Review: Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Genre: Historical Fiction/Romance
Hardcover: 662 pgs
(20th Anniversary Edition) 
Published by Delacorte Press
Source: Purchased 
Add It // Buy It 
Rating: 4/5 

The year is 1945. Claire Randall, a former combat nurse, is just back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon when she walks through a standing stone in one of the ancient 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 is catapulted 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 love so absolute that Claire becomes a woman torn between fidelity and desire—and between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives.

So if you've seen any of my tweets in the past month or so you probably know I've been obsessed with Outlander. This book has become a bit of a phenomenon since the TV series premiered. I had started it a few times and been intrigued, but it didn't suck me in until this month. This time it stuck to me like glue! I couldn't leave this book alone until I finished it and it promptly ruined my fast & furious reading streak. I don't even care though because I ended up loving it.

This is an adult historical/romance/paranormal/time-travel adult fiction conglomeration that somehow made me absolutely addicted to it. (It might have something to do with Jamie Fraser. I'm kidding it has everything to do with Jamie.) I'm very interested in the next installment of this series and can see why people have been raving about this book. The writing is just so easy to get hooked on.

Even though I like young adult and read it a majority of the time, I love a good adult fiction too. I was craving historical fiction and this hit the spot. The Scottish highlands and clans were mixed with Claire's 1940's progressive ideas which makes for an interesting mix of really old and semi-old history. I thought the historical elements were explained well and found myself invested in all the characters. The story is fairly straight forward. Because this has some fantastic elements in it, I was expecting a lot of threads to the story. Instead, we mostly follow Claire and her adventures in the Highlands.

I loved Claire. Her feisty attitude and nurse's mentality were a great blend. She was strong but not unshakeable which kept me grounded in the story. I thought she adjusted a little too easily, but with her war experience it did make sense. I was swooning over the romance as well. Jame Fraser is quite the Highlander. They are easy to ship together.

There are a lot of peaks and valleys in this book. Peaks of high action, romance and adventure then valleys of long descriptions and travel. The pace of the book is a marathon rather than a sprint to say the least. So much happens in these 600 pgs! I laughed a lot more than I was expecting and the tears happened too. Overall I really enjoyed this book and I'm very excited to see where the next book leads.