Outlander [REIVEW]

Title: Outlander
Author: Diana Gabaldon
Pages: 640

Summing it up: Absorbing and heartwarming, this first novel lavishly evokes the land and lore of Scotland, quickening both with realistic characters and a feisty, likable heroine. English nurse Claire Beauchamp Randall and husband, Frank, take a second honeymoon in the Scottish Highlands in 1945. When Claire walks through a cleft stone in an ancient henge, she's somehow transported to 1743. She encounters Frank's evil ancestor, British captain Jonathan 'Black Jack' Randall, and is adopted by another clan. Claire nurses young soldier, James Fraser, a gallant, merry redhead, and the two begin a romance, seeing each other through my perilous, swashbuckling adventures. involving Black Jack. Scenes of the Highlanders' daily life blend poignant emotions with Scottish wit and humour. Eventually Sassenach (outlander) Claire fins a chance to return to 1945 and must choose between distant memories of Frank and her happy, uncomplicated existence with Jamie. Claire's resourcefulness and intelligent sensitivity make the love-conquers-all, happily-ever-after ending seem a just reward.

Reason I Decided to Read it: I was looking for historical books on Google and came across a wiki page for Mrs Gabaldon. I started reading the summary for this book and was like, ‘Wow! This sounds great!’… until I found out that it was time travel. Yeah, I let it be and didn’t give it another thought. One day after this incident, I was at Costco with my Mom and the whole series was there. Mom read the back and thought it was great so she wrote down the name (she’s one of those electronic reader fans *rolls eyes*). She started to read the book and thought it was great, so I decided to give it a chance. I now LOVE this series. I guess mothers DO know best!

The Good: This is possibly one of my favourite books ever. Its plot keeps you from ever wanting to put it down. The characters are some of the best I've ever seen. Jamie is kind and loving and Clair is witty and fiery. The other characters are lovable (well, some of them) and seem to jump off the page. I love Mrs Gabaldon's writing style, and try to base my own on it.

The Bad: Sometimes it's a bit too descriptive. I don't mean there is too much description, I mean that it talks about the injuries that they had in full detail (if you haven't noticed yet, I don't have the stomach for blood).

The Over-All: I don't think it's possible for anybody to hate this book. It is so wickedly amazing. Who doesn't want to read about the wonderful lives of Scots?

Other: Okay, this book isn't for the innocent. It has sex (I'd say this book is border-line smut), it has violence (well duh, there is a war coming up!), it has homosexuality (I have no problem with this, but you might), and it has rape.


Rated: 5/5.