Outlander Book Club: Lord John and A Plague of Zombies Section 1 breakdown

We start A Plague of Zombies Section 1 in Jamaica. It doesn’t take long to find out why Grey is supposed to be there, but also figure out that something else is going on.

This chapter is a basic introductory one. We’re caught up on the timeline, including where John is and why he’s been ordered to go there. This is important for the rest of the story. Let’s take a look inside the chapter.

Breaking down A Plague of Zombies Section 1

We’re in Jamaica in 1761. Lord John Grey has been sent there to help suppress the slave rebellion, and he needs to get the lay of the land first. So, he reports to Governor Warren, who is clearly not in total control of the island.

Warren shares a little about the rebellion, which has moved on from burning and property destruction. This rebellion is now considered responsible for the murder of a planter named Abernathy. Oh yes, there’s some foreshadowing here for those who already know Voyager.

Abernathy was murdered at his plantation, Rose Hall. The plantation was then plundered but not burned. Suspicious?

Warren orders his secretary, Mr. Dawes, to get John some maps. That’s when Warren sees the snake on the table, and John quickly grabs it as Warren flees from the room. It turns out that this seems pretty normal behavior of Dawes, which I think is interesting. How did Warren end up the governor of Jamaica?

Dawes gets the maps, which is when John notices another plantation: Twelvetrees. He doesn’t have much time to think about this as Dawes explains more about the maroons, the escape slaves and their descendants. Captain Creswell is in charge of them, but he is unavailable. We already have some suspicious people.

Could this chapter be used in a TV show adaptation?

If A Plague of Zombies was used in an adaptation, we would need this chapter. It sets the story of things to come, both in terms of the rebellion and the murder investigation. There is also the hint that there could be problems with the Twelvetrees family again.

There is no way around using this chapter. That means we need to see this chapter if there was a Lord John Grey series and this novella was used.

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