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Review: Outlander by Diana Gabaldon


Book: Outlander

Author: Diana Gabaldon

Pages: 627

I Read: The Kindle version

I Read it in: 10-odd hours over 2 days

Plot Summary: The year is 1945. Claire Randall, a former combat nurse, is 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 stone circles that dot the British Isles. Suddenly she is a Sassenach--an "outlander"--in a Scotland torn by war and raiding Highland clans in the year of Our Lord...1743.

Hurled back in time by forces she cannot understand, Claire is catapulted into intrigues and dangers that may threaten her life...and shatter her heart. For here she meets James Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior, and becomes a woman torn between fidelity and desire...and between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives.

What I Liked: This is one of those books which I happened to pick up because I watched a few episodes of its TV show. The TV is quite nicely done (thus far) and so, I thought why not read the original source material, eh? On to what I liked about Outlander: 
  • The premise is pretty interesting. A woman travelling back in time to a tumultuous period in history and the hinted romance- what's not to look forward to? 
  • The setting- Scotland in the mid-18th century- loads of intrigue, cloak and dagger stuff and events leading to the Jacobite Rising of 1745. The history geek in me was quite pleased to read about the (highly fictionalized, though it was) backdrop. 
  • The characters were interesting enough- Claire is feisty and sassy, Jamie is heroic (slightly weird) and there are multiple supporting characters that are very likable. 
  • The book is fairly fast-paced, though there are certain sections that are annoyingly repetitive and dull. 
What I Didn't Like: 
  • Jonathan Randall- Claire's husband's look alike and ancestor. What the heck kind of a character was this guy?! Attempts to rape anything that breathes and just didn't seem to have any layers or sane motivation driving his actions! This was a bad piece of character writing. 
  • I would have wanted to see more of the politics of that period. Instead, time is spent on Jamie and his friends/ relatives rescuing Claire from her stupid, self-destructive shenanigans. 
  • Way too much "love making". Not good, just of the meh variety. 
  • This book is the first in the series of 7 or 8 books and there was no closure of any kind. 
Rating: 3/5 

I won't be reading the other books in the Outlander series, (I have read the synopses and can't bring myself to read any of them!) but I will be watching the TV show. This is one of those rare cases where I like the TV show more than its book. 
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