Diana Gabaldon's Outlander

This is book one of a series that has been turned into a TV show. That's one of the reasons I picked it up - I'm a sucker for books that have movies or shows made out of them. I like to pick apart the differences, see how capitalists twist and bastardize great stories in order to make more money out of them. I'll let you know what I think once I finish the books and start in on the TV series.

I have to say first that this isn't my usual genre. Although it had its fair share of the mystical and mysterious, it is by and large a work of historical fiction. I hated history classes in high school, but good Lordy, after reading this book I'm thinking about reading up on mid-18th century European history. Gabaldon does a beautiful job of working fair bits of dry history into what is otherwise an alluring love story, and manages to intersperse a bit of a whodunnit as well.

Although the descriptions of flora and fauna found in both past and present can get a bit tiresome, most of Gabaldon's details serve to create a realistic framework from which to draw a greater appreciation of the settings. Her characters' voices are real and distinct; I could almost hear the voices from Braveheart coming from the Scottish clansmen Claire finds herself surrounded by. Claire's struggles are realistic and got my heart pounding more than once. So are Jamie's, although he does seem to get himself into trouble more often than is strictly necessary. If there is one overarching criticism that I have regarding this book, it's that there seem to have been a few too many out-of-the-frying-pan, into-the-fire episodes. Strife and difficulty is indispensable in a great novel, but this one left me a bit fatigued by the conclusion.

Highly recommended! A surprisingly smooth and easy read considering the content and length!

• Series: Book 1 of 8 (so far, as of June 2017)
• Number of pages: 850 (Mass market edition)
• Year published: 1991 
• Days to read: 8 days