Outlander (Outlander, #1) in Retro Chapter Chicks

Apr 12, 2017 Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: historical, own, favorites

I figured I would love the book since I loved the first two seasons of the show. Although, I have many more books to go =)

I did get the beautiful bound (20th anniversary edition) of the book because it is beautiful! Here's a little picture of the book and some of my stuff around it to make it even more pretty. The book looks smaller in the picture than it is so I don't know. <-- images on your screen are smaller than they appear.

I love Jamie and Claire! I just want them to be together and that ...more

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Jan 06, 2015 Candi rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction

This immensely popular novel was respectably entertaining, but not one to add to my list of favorites. Perhaps all the hype with this book made me wrongly assume that I would automatically treasure it. Don’t get me wrong though, it was a good book and I wouldn’t steer anyone away from reading it. I just set the bar too high.

In Outlander, Claire Randall travels from 1940’s Scotland back in time some 200 years after stepping through an ancient stone circle. Here she finds herself in the midst of This immensely popular novel was respectably entertaining, but not one to add to my list of favorites. Perhaps all the hype with this book made me wrongly assume that I would automatically treasure it. Don’t get me wrong though, it was a good book and I wouldn’t steer anyone away from reading it. I just set the bar too high.

In Outlander, Claire Randall travels from 1940’s Scotland back in time some 200 years after stepping through an ancient stone circle. Here she finds herself in the midst of war and Highlander intrigue. This makes for plenty of adventure and some quick page-turning. She also meets the young James Fraser and this makes for plenty of romance and numerous, spicy love scenes. However, along with the adventure and romance, brutality and violence are always a threat. At times, the violence was a bit much for me, especially when used in such a derogatory way. I enjoyed the relationship between Claire and Jamie and the way the author allowed their love to develop gradually for one another. I admired Claire's strength and fortitude. Jamie was endearing (most of the time). The historical narration regarding the politics between the Scots and the English and amongst the various Scottish clans was very informative; the descriptions of the Scottish countryside were vivid. Once I reached the 500-600 page mark, though, I was ready for this story to come to a conclusion. But it was drawn out for another 200-300 pages and I started to lose interest. After a time, it felt like a fluffy read – perhaps more like a soap opera-like feel to it. Enough with the romance already! I get it! And the violence… please tone it down a bit. After so many pages, it became difficult to read about certain brutal acts. These are my personal preferences, however, and many people will most likely not have trouble getting through those spots that for me were a bit unpleasant. A good, but not outstanding, book; I most likely will not continue the series. I would be interested in taking a quick peak at the also widely popular television series. Just for fun ;-)
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Aug 03, 2014 Book Concierge rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, series, audio, movie, adventure, library, romance, concierge, strong-women

Audiobook performed by Davinia Porter

While on a holiday to the Scottish Highlands with her husband, WW2 combat nurse Claire Randall goes to a miniature henge to gather interesting plants. It’s there she hears an odd buzzing noise coming from the stones, and, thinking there is a bee hive nearby, she goes to investigate. But as soon as she touches the stone she hears a loud scream and feels instantly dizzy and disoriented. When she fully comes to, she discovers that she has somehow gone back in ti Audiobook performed by Davinia Porter

While on a holiday to the Scottish Highlands with her husband, WW2 combat nurse Claire Randall goes to a miniature henge to gather interesting plants. It’s there she hears an odd buzzing noise coming from the stones, and, thinking there is a bee hive nearby, she goes to investigate. But as soon as she touches the stone she hears a loud scream and feels instantly dizzy and disoriented. When she fully comes to, she discovers that she has somehow gone back in time some two hundred years to 1743. There she quickly reverts to her maiden name Beauchamp to avoid having the suspicious Highlanders thinking her in league with the English Captain Jonathan Randall. The Scotsmen she is taken by are part of the MacKenzie clan, and one young man, Jamie, has been hurt. She deals with his wounds as best she can, and thus begins their relationship.

What a rollicking good story! I had avoided this book for some time, despite several friends telling me they thought I’d enjoy it. Every time I looked at the synopsis and saw the time travel I was turned off. Just not my genre of choice. But I was surprised to find that I liked it. That’s not to say that it’s a great book, however. There are parts that are a tad too “bodice-ripper” for my taste; in fact, Gabaldon actually used the phrase “ripped my bodice” at least once. I also wasn’t too keen on the whole “I’ll beat you to punish you and then we’ll make mad passionate love” scenario. Are there young men and women reading this kind of stuff and thinking this is okay behavior?

One of my pet peeves is helpless females who need rescuing. So I was pretty irritated by Claire’s continued insistence on going off by herself despite being warned of the dangers of such behavior, and then having to be rescued “just in the nick of time” by Jamie. I mean, once should be enough to teach her the lesson. But this happens repeatedly. It’s really not until the last 100 pages or so that she is shown as a strong, resourceful woman.

So with all these issues, why did I give it four stars? Several reasons. Jamie and Claire are compelling characters. Gabaldon introduced the reader to a first impression, but then allowed their relationship to develop in a way that interested me and kept me reading. And the huge cast of supporting characters were just as interesting – Murtagh, Dougal, Colum, Geilie, Mrs Fitz, et al added color and depth. I was completely caught up in the story and wanted to see how it would end. Finally, Davinia Porter’s performance on the audio is wonderful. She is a gifted voice artist and could handle all the various characters, giving each one a unique voice so that I was never confused. Her skill rated a star all by itself.

I realize that this is just the first in a series, and I’m glad I finally read it, but I don’t think I’ll be reading any more of them any time soon. Still, you never know ...
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Nov 07, 2012 Kris (My Novelesque Life) rated it it was amazing

5 STARS

"Hurtled back through time more than two hundred years to Scotland in 1743, Claire Randall finds herself caught in the midst of an unfamiliar world torn apart by violence, pestilence, and revolution and haunted by her growing feelings for James Fraser, a young soldier." (From Amazon)

2002 & 2014 - A brilliant engaging novel that refuses to be put into one genre - you have romance, adventure, history, fantasy, mystery and suspense just to name a few. I love the strength of Claire and Jamie' ...more

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May 28, 2015 debbicat *made of stardust* rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: i-bought-it-or-own-it, audio-book, kindle, group-read, began-but-had-to-put-off, buddy-read, 2015-reads, book-to-movie-challenge, audible

Wonderful! I did join a group read for this. But life got too busy and I did not finish it. I guess I somewhat cheated tho and watched the series. Putting it aside for now. May come back to it in the winter when I have more sit down book reading time. I love the characters.

Update: My Reading for Pleasure Book Club is doing this as a buddy read in November, so I am going to finally get to finish it up. I'm very glad for this. There are 8 or 9 signed up and more ppl showing interest today.

I have ...more

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Aug 23, 2014 Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Jenn Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Schu rated it it was ok

Shelves: historical-fiction, themechallenge2015

The story immediately grabbed me with its setting in Scotland in the 1940s and I was intrigued by the idea of traveling through time as well as the pagan elements to the story. So, I had high hopes for a story developing around these concepts. I looked forward to reading about how Claire would adjust to the period, what she would learn about the time and the pagan ritual that caused her walk through time.

I know this is a series and am sure (or hope) the author will expand more on the story, but The story immediately grabbed me with its setting in Scotland in the 1940s and I was intrigued by the idea of traveling through time as well as the pagan elements to the story. So, I had high hopes for a story developing around these concepts. I looked forward to reading about how Claire would adjust to the period, what she would learn about the time and the pagan ritual that caused her walk through time.

I know this is a series and am sure (or hope) the author will expand more on the story, but I was rather disappointed by how much of the story was centered around gratuitous violence. In fact, it seemed the whole plot was centered around Claire and Jamie being either a hero or victim. Centering this book around violent sex between the two heroes/victims and their aggressor wasn't warranted for a story that had promise in the beginning chapters. Thus, the author failed to keep me intrigued.

If the author was hoping to build on the Jamie and Claire's relationship via their trials, I think she fell short. I also don't think that the violence was anything special to the time period, as we see this even in the modern era. With that said, I'd like to add that I think the author should have better developed character relations in reference to distinct historical events and tied in Claire's 1940's experience to the plot. Sure, there was a focus on the differences in medicinal practices between the two periods, but I think the author could have captured this by developing more period conscious events: the violence between the Clansmen and Englishmen. The author could have also wrote more about the struggles of the Highland people in relation to their political and religious beliefs, this was only grazed over in the book. In short, I was highly disappointed in the historical elements of this story.

So, now that Claire is pregnant and Jamie is recovering, will I continue to read 600 pages of violent sex? Will Claire ever fully come to terms with how she so easily let go of Frank and the relationship she was trying to rebuild with him after the war? I know it was hinted that Claire never really found her place after the War, but she seemed to be pretty versatile in nature as she moved around so much with her Uncle Lamb, thus I don't buy that as an excuse for her willingness to stay. It seems it was only sexual infatuation that kept her in the past. The author fell quite short at establishing a mental connection, a heartfelt connection, between Jamie and Claire. Only tragedy and sex bind them in my opinion. Either way, I will read a bit more into the series, but have less expectations.

I'd give the book 2.5 stars ...more

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