Outlander Book Club: A Breath of Snow and Ashes Chapter 1 breakdown

Just the Outlander chapter

The chapter starts with Young Ian and Rollo in the forest. That’s where they’re sleeping since returning, but they’re not alone. There are other people there, and potentially not friends.

The men who turn up view Young Ian as a threat. He can’t take them all and he’s hit over the head. He does manage to remain conscious enough to tell Rollo to run away. Rollo doesn’t want to leave Young Ian, but he eventually does.

Young Ian thinks to himself that nobody would know he had died if he dies here. His mother would never know what had happened to him. He does consider calling out to the men since they’re white, but there’s no guarantee that they will help him. Could they decide to attack, viewing him as a threat?

It’s not clear at which point in Young Ian’s journey this part of the story takes place. Is it on the way back to Fraser’s Ridge or is it when he’s already at Fraser’s Ridge in The Fiery Cross? I guess we just assume he’s already made it back to his uncle and he’s just chosen to sleep outside because that’s what he is used to after all this time.

I do love this chapter. It sets that immediate sense of danger, and we get to see Young Ian from his own point of view. Seeing characters through others’ eyes means we don’t really get to know who they are. We come across as different people to other individuals. Even our parents will view us as someone different to our best friends or partners. It’s important to get to know characters from their own perspective to add a sense of well-rounded character, and I love that A Breath of Snow and Ashes Chapter 1 makes it clear we’ll get to know more of Young Ian.