Title: Outlander
Author: Diana Gabaldon
E-book edition, 733 pages
Published: June 1st 1991
Publisher: Dell
✰✰.5
The year is 1945. Claire Randall, a former combat nurse, is just back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon when she walks through a standing stone in one of the ancient circles that dot the British Isles. Suddenly she is a Sassenach—an “outlander”—in a Scotland torn by war and raiding border clans in the year of Our Lord...1743.
Hurled back in time by forces she cannot understand, Claire is catapulted into the intrigues of lairds and spies that may threaten her life, and shatter her heart. For here James Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior, shows her a love so absolute that Claire becomes a woman torn between fidelity and desire—and between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives.
I had no intention to read this book or whatsoever. But Sasha (abookutopia on Youtube) loves this book so much, she has around 4/5 copies of this book. Plus this book is turned into a tv show. And I also never read anything about Scotland or set in Scotland (except for Silver and watching Reign) and I know nothing about it (except Mary of Scots of course) so why not?
Unfortunately, I have mixed feelings about this book. There are things that both I love and hate. First of all, this book is 733 pages long. I think it's the longest book I had read in a while, and it just feels too much for me. I just can't. The writing is so detailed, down to the smallest rock. I love how easy it was to visualised being in Scotland, but it also feels tedious and too much. I love Claire and Jamie. It wasn't love at the first sight, they actually get to know each other first and fall in love gradually. I love how they love each other passionately and completely. But I'm sorry, they have too much sex in my opinion. I know this is an adult book, but do we have to get sex scenes in every places they visit?
Also this book is so slow paced. It could spend days on the road, or castle, or hiding, doing nothing other than everyday chores. While it helps me imagine how life were in 1745 Scotland, it gets boring. And I love how the Scots actually speak in their own accent, even though I had trouble understanding them. It just feels more real.
Overall, I think this book is too mature and too much for me. I like the plot, but the pace and the length of this book turned me off. I don't think I would continue this series, but I would definitely check the TV show out. And I would definitely read Into the Dim, which is supposed to be the YA version of Outlander.
- 10:00 AM
- 12 Comments
