Claudia (BrokenWing) reviewed on
Helpful Score: 3
Wow! I wish there were more stars so I could give this series at least 10!
(also on amazon.com)
A friend of mine recommended this book and I was a little leery about reading it at first due to the time travel component (sounded weird and I've never been a scifi fan), but finally decided to read it because my friend spoke so highly of it and our tastes are very similar.
I've never written a book review before, but feel compelled to comment on this one. Outlander is an intoxicating combination of historical action/adventure fiction, time travel and romance. There are lots of plot twists, as much action as a James Bond movie and as many characters as a Dickens novel. The characters are so vividly drawn that you feel you know them as intimate friends by the end of the book/series. The historical details are fascinating and life in 18th century Scotland is described in such exquisite detail that you feel as if you have visited Scotland.
However, be warned. These books are highly addictive! If you read this, you will be compelled to read the rest of the books in this series (to date, dragonfly in amber, voyager, drums of autumn, fiery cross, and breath of snow and ashes). I read all six of the series in six weeks (6000+ pages / 3 million words). My husband says I became obsessed with the books and read them to the exclusion of everything else including housework, friends, family and him. It became so bad that by the time I was nearing the end of the last book, (breath of snow and ashes), he was threatening to leave me unless I gave up reading.
Jamie Fraser is hero with whom no living man can compare. He is at once a fierce, courageous, protective warrior and yet a passionate, tender, sentimental and sensitive husband with a very engaging sense of humor to boot and you just can't get enough of him and his feisty, bold, smart wife Claire. Jamie's love for Claire is so selfless and unconditional that it is at times heartbreaking. I found the scene where he takes Claire back to the standing stones (thinking that she wants to return to her own time and that it's not safe for her to remain in the 17th century) so touching that I cried. He explains later that he prayed all the way up that hill; not for her to stay, because that wouldn't have been right. Instead, He prayed for the strength not to fall on his knees and beg her to stay.
Even my husband enjoyed the book. Although the ending of Outlander is disturbing and upsetting, it does not diminish the book in any wary --rather it adds to it. I've come to realize that the plot twists at the end of her books are a technique of Diana's--just when you think everything is fine and we're going to have a happily ever after, Diana pulls the rug out from under your feet and the characters experience some (often life threatening) disaster which they must surmount; sometimes it's more than one disaster in succession. It keeps you excitedly turning pages up to the very last page. I find Outlander the best of the series, then Voyager and then Breath of Snow and Ashes, although each one is a very good novel capable of standing on its own; none of them disappoint.
It is an insult to Diana Gabaldon to classify this as a "romance" novel just because it does have some romance in it among the other plot themes. I think historical/action adventure would be more accurate. It is so much more than others of the romance genre. I'm afraid she has ruined me for other authors. I picked up a couple of other novels to read while I'm waiting for Diana's next installment in the series (due in 2-3 years) and nothing else quite compares.
Oh, and BTW, it couldn't be any further removed from a 1980's style "bodice ripper", to which some inane reviewer compares it.
Write faster, Diana! Write Faster!
(also on amazon.com)
A friend of mine recommended this book and I was a little leery about reading it at first due to the time travel component (sounded weird and I've never been a scifi fan), but finally decided to read it because my friend spoke so highly of it and our tastes are very similar.
I've never written a book review before, but feel compelled to comment on this one. Outlander is an intoxicating combination of historical action/adventure fiction, time travel and romance. There are lots of plot twists, as much action as a James Bond movie and as many characters as a Dickens novel. The characters are so vividly drawn that you feel you know them as intimate friends by the end of the book/series. The historical details are fascinating and life in 18th century Scotland is described in such exquisite detail that you feel as if you have visited Scotland.
However, be warned. These books are highly addictive! If you read this, you will be compelled to read the rest of the books in this series (to date, dragonfly in amber, voyager, drums of autumn, fiery cross, and breath of snow and ashes). I read all six of the series in six weeks (6000+ pages / 3 million words). My husband says I became obsessed with the books and read them to the exclusion of everything else including housework, friends, family and him. It became so bad that by the time I was nearing the end of the last book, (breath of snow and ashes), he was threatening to leave me unless I gave up reading.
Jamie Fraser is hero with whom no living man can compare. He is at once a fierce, courageous, protective warrior and yet a passionate, tender, sentimental and sensitive husband with a very engaging sense of humor to boot and you just can't get enough of him and his feisty, bold, smart wife Claire. Jamie's love for Claire is so selfless and unconditional that it is at times heartbreaking. I found the scene where he takes Claire back to the standing stones (thinking that she wants to return to her own time and that it's not safe for her to remain in the 17th century) so touching that I cried. He explains later that he prayed all the way up that hill; not for her to stay, because that wouldn't have been right. Instead, He prayed for the strength not to fall on his knees and beg her to stay.
Even my husband enjoyed the book. Although the ending of Outlander is disturbing and upsetting, it does not diminish the book in any wary --rather it adds to it. I've come to realize that the plot twists at the end of her books are a technique of Diana's--just when you think everything is fine and we're going to have a happily ever after, Diana pulls the rug out from under your feet and the characters experience some (often life threatening) disaster which they must surmount; sometimes it's more than one disaster in succession. It keeps you excitedly turning pages up to the very last page. I find Outlander the best of the series, then Voyager and then Breath of Snow and Ashes, although each one is a very good novel capable of standing on its own; none of them disappoint.
It is an insult to Diana Gabaldon to classify this as a "romance" novel just because it does have some romance in it among the other plot themes. I think historical/action adventure would be more accurate. It is so much more than others of the romance genre. I'm afraid she has ruined me for other authors. I picked up a couple of other novels to read while I'm waiting for Diana's next installment in the series (due in 2-3 years) and nothing else quite compares.
Oh, and BTW, it couldn't be any further removed from a 1980's style "bodice ripper", to which some inane reviewer compares it.
Write faster, Diana! Write Faster!
