books. But I sometimes resented being pulled away from Jamie/Claire and Bree/RogerMac in the books themselves, so kind of wanted to keep reading.
    I love it when the books describe their lives in Lallybroch! Sometimes I wonder how much more rogermac can take. I love it that Jamie has a small window into Bree's life at Lallybroch! I have always felt bad for him being locked out of their time-traveling ways, and this is in some small way kind of helps make up for that in my mind! Yee this book is sooo action packed (despite some of the drier stretches of stories I wasna so interested in but grew to love).

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  16. Hi all. I just wanted to comment and mention that I stumbled upon your blog while surfing all things Outlander. I was so totally smitten by your blog that I've gone back to the very beginning to read all your entries ... I know, a bit crazy, but I love all your theories and predicitions and how your thoughts change as you progress through the books. I've read all 7 books, finishing Echo in January and I'm so missing these characters that I'm planning on reading the Lord John books just to get a glimpse at them and to help understand who some of the "extra" characters from Echo. So, I'll continue to chug along reading all the back entries but I just wanted to tell you what a great job I think you're doing and to encourage you to keep it up and to keep reading.

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  17. Hi All -

    Karen - as usual - thanks for your input. You are totally right - I worry way too much!

    Pam - I don't know if I'll go back and read them. BUT - I said that during my first Twilight read. "Why would I go back and read these again?" and then when I was finished I was SO devastated without the characters in my life that I had to go back and reread. So the fact that the LJG books have undiscovered Jamieisms and info... I have a feeling I'll change my tune about 2 days after I finish Echo.

    Angela - that's what I do - I pick Tracey's brain about the LJG books. It really helps (although I feel like I'm in school and looking at the paper of the person sitting next to me.) ;)

    Shel - YOU ROCK! I'm so glad you found the blog! Come to our chat tonight if you can!

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  18. PS -

    Sirena - I'm with you on Roger Mac although sometimes I'm like "Enough Roger! JUST DO IT!" (like Nike!)

    PCost - you are SO RIGHT. I'd be all over anything about Fergus...(LORDDDDD would I be all over anything with Fergus) and Roger... I'm verra interested in what I'm hearing about DG's upcoming novel about Roger's parents.

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  19. Carol - "A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows" (the story about Roger's parents) is a novella (I think DG said about 16,000 words), not a full-length book. Due out in November 2010. It promises to be a terrific story, from what I've seen so far.

    Karen

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  20. Thanks Karen. I'm glad it's a novella and not a full length. I'm much more apt to read it if so. Although... once I'm finished Echo I'll probably be rabid for anything Outlander-related... long or short.

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  21. I'm new to this party, but I love following along with your posts and finally decided to be brave and comment as well. I just started reading the Outlander books this spring. I'd been in a vera vera long drought of fiction reading and to find these stories, well, another fan of DG! Anyway, I was thrilled to see that Jamie knows how to astral travel (or lucid dreaming which is another way of describing what I think he does). I am wishing that Bree would get a job with NASA and find a way to get her parents back to the future so they can be one big happy family again. Oh well. BTW, I didn't know how to post with my name, but it's Cynthia.

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