Review: Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Outlander
(Outlander, #1)
By: Diana Gabaldon
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Published: June 1, 1991
Genre: Historical Romance
Source: Library
Rating:

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In 1945, Claire Randall, a former combat nurse, is back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon—when she innocently touches a boulder 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 border clans in the year of our Lord…1743.

Hurled back in time by forces she cannot understand, Claire’s destiny in soon inextricably intertwined with Clan MacKenzie and the forbidden Castle Leoch. She is catapulted without warning 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 passion so fierce and a love so absolute that Claire becomes a woman torn between fidelity and desire…and between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives.

It started off slow for me but once Claire was transported back in time everything picked up speed. Personally, Frank (her husband) was really boring to me. I think maybe that was why I had a problem in the beginning of the book. Once Claire went back in time though, that quickly changed. I was practically glued to the book. Instead of just one climax, this book has 3 of them. Which is a good thing considering how long of a book it is. It keeps you on your toes throughout the entire thing.

I loved how much detail the author put into the book. I have read some highlander books before and sometimes it seems as though the highlander could have been born and raised in the 21st century. That is not the case with Jamie. His speech is spot on and the way he carried himself in the book was exactly what you would picture from a guy from the 1700’s. Even the situations that the author brought on takes you back in time, with how barbaric punishments were back then. You really just get a sense of what it was like back then when reading the book.

I also want to mention how much detail and depth the characters have. Jamie isn’t just a Scottish hunk from the past and Claire isn’t a damsel in distress who was sent back in time. This book slowly peels away their layers revealing their very essence as to who they are.

It wasn’t until I read the back of the 20th Anniversary Edition that I realized I had missed something huge. I remember reading it the first time around and not thinking much of it. It wasn’t until the author brought it up that I really thought about it. In the beginning of the book there is a ghost scene with a kilted man staring up at Claire’s window when her and Frank are at a bed and breakfast. I never once thought it was Jamie, but apparently the apparition is him and it will be explained at the end of the series… and I personally, cannot wait to hear why.

“Horrocks!” I exclaimed suddenly, sitting bolt upright in bed.
“Hah?” Jamie, startled out of a sound sleep, shot sideways out of bed ending on the floor in a crouch, hand on the dirk he had left on top of his piled clothes. “What?” he demanded, staring wildly around the room. “What is it?”
I stifled a giggle at the sight of him, crouched naked on the floor, red hair standing on end like quills.
“You look like a fretful porpentine.” I said
He gave me a dirty look and rose for his feet, replacing the dirk on the stool that held his clothes.
“You couldn’t wait ’til I woke to tell me that?” he inquired. “You thought it would make more impression if ye woke me out of a sound sleep shouting ‘Hedgehog!’ in my ear?”