I hate to say this, perhaps because I am so late to the game when it comes to Diana Gabaldon and the Outlander series but I have never been so glad I waited so long to read a series.

The simple reason is this, if I had had to wait so long after An Echo in the Bone to read Written in My Own Heart’s Blood I would’ve gone insane. Seriously.

So here are my thoughts in no particular order.

• Diana Gabaldon continues to handle the world her characters live in with grace and respect.
• It is still so insanely well researched and I am so impressed by the depth of the research.
• The suspense in these two novels in particular had me turning the pages rapidly in search of what would happen next.
• Claire Beauchamp Randall Fraser remains one of my favourite characters.
• Jamie Fraser is still one of my favourites as well. That Bloody Man.
• Ian appears to grow more and more with each novel which makes me happy.
• It was refreshing to learn a little bit more about the quakers as admittedly that is not something I’m too familiar with but these two books left me wanting to learn more about that lifestyle in particular during that time in history.
• William aggravated me in the beginning of MOBY but by the end I wanted to hear more about him.
• I am charmed by these books and everything that occurs within them. While some people do complain about what they see as filler in the every day life chapters I actually enjoy them quite a bit because it makes everything a touch more realistic.
• I can’t wait to read the next book, though I know I’ll have to wait four more years.

I have never been more happy, or moved so quickly through books of this size in a very long time. I’m enjoying it quite a lot.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes books about time travel, who likes fantasy, or historical fantasy or just loves being dragged into a book by a plot that just doesn’t want to let you go, and you don’t want to let go of it.