Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade by Diana Gabaldon

This was interesting, though a little long. It also had two plot lines which could have been 2 separate stories really.

The first plot line was about being homosexual when it was illegal and you could be executed if you were caught. That was very interesting, and the moral and social issues were covered well. In the eighteenth century what you did affected your family much more than now, even to job and marriage prospects; more pressure and guilt on the homosexual man.

The other plot line covered the mystery surrounding the death of parent many years ago, and efforts to solve it - this bit kept popping in and out of sight in the story line, as the trail went from one person to another. It wasn't as interesting.

The Angel and the Sword by Cecelia Holland

This is marketed as a historical novel, because as it is set in the ninth century Holland can pass off the fantasy elements as theology. An angel is protecting the main character, Ragna, because she is the last person descended from the line of the rightful kings of Spain; or possibly because her mother has power over the supernatural.

This is a well written novel, with a decent plot, but I just didn't find it very interesting. Ragna didn't seem a very consistent character to me, even taking into account her need for disguise.

The Angel and the Sword first published 2000

A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon

I borrowed this from the library. I find Gabaldon enthralling while I'm reading her, but have doubts whenever I put whichever book down. I was trying to think why yesterday, as she passes the Plot, Characterisation, Style test I usually apply to books - if the book gets a really high score in one element I'm inclined to forgive deficiencies in another element, though I insist on a conceded pass in style as a minimum. But when I thought about it again I wonder if she does pass the Plot element - her plots are a bit too much like life, just one damn thing after another*. I wonder if I mean no theme apart from survival?

However, she does very satisfactory endings and beginnings, she slides in information you need from previous books or history in a graceful and unobtrusive manner, and her past is a different country*, for example not at all full of eighteenth century women with feisty feminist attitudes. And I always have to keep reading to find out what happens next. So I will probably continue to read her books, though not buy them.

I saw the lady who runs the local second hand shop reading this book at her counter when it first came out in Australia - I had just seen it in new arrivals at Angus & Robertson Books on the next block. "Goodness, has someone brought in the latest Gabaldon already!" I exclaimed - "No," she said, "It will be far too long before someone brings one in, I bought it new today before I opened up." She wasn't planning on selling it once read, either.

*And for those of you who like to know the origin of quotes: Life is just one damned thing after another. Elbert Hubbard (1856 - 1915). The past is a different country; they do things differently there." L.P. Hartley in "The Go-Between"
A Breath of Snow and Ashes first published in 2005