Hatty Greenway’s Reviews > Seven Stones to Stand or Fall: A Collection of Outlander Short Stories > Status Update

Besieged (Lord John Grey 3.75).

A Plague of Zombies really leans into the supernatural that we have seen throughout all the Lord John Grey novellas. This one is set in 1761 Jamaica, where John is surrounded by people who are half themselves. Diana Gabaldon is bringing us even closer to the events of Outlander, especially by making a link between Lord John and Rose Hall. There’s only a tiny gap between this and Outlander. Thank you Gabaldon.

A Plague of Zombies (Lord John Grey 3.5)
‘HE HAD NEVER been in the presence of anyone who repelled him so acutely. He wondered why that was, there was nothing overly ill-favoured or ugly about her… And yet the widow Abernathy chilled him.’
The return of Geillis Duncan, under another guise. Pre events in Voyager.

The Battle of Crefeld 23rd June 1758.
The Battle of Quebec 13th September 1759.
The battles John fights in help him unleash his emotions amid the violence.

The way Gabaldon writes puts us right at the heart of the Battle of Quebec we feel the force of every hit the British army takes and yet they went on to win that war under the command of Major-General James Wolfe. They were fighting the French in this case.
It’s crazy to think that this novella starts with an electric eel party. I certainly would not want to attend one of those. Well done Lord John.

The Custom of the Army is a great historical novella that places us in one of the most famous battles of the Seven Years War. It follows Lord John Grey as he becomes involved in a court martial for an army colleague, Charlie Carruthers.
It’s nice to see Diana Gabaldon let history take centre stage with the Battle of Quebec with Lord John in the background, this hasn’t happened for a while.

The Custom of the Army
‘“Someone has to keep order John. Soldiers fight for all kinds of reasons….”
The word is chaos and death and destruction. But people like you - you don’t stand for that. If there is any order in the world, any peace - it’s because of you, John, those very few like you.”’