User Reviews

I'm still reading Drums of Autumn, but I divided the pages by number of episodes and I'm reaching what should be the end of episode 4. So I feel like I can safely say Roger never proposes and Brianna doesn't reject him or leave the final celebration. In the book, Brianna has feelings for Roger and is driving him a 100m through traffic to get him to the festival when she endearingly and awkwardly lets Roger know how she feels and he kisses her. At the festival, Roger does sing a song and they are there at the bonfire. It is when Roger is introduced into the stage for his song that she discovers his real last name, Mackenzie, which he technically doesn't go by. When everyone is cheering for the names, he cheers for Mackenzie and she for Fraser. They don't have a fight.

In the book, there is a whole plot line of a woman dying in an abortion procedure. Jamie and Claire find her in a hidden room in a mill and this prompts an investigation into who the girl is and who operated on her. During this investigation, they run into some sergents from Jaime's past and they find the slave who did the abortion. Jocasta Jamie and Claire believe the girl will be killed so they get Myers to guide them into the woods with Ian to give her to an Indigenous tribe. At a certain point, Meyers and Ian leave Jamie and Claire to give the slave to the tribe. Then Jamie and Claire have a run in with a bear and Jamie beats the bear. This is when three aborigines approach them and I haven't read past that. But no where did I read about the skull, mineral, ghost or phantom boots.

Also, the reason Ian stays is different in the book. Rather than Ian convincing Jamie he is a man, Jamie gets two letters from his brother in law. One is meant to be read with Ian and the other is marked private. It is here that the brother in law asks Jamie to keep Ian. He is scared of troubles brewing and how Ian may be enticed by war as he will see being a soldier as an adventure. Jamie agrees to keep Ian.

I haven't gotten to the Fraser Ridge part yet. Overall I thought the adaptation was interesting.

The Brianna and Roger scenes were a nice distraction from what is going on two centuries earlier in the other world. I was surprised they had Roger talk to a lady that way as well.

The Jamie and Claire stuff was good too. This show is starting to find its voice in Season 4 and I hope the upward trend in quality continues.

I didn't like Briana in the books and I feel the same about her character in the series. In the books she continues to get more unreasonable and disrespectful. Brianna becomes the typical "millennial" of the 18th century. Poor Roger. On the other hand, I love the way the story is progressing. Important scenes are included that will mean a lot later on....even though the sequences do not follow the books.

As I continued reading the book, I realized the dialogue, slapping and falling on top of each other did happen. First, it all takes place on Christmas Eve in Scotland. Breanna comes out of the shower and they happen to tumble and she does say she wants it and he does say not like this. Then they go to Christmas mass and on their walk home we get the same dialogue and slap.

Part 5: Strawberry Fields Forever ends with the line about the law of thermodynamics and faith that we saw earlier when Claire and Jamie are making love. In the book, Jamie knows many languages and had earlier taught Ian Greek and Latin on the boat before they were pirated. Here, its Jamie translating for Claire what the aborigines are saying. Claire is the one eating strawberries rather than Jamie and they do have a conversation about him envisioning life there. Claire flips out at Jamie, because she keeps remembering his grave in Scotland and she worries he dies there looking for people to settle his land. I also forgot to mention Brianna and Roger's name game in the car is also in the book. I'm starting to wonder if my version of the show which I purchase on Google Play (as the Canadian Prime Video doesn't have Outlander) is a different edit that plays elsewhere. Although I'm not one that *needs* sex scenes, there are far less in the Google Play episodes than there are in the book. I believe I saw two different versions of the first two episodes. I thought the non Google Play one was 90 minutes in length rather than two separate 40ish minutes long episodes and it featured an extra sex scene and Joe Abernathy (both of which took place in the book).