Outlander By Diana Gabaldon

Images from Chapters.Indigo.caAfter reading The Time Traveller's Wife I went online to read what other people had said about it and came across a recommendation for Outlander, which was first published in 1991.

The story starts in 1945, the war has ended and nurse Claire Randall is enjoying a second honeymoon of sorts in Scotland with her husband Frank, whom she hasn't seen in over seven years.

A series of events lead Claire to revisit the stone circle of Craigh Na Dun alone. On this visit she touches the stones only to be transported back about 200 years to the highlander times of Scotland.

Almost immediately she gets kidnapped by a Scottish clan and sets off on a wild adventure all the while trying to find her way back to the circle of stones and Frank.

Claire is a great heroine, smart and plucky in a very believable way. Her observations and comparisons of life in 20th century versus life in the 18th century are always interesting and keep you wanting to learn more.

She strikes up a friendship with Jamie, the young man she helps heal on her first night and after a series of events is forced to marry him for her own safety...in the same church she marries her husband Frank 200 years later. The arranged marriage ends up being more than she bargained for when she finds herself falling deeply in love with Jamie. She's in a constant struggle with her feelings for her new life and the one she left behind.

If you've ever read The Mists of Avalon (one of my favourite books) you'll enjoy reading Outlander, for the detail with which Diana Gabaldon writes about life in 18th century Scotland.

It's a highly absorbing book, although halfway through reading it I was shocked to find out there were SEVEN more books in the series. Outlander in paperback is over 800 pages long, long enough for you to fully immerse yourself in Claire's life and long enough for most of a good story to be told. I could understand if it was a trilogy (actually a trilogy would have been amazing!), but seven books?

By the end of the first book it did feel like the story was already being stretched out. Claire's been kidnapped a couple of times, Jamie's been kidnapped (and horrifically tortured, in ways I found completely unnecessary) a couple of times. Enough with the kidnapping, what's next?!

Was it worth the read?

I loved the first two thirds of the book, enough that I've already told my sister she has to read it. But by the time I finished the book I was not in any mood to read the next one. Though for the sake of a great heroine like Claire I will...but I can't promise I'll read all seven!