Drums of Autumn - Diana Gabaldon (audio)

Drums of Autumn is the fourth installment, out of six, of the Outlander journey. I've now logged in a total of 146 discs so far, and have another 92 to go! The series is compelling as ever. I can't even remember life before Outlander, the story has become a part of my daily routine and unfortunately, my iPod has become a new appendage. It makes showering complicated. If you are new to the series, you can read my reviews of Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber, and Voyager. Now, my sincere apologies, but I can't keep all of the spoilers to myself. In order to continue reviewing the next two books, I have to give away a few important tidbits.

When we left Claire and Jamie in Voyager, they had been sailing near the West Indies, and had become shipwrecked on the coast of the Carolinas as a result of a hurricane with a few friends and Jamie's nephew Ian. No surprise to us, they have a few misadventures with pirates as a little welcome-to-America celebration, that results in the loss of Claire's wedding ring and all of their wealth (jewels). They look up Jamie's long lost Aunt Jocasta, who is a wealthy land owner, gain their footing, and are witness to the hard cold reality of slavery and the inequity between blacks and whites. They strike a deal with the governor, and establish a plot of land for themselves in the mountains, along with their Scottish entourage, and call it Frasier's Ridge. With the exception of a couple of insanely predictable mishaps (which must have consumed most of their remaining nine lives at this point), they live sedate lives with a semblance of a routine. They make friends with the local Indians, learning their customs, they build homes, they plant some crops. Life is good.

Meanwhile, fast forwarding to the late sixties, Brianna, Jamie and Claire's grown up girl, is playing cat and mouse with the ever-eager Roger Wakefield. They both care for each other deeply, but Bri's got some other fish to fry. At Bri's request, she has asked Roger to do a little research to make sure mummy and da are still alive and well. During Roger's search, he finds a death notice for Claire and Jamie in 1776 (about seven years from their current position) and Bri bravely enters the circle of stones to 1769 to save them. Roger follows (its like the passage back through time is like the London underground, for Pete's sake), they meet up and decide their love is the real deal. They seal this deal, quite explicitly, in a pile of hay in a barn. Just a little soft porn for those of you getting bored. They separate, Brianna to find her parents, Roger to illegally "secure" some gems to ensure a safe passage back home. Predictably at this point, danger, harm and misunderstandings abound, and the two are separated. Brianna does meet her paternal father for the first time, and emotions run high as they do with these red-headed Scots. Bri soon discovers she is pregnant, and realizes that if she doesn't go back through the stones before the baby is born, she is destined to stay in the past forever. She can't take a baby through the stones, after all. So where the hell is Roger? Will he get back in time, and what will he say when he discovers the baby might not be his? I will leave you with these mysteries until you read about them, or until I review the next book "The Fiery Cross", whichever comes first.

Of course, there are side plots that entertain. Claire discovers the bones of a man, probably Native American, in a cave, that came from the future. Another circle of stones is also found, which is conveniently located not far from Frasier's Ridge. We get a couple more glimpses of the gay British officer, John Grey, one of my favorite characters. We get an in-depth view of slavery, Native American customs, life on a cross-Atlantic sea voyage, threats and consequences of measles, small pox and other virulent diseases, and life as an unwed pregnant woman. There has to be enough material to fill 39 discs, after all.

Of the four books I've read in this series so far, I would rank this one third. Not my favorite, and was pretty slow for the first half, honestly. But once Bri and Roger make their journey back in time, things get exciting. Their sex scene had me sweating (I was driving in a torrential rainstorm at the time, and nearly had to pull off the road). The reunion between Jamie and Brianna was touching. And the little nugget, dropped like a forgotten crumb at the end...the little secret of Frank Randal's that changed the course for everyone? Well, it throws just enough intrigue into the end to keep me close by for installment number five. I won't be gone long, but I need some short audios...anything under 20 discs will do...

4 out of 5