There is a saying that there is a calm before the storm. In reality, below the surface, hidden from all but the most discerning eye, is the building of pressure, the birds and animals scurrying for shelter and the whirling, changing wind. The calm before the storm is often a ruse, where tell-tale signs of the devastation to come are disguised beneath masks of normal events, all pointing a deadly finger at the true course that eventually reveals itself. The calm before a war is filled with chaos, conflict and confusion; like a slow burning fire, the flames of unrest are spread one spark at time.

In A Breath of Snow and Ashes, the Outlander odyssey continues. The saga of time-traveler Claire Fraser recommences and churns during the three volatile years before the Revolutionary War. Settlers' homes near and around Fraser's Ridge are burned and its people murdered. The sting of smoke clogs Claire and Jamie's sinuses, a constant reminder of the impending warning of their own demise by fire.

In these turbulent pre-war years, a little power, no matter how honorably given, can easily and quickly corrupt, and what had been thought of as a solution turns rapidly into a problem. Neighborhood watch groups called Committees of Safety are established as well as appointments of Indian Agents: men delegated by the King to pull the Indians in line with the use of lies, false promises and useless gifts. Jamie Fraser becomes an Indian Agent and while burdened with trivial trinkets, he has more than sophistry to share with the Native Americans. Educated by the time-travelers, his wife, Claire, his daughter, Brianna, and his son-in-law, historian Roger MacKenzie, Jamie is privy to the decimated fate that awaits the Indians.

Jamie straddles the lines of demarcation, serving the British as Indian Agent while corresponding with those who will, one day, form the Continental Congress, America's first independent governing body. As the Frasers begin their turn to the revolutionaries they must turn from friends who remain firmly entrenched with the Loyalists. They try to preserve friendships with those supporting the opposing side, while accepting the distinct possibility of facing each other on the battlefield.

In the midst of disease, other illnesses are born and fanatics are bred by the hate of the two opposing sides. Like a rock shattering the smooth surface of still water, an assault on Claire and Marsali ignites the story, sending a rippling effect through the rest of the book.

A Breath of Snow and Ashes is a chronicle of three years: the frenzied calm before the war, and the many lives, events and changes that collide during that time. Many questions posed in previous episodes are answered, such as why Ian left the Cherokee, whose child Jemmy really is, and what has happened to characters who previously hovered in the background.

Diana Gabaldon doles out the excitement and revelations in small pieces, stringing the story along, filling the gaps with entertaining but slow pieces of life. In many places the book reads like small short stories; the vignettes are entertaining, enlightening and well-crafted yet at the same time disruptive in their definitive beginnings, endings and seeming lack of cohesion. Like rest stops on a road trip, the important events often seem a little too far apart.

Ms. Gabaldon's prose is, as always, brilliantly crafted; the violence is nakedly brutal, coarse and revolting; the characters are rich, complex and starkly real; and the passion, however motivated, is deeply stirring.

As with any storm, the calm is broken with a bang and A Breath of Snow and Ashes erupts at the end with the same force as any shattered peace. The surprises are truly stunning and, while much is revealed, even more is veiled in mystery causing breathless panting anticipation for more.

Donna Russo Morin
© September 2005