Category Archives: Outlander series

March 23, 2013 · 6:00 am

The Space Between by Diana Gabaldon

 

Diana Gabaldon

 

Okay, let’s be honest – this review is only going to interest you if you’re an Outlander fan. Which you SHOULD be, because the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon is probably one of the greatest things ever written in the history of the universe.

The Space Between is a novella / short story that was recently published in an anthology The Mad Scientist’s Guide to World Domination. I’m not a big one for short stories or anthologies, so I borrowed this book from the library just to read Gabaldon’s story. It’s also featured in A Trail of Fire (a book of four Outlander and Lord John related short stories), which hasn’t been released in the US yet but is available in the UK.

Anyways, The Space Between is about Michael Murray escorting Joan MacKenzie to Paris, where she plans to join a convent. This is taking place at the same time as the end of An Echo in the Bone, so you should probably only read it if you’re up-to-date on the Outlander series. Michael is grieving for his dead wife and another family member, and Joan is trying to escape some things she doesn’t understand. Events take place, which I can’t mention here (it’s surprising how many spoilers are in an 82-page story), but it DEFINITELY gives a lot of food for thought. I’m wondering now if we’ll see more of Michael and Joan’s stories in book #8 (hopefully to be out late this year) and if so, how much events there will affect Jamie and Claire’s main storyline. Just a hint - Master Raymond appears in this story. I find Raymond SOOOOO intriguing, so this was very exciting. I now have a million questions, but that’s to be expected from such a little teaser.

 Man I love this series.

Sarah Says: 4 stars

 

 

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December 17, 2012 · 5:10 pm

An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon

So many pretty covers... except for the green slime one.

So many pretty covers… except for the green slime one.

 

REMEMBER, THIS IS THE 7TH BOOK! IF YOU HAVEN’T READ THE FIRST 6 THERE WILL BE SPOILERS. YOU KNOW, YOU SHOULD REALLY GO READ THE REST OF THE SERIES AND THEN COME BACK HERE, KAY?

 

Alright, I’m finally done re-reading the Outlander series! Since I spread it out over the last 2 years, I feel like it was a nice and relaxing. Now all I have to do is wait for the 8th book to come out, hopefully sometime next fall!

I’ve only read An Echo in the Bone once before (I’ve read all of the others in the series like 3 or 4 times at least), so I was really excited to see if my opinion of it has changed. And it has! But in case you’re interested, here’s the link to the review from the last time I read it, about 3 years ago. I was actually kind of nice in that review, because I remember being pretty angry about it. I was actually tempted to THROW the book at one point – but I didn’t of course, because it was a big beautiful hardcover.

ANYWAYS. A Breath of Snow and Ashes ended with Jamie & Claire’s house on Fraser’s Ridge burning down, them planning on going to Scotland to get Jamie’s printing press, and Brianna, Roger, and their kids head back to the present. Lots of upheaval, and right on the brink of the Revolutionary War.

A whole lot of stuff happens in this book, because there are four storylines. This really irritated me back when I first read the book. I love these books because I love Jamie and Claire, and it sucked that there was so much time dedicated to Roger/Brianna, Young Ian, and William/Lord John. Having re-read it, and at a much more leisurely pace than last time, it didn’t bug me quite as much. I think maybe I could have done without so many William/Lord John chapters, but I have a better appreciation for them now and their role in the overall story.

So, stuff that happens… well, Young Ian is finally healing after the disaster of his marriage to Emily, and that made me happy. He’s SUCH an awesome character, I really wish that Diana Gabaldon would write a whole series just for him. Or at least a novella. Jamie and Claire go through hell trying to make it across the sea to Scotland, including two major Revolutionary War battles (Ticonderoga and Saratoga). William is getting his first taste of being a soldier, and Lord John is of course working on some kind of political mystery that involves Fergus.

I liked this book a lot better than last time. I took time to appreciate the writing and just enjoy being with the characters again. These are the only books in which I actually MISS the characters when I’m not reading the books. They’re just so real. I’m already looking forward to my next big re-read in another year or two.

That being said, I have two main issues with this book:

1. That it ends on SO many cliffhangers. Diana doesn’t usually do that - all of the other books end on a solid note, with you looking forward to the next book but things more or less wrapped up for the moment. This one literally ends in the middle of a ton of action, confusion, and a ton of stuff happening. It feels… sloppy.

2. This is a big spoiler, but it’s the thing I dislike most in this book. Highlight if you want to read it… Claire heads back to America from Scotland, and Jamie follows later. Except Claire hears that the ship he was on went down and there were no survivors, so she thinks he’s dead. Soooo… she marries Lord John to protect herself and Fergus and his family, which I can understand. But… then her and Lord John sleep together, out of grief or whatever. WHAT. THE. FUCK. This whole situation makes no sense – Claire’s not stupid, she knows that in this day and age plans change and that even though that the ship he was SUPPOSED to be on, it doesn’t mean that he actually was on it. I guess it just bothers me that she so blindly accepts that he died, and she doesn’t even attempt to find out for sure. And then to go and sleep with Lord John, one of his good friends… just what the hell. This was totally unnecessary. UGH.

 

So yeah. I still have some complaints, but overall this book wasn’t as bad as I remember it being. With the exception of how rushed the ending was and that other thing that happens, I really enjoyed it. I can’t wait for Written in My Own Heart’s Blood to come out! I’m sure it’ll be the highlight of 2013.

 

Sarah Says: 4 stars

 

 

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September 18, 2012 · 4:39 pm

A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon

Even though I own 3 copies of this book, I don’t have that pretty UK cover yet… sigh.

 

Yayyyy, another Outlander review! REMEMBER, THIS IS THE 6TH BOOK! IF YOU HAVEN’T READ THE FIRST 5 THERE WILL BE SPOILERS. AND REALLY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH YOUR LIFE? GO READ THESE BOOKS!

And, in case you’re interested here are my reviews for the first five books:

Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber, Voyager, Drums of Autumn, The Fiery Cross

 

So. At the end of The Fiery Cross, stuff was happening. The Frasers were settling down on the Ridge, and there was basically a lot of set-up waiting for the American Revolution to get closer. A Breath of Snow and Ashes starts off pretty much the same, with about 3 years to go until the start of the American Revolution. There are worrisome murders happening throughout the countryside… houses burned down and families being hung. Roger and Brianna have decided to stay, even though they know war is coming. Roger finally decides what he wants to do, as a calling or career. Brianna keeps making and building stuff, usually at the risk of something blowing up. We learn what happened to Young Ian when he was away and why he came back. Claire and Jamie have a really rough time of things in this book – not relationship troubles, but tragedy definitely strikes. There’s plots, intrigue, murder, deception, romance, and action abound in this one.

I flew through this in about a week. Of course, it’s a re-read, but still. That’s impressive for a 950-ish page trade paperback. I forgot how much I like this one. SO much good stuff happens. It rarely gets dull – there’s always something happening. And there are a couple big mysteries in this one, and happily I forgot how they ended up so when I re-read it, it was a surprise :-) Also, I like Brianna a lot more in this book than in the others. She’s so inventive, and the times she did get a little rage-y it was understandable.

And of course, I just love love love Jamie and Claire. I teared up at a couple parts. And, (not that this really spoils anything) the book ends with basically the start of the war. I think that makes me treasure this book a little more… I like seeing the Frasers at home and whatnot, and knowing that they’re about to be thrown into the chaos of war and battles makes me appreciate the more domestic scenes in this book.

I really want to go ahead and re-read #7, An Echo in the Bone now. I’m trying to make myself wait until November, because the 8th book won’t be out until early 2013 (I HOPE) and I want it to stay fresh in my mind before the new release. But since I’ve only read AEITB once before, I’m really, really looking forward to the re-read – even if I remember it being my least favorite.

 

Sarah Says: 5 stars :-)

 

 

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April 25, 2012 · 9:41 am

The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon

The Fiery Cross covers

Hey guys! So I’ve been very slowly re-reading the Outlander series since 2011, and now it’s time to review book #5, The Fiery Cross. SO REMEMBER THIS WILL BE ALL SPOILER-Y IF YOU HAVEN’T READ THE FIRST FOUR BOOKS. IF YOU DON’T CARE ABOUT THAT SORT OF THING THEN PLEASE, READ ON.

Also, here are my reviews for the first four books:

Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber, Voyager, Drums of Autumn

At the end of Drums of Autumn, everything was pretty hunky-dory. The Frasers are happily setting up their settlement known as Fraser’s Ridge. Brianna had the baby (Jemmy) and Roger gets rescued and decides to stay in the past, even though the baby might not be his, and they agree to get married. Jamie and Claire know that the American Revolution is coming and that they’re likely going to get swept up in it. The book ends with them all at The Gathering, that annual get-together of just about every Scot in the New World.

The Fiery Cross is probably the slowest-paced of all of the books, and it’s the first one in the series that doesn’t make me tear up at some point. That being said, it’s still a great book – you get to see a lot of Jamie and Claire being all domestic and that makes me happy. Also, there’s still a lot of action. There’s both attempted and actual murder, there’s battle, there’s tragedy, there’s romance, etc. Brianna and Roger are trying to get used to married life and get over the scars that Stephen Bonnett left. Roger has to deal with a serious injury that makes him question his purpose. Jamie and Claire are getting new tenants to settle down and are preparing for the revolution coming, only about 3 years away. There’s weddings, gold, snake bites, bears, ghosts, and a favorite character makes a welcome return.

Also, this book has one of my favorite quotes in the series:

“When the day shall come, that we do part,” he said softly, and turned to look at me, “if my last words are not ‘I love you’ – ye’ll ken it was because I didna have time.”

Awww. So even though the plot is a little slower than the other books, this is still a fantastic book and a great addition to the series. It also sets up a lot of important events to come in book #6, A Breath of Snow and Ashes.

 

Sarah Says: 5 stars

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December 31, 2011 · 11:11 am

The Scottish Prisoner: A Lord John Novel by Diana Gabaldon

 

Yay yay yay!!!! OKAY so for those of you who aren’t familiar with Diana Gabaldon’s books, she’s the author of the Outlander series, AKA the best series EVER. The Outlander series is about the epic awesomeness that is Jamie and Claire Fraser. In that series is a secondary character named Lord John – an Englishman, and a friend of Jamie’s.

Diana Gabaldon also has another series, The Lord John series, that is based on him. They’re much shorter books than the Outlander novels, and they’re written as mysteries – basically little stories that give us glimpses into Lord John’s life when he’s not around in the Outlander series.

THIS book, The Scottish Prisoner, is the latest Lord John novel, but it’s different because it’s the only one that features so much of Jamie Fraser in it as well. The story takes place in 1760, so between the events of the second and third Outlander novels (Dragonfly in Amber and Voyager). Because this is written half in the voice of Lord John and half in the voice of Jamie, I definitely recommend reading the first three books of the Outlander series before reading this book. Most of the Lord John novels are written so that you can just kind of dive in anywhere, but not this one.

So anyways, Jamie is living as a paroled prisoner at Helwater – 14 years after The Rising – thanks to Lord John finding him the position as groomsman in the stables. His daily life is getting on fine until an old-time friend of his, Tobias Quinn, shows up wanting Jamie’s help in a new Jacobite plot. Lord John is in London and brings a packet of papers to his brother Hal - a packet of papers incriminating a member of the army of numerous serious crimes. Within that packet is a poem or verse in a language that they can’t quite make out until they learn that it is Erse – or basically, Irish. Knowing no one else that they can ask without drawing unwanted attention, Hal has Jamie dragged to London from Helwater to try to translate it.

A series of events leads to Jamie and Lord John being forced to travel to Ireland together, to bring justice upon a villainous man and to possibly prevent another doomed Jacobite rising.

So, for reasons that I won’t go into in case people haven’t read the books already, Jamie and Lord John are seriously pissed off at each other in the beginning of this book, and friendship seems impossible. Of course being thrown together against your will has a way of making people get along, and this book is really about how Jamie and Lord John start their friendship after such a rough and almost unforgiveable beginning.

This is definitely my favorite Lord John book, but that probably goes without saying since Jamie is in it so much. While I really like Lord John and think he’s a really fun character in the Outlander series, he actually comes off a little two-dimensional in his own series. We aren’t given enough glimpses into his past personal life, and they’re usually focused more on the mystery at hand that himself. Here, he definitely shines; he’s emotional and passionate and all action-y.

So, basically this is an awesome addition to both the Outlander series, and the Lord John series. PLUS it comes with a sneak peek preview to the next Outlander book, Written in My Own Heart’s Blood, which will hopefully be out sometime in the next two years.

 

Sarah Says: 5 out of 5 stars and READ THE DARN SERIES!

 

 

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October 10, 2011 · 6:00 am

A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows by Diana Gabaldon

So, Songs of Love and Death is an anthology that came out almost a year ago and I finally received a copy of it from Paperbackswap. I’ve been wanting this book just to read one little 40-page novella in it – A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows by Diana Gabaldon because it’s Outlander-related. So I’m sorry, but if you haven’t read the Outlander series this really isn’t going to interest you. For the very few readers I have that like the series as much as I do – enjoy! (But keep in mind, there may be a couple spoilers here cause it’s only 40 pages long…)

So this is the star-crossed love story of Roger Wakefield’s (AKA Roger MacKenzie’s) parents, Jerry and Marjorie MacKenzie. Jerry as we already knew was an air pilot. In this short story, he’s training for a special mission when something goes terribly awry and he ends up near a circle of standing stones. Now he’s stuck in what he thinks must be the past and is trying desperately to find a way home, when he runs into two strangers…

So I’m not going to ruin the ending for you, but this was a really good, sad story about Roger’s parents. You can see certain characteristics in Jerry that we’re familiar with in Roger. We also get a glimpse of Frank Randall (Claire’s first husband) and learn a little about what he did in the war. There is also a BIG GIANT HINT of something that is likely to occur in the 8th book (which I believe will be called Written in My Own Heart’s Blood) and ohmygod I can’t wait until it comes out. Sadly though it’ll be at least another two years.

Reading this and enjoying it so much has made me realize that I really need to find and collect ALL of the anthologies that Diana includes short Outlander-related stories in. And there are a ton, but they’re usually worth reading.

Outlander fans, as long as you’re caught up on the series then I highly recommend find a copy of this anthology and reading the novella.

Other readers – I may browse through the rest of this anthology, and if I read any of the other novellas I’ll post reviews for those too.

Sarah Says: 5 stars! And that’s a lot for such a short story :-)

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October 7, 2011 · 6:30 am

Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon

The old cover, the current cover, the UK cover. All the same AWESOME book.

 I’ve been slowly re-reading the Outlander series this year – this is book #4. So keep in mind, there will be spoilers about the 1st three books here.

So, Jamie & Claire have come to America! The book starts in 1767 in the New World, with them setting off to make a life for themselves with nephew Young Ian and his pet wolfdog Rollo tagging along. (As well as Fergus and family.)They have almost nothing to start off with but as always find ways to survive and eventually they find land to call their own, deep in the woods of North Carolina.

In the present time, which is 1969, Brianna and Roger are continuing their awkward long-distance romance. That is, until Brianna discovers a death notice of Claire and Jamie, and rushes off through the stones and into the past to try to prevent it, with Roger belatedly coming after her to try to protect her. Once reunited in 1760′s America, their relationship seems more solid – until tragedy strikes and changes their lives completely.

So I guess I can’t say much more than that or I’d be getting super-spoilery and you know, if you haven’t read this book yet that would suck for you. LOTS of stuff happening in this one – it doesn’t get boring because there’s always something going on. I love all of the Outlander books almost equally but for different reasons – the first two because I love seeing Jamie & Claire in their first years together, the third book because they’re reunited and off having adventures, and this one because they finally start to get the domestic settled life that they’re been trying for. It’s so exciting to see them coming to America in the pre-Revolutionary War days and carving out a life in the mountains.

I love love love Jamie & Claire. Haven’t I said that a bajillion times on this blog? But it’s true. Jamie has to be the most well-crafted, well-written, well-fleshed out character ever written. And Claire ain’t so bad herself :-) And together they are truly amazing, even though they’re approaching 50 in this book.

Brianna and Roger I am slightly less enthusiastic about. I can say that I like Brianna the most in this book – maybe it’s because we hear her thoughts more. But she still still makes some damn stupid decisions in this book that set off bad shit happening later. And I think that Roger is great, and I’m happy for them and generally want good things for them – they’re no epic couple like J&C though.

And Young Ian! I would love it if Diana Gabaldon gave him is own series – he’s one of my absolute favorite characters in the series.

Anyways, enough of my gushing – this book is just as good as the first three. And so far, even though this is my third re-read – all four have still made me cry. We’ll see if book #5, The Fiery Cross, can do the same – last time I read it I remember thinking that it was one of my lesser favorites. We’ll see.

Sarah Says: 5 bright-ass stars

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September 3, 2011 · 4:05 am

To be or not to be… a supernatural creature.

So, recently reading and reviewing Perfect Fudge by Hazel M. Larsen (see previous post) has got me thinking about supernatural creatures, and the choices characters make in these books about whether or not to be one (if they even have the choice). Now, as a human I don’t want to live forever. I’m hoping to keel over when I’m a little over 70. But as a supernatural creature, it’d be so fun to be immortal. I know that’s not everyone’s cup of tea.

So, here are a bunch of supernatural / paranormal / fantastical beings I’ve read books or seen movies about.

Angels: I’m about to get a little spoiler-y here, because I want to clarify why the angels in Perfect Fudge (see previous post for review) are so cool and a fun concept. As you know if you read my review, it introduces a unique concept of guardian angels. These guardian angels don’t really have any biblical connotations, but they help people. They can also fly, teleport, turn invisible, cook food with their mind, heal, clean with the blink of an eye, and whether they start out older or younger, they’ll eventually and then forever appear to be in their 20′s. Of course this is a kind of new version of the idea of angels, but I think it’s awesome.

*I would totally choose to be an angel. There’s almost zero downside.

Vampires: Of course the paranormal lore is different according to legends / authors / movies, but most agree that vampires drink blood (human or animal in most cases), have super speed and strength, and are burned by sunlight. I think the slight majority opinion is that vampires can hold on to their humanity if they choose – at least Christopher Moore, Anne Rice, Charlaine Harris, and Stephanie Meyer think so. (I probably just discredited this theory a bit by mentioning Meyer, but hey whatever). I personally agree with this – I think vampires can choose how humane they want to be. I don’t believe that vampires are “damned”, but that has more to do with the fact that I don’t believe in heaven or hell, so how could I believe in damnation? And even if someone showed me proof that all that existed and your soul could be damned… well I don’t know if that would convince me not to be a vampire.

*If a vampire walked up to me tonight and offered to make me a vamp… I would definitely want to say yes. Honestly, the only thing holding me back here is that the honeyman said that if I was a vampire, he’d have to try to kill me. And you know, that kind of means breaking up, and I don’t want that, I love my honeyman. Honestly, angels can do more cool shit than vampires, but for some reason the idea of being a vampire is more appealing to me… it’s probably just more familiar of an idea.

Werewolves: Again, the lore is really different here. Some say that werewolves only change during a full moon and have no control during that time. Some say that weres that change whenever they want and are conscious the whole time. Most agree that you transform into a big huge scary wolf-like creature (unless you’re the director of the 3rd Harry Potter movie, in which you think weres transform into some weird, sad hairy mandog-looking creature). Generally though, werewolves are bad-ass and powerful and scary-looking.

 *Whether or not I agree to be a were would depend on the lore we’re going with here. I personally choose to think that weres are like the ones on True Blood – that they can change at will and know what they’re doing when they’re in that form. And if that were the case then hell yes I’d be a werewolf.

Witch / wizard: Okay, does this one even need much explaining? The term witch general means one who can do magic – cast spells, has powers, etc. They’re usually not immortal. My personal favorite? The Charmed witches. I love Piper. Oh and Harry Potter of course, can’t forget him.

*I’d agree to be a witch in a heartbeat.

Elves: Elves are cool fantastical creatures. They’re usually nature-nuts, proud, arrogant, secretive, and skinny. But they’re also powerful, graceful, and have magical abilities. In most fantasy, elves are not to be trifled with.

* I suppose that yes, I’d agree to be an elf. Even if meant me getting all weird and slender looking.

Fairies: I think that sometimes the lines between fairies and elves blend and are kind of together called “fae” creatures. I usually think of fairies as little pixies – tiny winged creatures with magical abilities, like Tinkerbell. Gotta love Tink.

* I don’t think I’d agree to be a fairy… depends on the scope of magical abilities. But I think I’d feel too vulnerable being that tiny, and the biggest appeal of being a supernatural creature is being able to feel like the shit and be powerful and stuff.

Mutants: Now here’s a fun one. I’ll let in on a little secret… I believe almost any of these paranormal creatures could exist. Who the hell am I to say that they don’t just because I’ve never had the luck to meet one? I know, I know, I’m like a big kid. Anyways, I like the idea of mutants because to me they are the most likely supernatural creatures to exist. Well, actually they’re still technically humans. They’re not magic, they’re just evolutionally-advanced humans. But still, I’m counting em. Think of the X-Men, the X-Men are awesome! Sure, some of them have pretty lame mutations, but most of them are cool and useful in some way (after all, the point of nature evolving like this would be the progression of human life).

* Sign me up! I know I’m 24, but I’m still hoping some sign of cool mutant abilities will show… or maybe I’ll just go the Alex Mac route and get cool mutant-like powers from radiation and chemicals :-) It’s either mutant powers or cancer… 50/50 odds aren’t too bad, right?

Zombies: Okay, who the hell would want to be a zombie? I’m including them on the list because they are a really popular paranormal creature these days, but they’re basically rotting humans that can’t think anything other than “BRAAAIIIINSS”.

* Hell no, I wouldn’t be a zombie. But I can’t wait for the zombie apocalypse so I can be a zombie-killer! I’ll judge anyone who actually says they’d choose to be a zombie. Weirdo.

Unicorns / Dragons: These are two of the most popular paranormal animals really. Unicorns are supposed to be all sweet and crazy magical, and dragons are supposed to be all nasty and fire-breathing. Honestly, I think both are really cool but I don’t think I’d ever choose to turn into one. I’d feel like a magical pet.

Giants / Goblins / Leprechauns: So these don’t need much explaining. Giants are huge, goblins are tiny and mean, and leprechauns are tiny and lucky. I think I’d reject all of these just on basis of size. 

 Gods: Well, gods are pretty self-explanatory too. I’m thinking of two sets of gods in particular – the Greek mythology gods, and the gods and godlings in the Inheritance Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin. Either way, all are bad-ass. I love that gods are such all-powerful beings, but that they’re also usually petty just like humans. I don’t know why humanity ever gave up on Greek gods as a religion, I probably would have been a believer.

*I would totally be a god. You practically can’t be killed, and you are the baddest mofo out there. Seriously as powerful as all hell. For someone whose severe lack of ambition means I want to be a housewife, I’m surprisingly power-hungry when it comes to paranormal creatures.

I think that covers most of the supernatural creatures I’ve been thinking of…

Oh, and for funsies here are some of my favorite books / movies relating the all of the above:

  • Perfect Fudge by Hazel M. Larsen (angels)
  • Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris (vampires, werewolves)
  • Inheritance trilogy by N.K. Jemisin (gods, godlings)
  • Bloodsucking Fiends /You Suck / Bite Me by Christopher Moore
  • Interview With A Vampire by Anne Rice
  • X-Men movies
  • Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon (time-travellers, not mentioned)
  • Living With the Dead series by Jesse Petersen (zombies)
  • Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini (dragons, elves, fae)
  • Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling (witches, wizards, unicorn)
  • The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss (wizards, fae)
  • True Blood tv show (vampires, werewolves, fairies, fae)
  • Charmed tv show (witches, leprechauns, giants, fairies, vampires)

So, whatcha think?

If one of these creatures walked up to you and offered to make you one of them, would you do it? Which one would you want to be the most? Any that I missed that you’d choose to be? Or would you go the crazy route and refuse them all and choose to remain human?

 ~Sarah

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May 28, 2011 · 3:18 pm

>Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon

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*SPOILERS FOR BOOK ONE – OUTLANDER – HERE. SHOULD PROBABLY ONLY READ THIS IF YOU’VE READ THE FIRST NOVEL. OR IF YOU DON’T CARE ABOUT SPOILERS.*

So, my re-read of the second novel in the Outlander series, Dragonfly in Amber. My god I love this series. And the first two novels are my favorite :-) Outlander ends with Claire telling Jamie that she’s pregnant, and they decide to set off for France in hopes of preventing the Battle of Culloden and saving thousands of Scottish lives.

The book starts off kind of confusing – it’s 1968, and Claire and her daughter Brianna are in Scotland, visiting Roger Wakefield (the son of an acquaintance from book one). When I first read this series (I can’t believe it’s only been about 4 years since then!), I was confused and thought that maybe I didn’t have the right book. But keep reading – Claire has brought Brianna to Scotland to tell her who her father is. And from there the book picks up where Outlander left off. Claire and Jamie are France, constantly trying to prevent the slaughter of thousands of Highlanders. From plots and courtly intrigues in France, to danger in England and Scotland, there are plenty of plot twists, action, and big surprises that make this probably the most exciting novel in the series.

I actually might like this book even MORE than I like Outlander, for a couple of reasons. The main reason is that we learn so much about Claire and Jamie. They’re together for the majority of the book, and it’s so nice to see their early married life. They also go through a LOT of heart-wrenching hell. This is my third time reading this book, and the ending STILL makes me cry.

Another reason this might be my absolute favorite of the whole series is that it introduces SO many characters critical to the rest of the series. My favorite are the introduction of Master Raymond- a knowledgable apothecary in Paris, and Fergus – the 9-year old French pickpocket that Jamie hires. These are two fantastic characters (and Gabaldon has hinted about novellas revolving around Raymond, which I would love). Also important are Brianna and Roger.

And of course, if you like historical fiction then you’ll eat this up. You’ll learn A LOT about the Jacobites, and the events leading up the The Battle of Culloden, 1745.


Basically, you HAVE to read this series. It’s amazing. I am so in love with Jamie & Claire. So much so that every year for Christmas, the honeyman gets me a piece of Outlander jewelry from http://theauthorsattic.com/. The first he gave me was the replica of Claire’s wedding ring from Jamie. I wear it every day :o )
Now that I’ve finished re-reading this one, I REALLY feel like starting my re-read of book three; Voyager. I think I have to read a couple other books first though. At least it’ll give me something to look forward to!

Sarah Says: 5 huge freaking stars.

 

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March 30, 2011 · 7:04 pm

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

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For those of you who are new to my blog or haven’t caught on yet – the Outlander series is my favorite series in the whole wide world. Pictured above are just some of the covers for this one book – the copy I actually re-read this time isn’t pictured above. That blue one is the one you’ll find in stores today. And goodluck finding the last one, it’s the UK version, titled “Cross Stitch” when the series first came out.

Anyways…. I re-read and reviewed this book about two years ago. But then I never reviewed any of the sequels, because I was a) lazy about my blog at that time and b) didn’t want to post spoilers. Well, this time around I’m going to re-read AND review all 7 books. I’ll just post a spoiler warning for all the books after this one.

OK, so Outlander is a time-travel, romance-y, historical fiction adventure. And it starts the epic story of Jamie and Claire. I love epic love stories – it’s one reason why I love the books about Tatiana and Alexander by Paullina Simons. But anyways, I’m getting off track here. Claire Elizabeth Beauchamp is an English WW2 nurse on a second honeymoon in the Scottish Highlands with her husband Frank. They’ve been separated for most of their marriage because of the war, and they’re finally getting re-acquainted with one another. While searching out some plant near a circle of standing stones, Claire seems to “fall” through them – and ends up in the middle of a skirmish between the English redcoats and Scottish Highlanders in the year 1743. She’s assaulted by an Redcoat captain, and rescued by a Scotsman. She’s then taken captive by the Scots, and patches up a young injured clansman named Jamie. She’s brought to Castle Leoch and meets the Laird of the clan MacKenzie – who decides that she’s staying there until they figure out exactly who she is. Claire bides her time trying to find a way to escape and get back to the standing stones – and in the mean time, she grows closer to Jamie. Eventually, she’ll have to choose – whether to go back to the future, or to stay in the past with the possible love of her life.

Even though this book is long (850 pages, actually), I enjoy every minute of it. There’s action, intrigue, love, history, men in kilts… it’s just amazing. My boyfriend is actually the one who talked me into reading this book, and it might just be the best thing he’s ever done for me. (He also went out and bought me each book in the series as I devoured them. What a sweet man.) I actually MISS these books when I’m not reading them. And they make me desparately want to go to Scotland. (I looked up plane tickets though – 1300 bucks one way. Bloody hell.)

Anyways, I HIGHLY recommend trying out this series. They’re just such perfect escape reading. I’ll be spreading out my re-reads of this series though, so that I don’t overwhelm myself and so that they don’t all start blurring together in my head, lol. So hopefully by the time I read and review the next one, Dragonfly in Amber, some of you will have taken my advice and read Outlander ASAP :o )

Sarah Says: 5 stars! My most favorite book ever.

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