Outside of a Dog: Gabaldon, Diana: (201) Lord John and the Private Matter

Joni

Joni wrote on January 21, 2004 at 9:59 PM:

I recently read this book and found it quite fun. It was fluffy Gabaldon. It wasn't as compelling as some of her other books, but I found my house falling apart as I preferred to read rather than clean.

Having said that, I will also say that mysteries never impress me, so I don't really care about that aspect. I didn't really see a key obfuscating detail that seemed gratuitous, but this could be due to my cluelessness.

I did miss the tension on a personal level. I think Gabaldon is quite good at that (I'm rereading Outlander and finding it much more compelling because of that). I'm looking forward to the next books in the series. This one wasn't up to her normal standards, but I still found it a reasonable read.

I've found you by way of Thomas Yan, by the way.

Kate

Kate wrote on January 21, 2004 at 10:27 PM:

(SPOILERS!)

The novella in _Legends II_ is better on the personal tension front, though I'm a touch disappointed because I thought we'd get "Lord John goes to Germany, sparks fly with big blond man" in the next book, and instead it *looks* like that story's complete in the novella. (Which will make the opening of the second book odd, because the German story is so clearly set up by the end of the book.)

As for details, it was the shaved legs I was thinking of--we never found out why the owner thereof bothered. Which annoyed me.

I'm definitely a fan; her novella was the first thing I read in the latest _Legends_. But I wonder if a single unified plot isn't difficult for her.

Joni

Joni wrote on January 22, 2004 at 1:11 PM:

Yikes, I had no idea about Legends II. I just put it on hold. I agree that the end of the book totally sets the scene for John and the German. Maybe the novella will be included in the next novel?

Re: shaved legs... It is true that it seemed sort of gratuitous, but I guess I just thought she was trying to portray that guy (whose name I've already forgotten) as somehow different (and worse) from John even though both enjoy intimate relations with men.

What I was wondering about was whether John was going to end up with syphilis too. Didn't he have sex with that guy too? Maybe I'm just confused about the transmission means though.

Kate

Kate wrote on January 22, 2004 at 1:25 PM:

I hope the novella doesn't end up included, because that would be 1) very strange, when you see the shape of the story and 2) kind of a cheat for the reader.

As far as syphillis, I doubt it has a 100% effective transmission rate, but I can't recall who John might've slept with to put him at risk, anyway.

Joni

Joni wrote on January 22, 2004 at 1:29 PM:

Yes, it would definitely be a cheat for the reader. I assume that Gabaldon will assume her readers will know this story. I guess we will just have to see what she does.

As for who John slept with, didn't he sleep with Mayerhofer at the Lavender house? I could have sworn that was what I read, but maybe in my haste I was confused.