Okay, I’m done. Considering we’re heading into page 3 of this thread, do you want to dismiss the spoilers? I can put a flag:
WARNING: UNBOXED SPOILERS AFTER THIS POST. STOP HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT FINISHED THE BOOK.
I will be back later to post my thoughts.
Okay, while I’m a bit upset at the cliffhanger ending, at least Claire knows Jamie is not dead, so I can live with a bit of fingernail chewing over Roger and Jem.
So, Rob (and what do you think Bree will do once she learns Rob is still in her time?) tried to send Jem through the stones, probably to see if it will work, then yanks him back. This ties in with Mandy screaming “Jem’s gone!” then being nonchalant the next day. I hope Bree will tumble to that fact.
The problem is, Roger will not come back without Jem. He wouldn’t dare. But there is no way for Bree to tell Roger that Jem is in their time, not 200 years ago, so I don’t know if Roger and Bree will ever be together again. Unless Jem falls through the portal under the dam and hooks up with his father that way. Quite the resourceful little boy…I think we can thank living in 18th century colonial America for that.
I am SO glad Arch Bug is dead. That was a tragedy all the way around, and while I can see his mind breaking from revenge, at least Ian doesn’t have to look over his shoulder any more.
John had to marry Claire quickly to save her from being arrested for being a spy. Jamie did something similar, to keep her out of the hands of Jack Randall. I’m sure John will grant her a very quick divorce.
I can see Roger’s point about back in the 18th century, it would NOT have been doing William a favor to tell him who his true father was. Now that he knows, what will happen? And if you told me Jenny would leave Lallybroch I would have called you a kitten-kicking liar.
One last thing (for now)…the blackmailer. That seemed rather abrupt, as if the character was introduced, threat threat threat, oops, threat all gone. I wonder if that will come up again.
The last several pages did seem a bit like a roller coaster, but now we know there will be at least one more book. 
I think that they aren’t technically married, if Jamie wasn’t actually dead. I hate to say it but it all seems like a convenient way to get Claire and John into bed together, without casting a shadow on their characters. I dunno if it works for me though.
Oh, that’s true. The same thing happened with Jamie and Laoghaire. I’m okay with it…they both love Jamie, so they have a way to comfort each other should something happen (and it won’t, they will both live forever.)
Wonder what Jamie would think about John taking William and his friend to a whorehouse when they were 16? Everyone was very upset when young Ian indulged.
For those that haven’t read the Lord John books, the madam (Nell?) is a minor character in that series. John encountered her when she was a very young prostitute. He was questioning her as a part of some investigation and was attracted by her Scottish accent but if I recall correctly he didn’t have sex with her. Apparently they became friends.
I liked it okay. Once again, I wish that Gabaldon would pick up the pace and not drag the series out so long. I am reading the books to find out what happened to Jamie and Claire, not their entire extended friends and family. I’d have much have preferred if the subplots involving William, Bree, the Quakers, and Ian would have been fleshed out via other venues (such as the Lord John series) rather than in these books. To be honest, I don’t care about William or Roger except as they impact Jamie and Claire.
Gabaldon spends so much time and effort creating these tangential scenes, which are beautifully written but ultimately do nothing to advance the plot, that it steals from the main story. Jamie and Claire’s reunion with Jenny, which I’d been looking forward to since they left, turned out to be really disappointing, IMO. So anticlimatic. Ditto for the reunion with Laoghaire. (And, really, how many head traumas can we expect Jamie to survive?)
Then we have the plot rehashes. Lord John marrying Claire was reminescent of Jamie marrying Laoghaire. The whole pirate ship thing has been done before. Jamie getting his finger mended by Claire has been done before. Claire masturbating as she thinks about Jamie has been done before. I’m so glad that Claire wasn’t dragged off to the gaol again because that’s been done TWICE before.
Things I wonder about:
Why was Jamie so afraid of the Scot who had witnessed him killing Dougal? There was absolutely no evidence against him other than this strange man’s word. And so, in order to protect himself against, what?, he kills him? That seemed very out of character.
How did Jamie survive on the ship after Claire’s wee little needles were left on the other ship? So much was made of Jamie’s seasickness in “Voyager” that I thought it was sloppy to think he’d be able to suddenly be cured.
You sail 6 weeks on the ocean, which is a dangerous journey anyway, let alone with pirates and the war going on…in order to retrieve a printing press? Have they never thought of writing to have it shipped over?
Do they really expect us to believe that Bree would be so judicious in the reading of her parent’s letter? I would have torn them open upon discovery and read them cover to cover.
In any event, I did like the plot twist in the end involving Geilis’ son. And I enjoyed the fact that the war has started and it’s one step closer to closing the circle.