I had actually forgotten, until writing up my rec, that there were other POVs in the book besides Anne's--in my memory (only a few months old) Anne is such the dominant force and personality of the novel. It's unquestionably her novel, so in the end I'm not quite sure what Eliza and Derby's POVs achieve. Which isn't to say I mind them, and I think especially with Eliza it gives the reader glimpses into her insecurities and explains her behavior more than if we had only seen her through Anne's eyes. But yes, Eliza's story is so much less satisfying then Anne's; she does everything right, everything she is supposed to, and so her life just keeps becoming more and more constrained and flat. It's painful to watch.

[Just back from the American War, trying to fit himself back into society. I would kill for a story about Lord John meeting Donoghue's Walpole, and I would love his and Anne's takes on each other--John seems to exist in a gay male world that is completely removed from even any thought of gay women, and I'd love to see that imploded.]

"Baffling" is honestly the best word for Gabaldon's writing much of the time. And I entirely agree about Hector--we know hardly anything about him, and yet I believe John's attachment to him much more than I believe his attachment to Jamie (who is, to be fair, the Gary Stu of Gary Stus--like technically we know things about him, but the cardboard cutout-ness is undeniable).