2005-01-25 Essential for the die-hard fan

If you, like me have been entranced by Diana Gabaldon's Outlander/Cross Stitch series of novels, then you will want this book to fill in all those unanswered questions that have popped into your head while reading (...what did that Gaelic phrase mean? Who was that character from book 2 that you'd forgotten about? Exactly what did Claire's wedding ring look like?). However, be careful because there's a chapter containing synopses of the first 4 books. If, like me you are tempted to buy this book before you've read the whole series and don't want your future reading spoiled - be warned!!
I was fascinated by the descriptions by the author on how she got her inspiration for many of the ideas and characters in the series, and the Gaelic language bit was good fun and interesting stuff! It's the sort of book you'll want to dip in and out of rather than read straight through. The minus points are the rather frustrating index of foreign phrases and list of "dramatis personae" which are not in alphabetical order (grrr!)and the rather pointless astrological charts which some might find fascinating, but come on - these are fictional characters, not real people!
To sum up - buy it if you must, but much of the information within is easily obtainable on the Internet, so I'd advise you to save your money for the next instalment of the series instead.