Book Review: Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

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Outlander – Diana Gabaldon

Release Date: June 1st 1991

Dell Publishing: Historical Fiction/Romance

627 pages (large paperback)

You can read this review and others on my Goodreads here. (Don’t be shy to send a friend request as well!)

It starts out that same, but then, after a moment, suddenly it’s though I’ve a living flame in my arms. And I want only to throw myself into it and be consumed. – Jamie Fraser

I did it. I finally read Outlander and I can’t believe it has took me this long to read it. My phone is full of notes from the book and most of them quotes said by Jamie. I’ll admit, I was very skeptical of this book because I would rather read anything other than Historical Fiction any part of the day. I am not the biggest fan of history and so when I saw Outlander getting a lot of buzz I wasn’t sure about it. A few months ago, October actually, I bought the book but it has been sitting on my shelf at school. A couple days ago I made myself start reading it and next thing I know I’m a quarter of the way through. Then today I finished it with tears falling down my face and calculating the money in my bank so I can buy the next book.

I never fully understood what Outlander was about, just heard bits and pieces from people around me and on Goodreads. I knew there was a sense of time travel, it was in Scotland, and that there was a hot scot that the main character, Claire, had to marry. I was spoiled on a few parts which also kept me from reading it but it was tiny compared to when I had finished it.

I am still emotional from the ending and expect to be emotional for awhile. But I loved it. Who cares that I got mascara all up in my eye? Who cares my eyes were red from sobbing? Some of those tears were in happiness too! With Historical Fiction I have come to love the history because I learn about it and I wonder what it’s like and reading about it in a manner I like it’s easy to imagine and to see how everything plays out.

Maybe it Gabaldon’s writing, it was easy to read and well paced that I had no problem following. The characters were great and while there was a lot of characters they added to the story perfectly. They were dynamic and fit well with one another that you could feel that the cast of characters were a real family rather than a clan of warriors. It’s hard to explain the book and not spoil it. The beginning is a little rough to get through but once you skip past the first forty or so pages you are good. The story only continues to get better and you pertain so much information that it may be hard to remember but it all comes together and creates a much bigger story to grows more and more with each chapter.

The main character, Claire, is a war nurse and lives in the 1940’s.While on her second honeymoon with her husband she finds herself in 17th century Scotland and must navigate her way back to her own time, if she can. There she meets a young Scottish warrior, Jamie Fraser, and his clan who take her along their travels thinking she is an English spy and along the way she starts to care for theses warriors and Jamie more so. The story only begins to unravel from there.

Yes it is a romance novel but there is also so much history buried throughout the book that is intrigues the reader to keep reading and delving into the story double time. I could not out the book down, reading about Jamie’s past, how he came to be the man his is today and how much he cares for Claire and she him. The book is quite long, 600 pages long, but you don’t even realize how long as you are reading and immersing yourself into the characters and their lives.

Towards the end things start to speed up and the emotions begin to cave in. I could not contain my tears as I was eating breakfast before my next class the other day. I was sobbing while drinking fruit punch and eggs. I went to my next class with pinkish eyes and tear stained cheeks, sniffling through my test for almost an hour. But it was so worth it. The amount of information and world building that is thrown at you in this book and can only set the base for the next and I am super excited to begin the adventure soon.

You just fall in love with the characters and want to hug them when things go wrong and then kill the people that wronged them. I cannot wait to start on its sequel and then word vomit another review for it because that is the best way to get out my feelings. If you have read Outlander please discuss it with me because those last sixty pages or so killed me and I cannot stop the tears when I think about it. Please talk to me.

Overall I gave the book 4.5 stars and if I could I would marry Jamie Fraser on the spot and I will fight all of you for him. I highly recommend this book and the rest even though I have yet to read them but I already know they will be fantastic! Thank you readers for reading and I will have another blog post up soon.

Over and out.