I don't give my name to strangers on the internet > Recent Status Updates

The Bern bits are interesting TBH. Can't empathize with anything else yet, but it's picking up!

I'm having a hard time getting into it and I feel bad about it. I just dislike the writing style, it's killing the pacing and the suspense

The writing style is so melodramatic, mostly because it's trying to make up for the lack of any real connection between the characters.

I'm nearly 15% in and I'm still waiting for the plot to gain shape.

Gabaldon has a profound and intimate understanding of how honour cultures work and how constant danger shapes societies and individuals, which sort of elevates this above typical popcorny fun romance trash.

Writing style still dull.

It's decent! Writing still dull on a sentence-to-sentence basis but OTOH i like the mixture of almost slice-of-life-y intimate detail of the couple's budding relationship + some sort of plot lurking in the background. Probably gonna give it a 4/5 unless it gets ridiculously derailed in the second half

Okay, so once you get past the long-winded setup, the plot becomes kinda interesting.

Or would become if the writing weren't still very long-winded and dry.

I AM interested in learning more about Jamie, he seems like a cool guy, it's just that it's so tedious to read this on a sentence-to-sentence basis.

So far it's dreadfully boring

...long in Part 2 really heightens my enjoyment of everything going on in Part 3. I'm also really scared for Albert, I hope he survives 😬

Okay, so, I really like it. The plot is complex and actually quite fast-paced, the scenes may be lavishly described but they're rarely boring because there's always some sort of suspense or dramatic irony present, and there are enough likeable characters to make it all enjoyable. The bits that seemed slow at the start actually give useful info or made you attached to the characters - following Franz and Albert for so

BUT I actually have no idea what happens beyond that, so now I'm a lot more invested despite the book maintaining the same level of quality.

I think it's the masterful use of suspense and dramatic irony that makes it a classic.

I have to say that I found the first part a bit dry, but that's probably because the premise of this book is universally known: of course Dantés would be arrested, stay in prison for a long time, swear revenge, escape, find a treasure and then embark on said revenge. If you already know what happens there's not much to keep you reading: the characterization's nothing to write home about and the prose is bland.