As always, I adore Claire (our heroine) because of her strength and her intelligence. She isn't a stupid woman which makes her worth reading about. Not only is she strong and capable but she is still a loving mother, a good friend and a woman. 
 Jamie is probably my favorite male character in any book. He's strong, smart, fun, capable, gentle, heroic, and honest. He is a man and has his flaws but he is a good person and tries so very hard to do right by those he loves and cares for. 
 Diana Gabaldon, in my opinion, is an excellent writer who can bring you into a world without much effort (though I'm sure there is a lot of effort on her part). She is easy to read yet her words, subject and information are intelligent. 
 As the story goes, Jamie and Claire's continuing adventure and love are something that strikes a cord with a person who doesn't like the ending "And they lived happily ever after." Did they really? Or did she get made at him and brain him with something? Did he get bite by a snake and nearly die or did they actually stand around staring at one another with goo goo eyes? Yeah, never did it for me. I always wanted to know more. 
 Diana Gabaldon provides that in a very adventurous love story/fantasy/adventure/drama. Also, she doesn't keep it to these characters but branches out into family and friends who intrigue you, anger you, and make you laugh. 
 Echo covers the lives of Jamie & Claire; William Ransom (Jamie's son, though ignorant of the fact); William's step-father Lord John Grey; Brianna, Roger and the kids; and Young Ian. She also reprises the roles of a few favorites like the Bugs, Fergus and family, Jenny and Ian, the Beardsleys (Lizzie), Buck MacKenzie, and we learn a little more about Bobby Higgins and Amy McCallum Higgins. Yes, she covers it all. She even introduces us to a William Ransom we've not seen much of and his family in the form of two (non-biological) cousins, Dottie and Henry. We also encounter Denzell and Rachel Hunter who are unusual Quakers. 
 I really enjoyed this book and the only reason I didn't give it a 5 was because the portions that were just Lord John Grey seemed out of place and confusing at times. It wasn't until the revelation of what he was doing that they made sense and that was approximately halfway into the book. I don't dislike Lord John, in fact, I rather do like him because of his continuing support and friendship to Jamie and Claire. My issue with him is mostly that his character bores me and the things he ends up involved with seem so confusing. I will say that his later inclusion into the book was fantastic and I loved having him along for the ride. 
 We do learn a lot about William Ransom. We get to see the differences and similarities to his biological father (Jamie) who he knows nothing about. One of the things I really loved about getting to know William was that at times you felt like you were getting to see a very young Jamie (a Jamie we've never met). 
 In this story, much to my delight, Young Ian comes across a girl he becomes smitten with. We also get to see a more up close and personal view of Young Ian that we lacked in the past books. It is so great to see him as a young man, who is impulsive much like his uncle. 
 Overall a great book that I would highly recommend.