Category: Reading Challenges

This morning I finished the third installment of the Outlander Series, Voyager by Diana Gabaldon.

There is so much that happens in this book it is hard to know where to begin!  Reader be warned, if you haven’t read the  books up until now this post might contain spoilers. So if you don’t want to know what’s going on then stop reading now.

So let’s start with the basics….Voyager picks up where Dragonfly in Amber (Book II) leaves off, with the realization that Jamie is not dead and Claire left with a big question mark….what to do next?

Voyager is a little slow going at first as with any epic tale, the writer has a duty of sorts to remind the loyal readers where the proceeding book left off and Gabaldon does that by slowly catching up with the lives (20 years later) of Claire, Jamie, Frank, Rodger and Brianna, and Lord Grey.

Some people argue that Book II was the least appealing in the series while others say Book III was…I can’t decided, both of these books were a struggle for me in some ways and for different reasons, though I favored Voyager more than DIA. I liked how the lives of the characters kind of culminated together by half way through. I thought Gabaldon did a great job merging all the lives and stories together and did so fairly quickly all things considering.

Here is the summary from Shelfari: Continue reading “Review: Voyager (Outlander #3) by Diana Gabaldon” →

On Saturday I finished the second book in the Outlander Series, Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon which is of course part of the Outlander Series Reading Challenge hosted by moi.

As I mention earlier, with Book I, I could hardly put it down from the moment I picked it up and not much has changed between Book I and Book II.

Book II picks up where Book I ended naturally, and follows the life of husband and wife, Claire and Jamie. For those of you who haven’t read the series, I will try to not ruin it for you but I make no promises so be warned this post might contain some spoilers so read at your own risk….my advise, just start reading Book I now you won’t regret it!

So with that warning/recommendation in mind, I will continue with my post.

At the end of Book I Claire reveals she is pregnant while her and Jamie hide in France. They decide they must try and prevent the second Jacobite Rising of 1745 and ultimately the Battle of Culloden because Claire knows the ‘future’ and fears for Jamie’s life and those of this family/friends. While in France they hob-knob with various royal groups playing both sides of the coin. They know it’s a dangerous game they play and know that if they are discovered they will be arrested and tried as traitors. So they gamble they take is huge and not without consequence.

It is also revealed that Jack Randall–Jamie’s most hated adversary–was NOT killed during Jamie’s prison break in Book I as originally reported. I was kind of expecting this as I felt like Randall should have died at Jamie’s hands not randomly trampled by a stampede of cows so this was a welcome and fitting twist for me. Without giving too much away, Jamie and Randall duel and though Jamie does not kill Randall, he DOES chop off his manhood in an effort to kill him but because Claire rushes to stop the duel (to save the future ancestry of her 1940’s husband, Frank who is related to Randall) Jamie doesn’t kill him but hits the jewels instead (more of less by accident I guess….). Claire loses the baby she is carrying and Jamie is arrested for the crime of dueling. Continue reading “Review: Dragonfly in Amber (Outlander #2) by Diana Gabaldon” →

As soon as I started this book I should have known that I would never put it down again.  My life has literally come to a stand still because of this book, it is that magical and spell binding!

All I can think of is getting home from work so I could escape into the Highlands of Scotland every night.

This book is the first in the Outlander series and part of the Outlander Series Reading Challenge hosted by yours truly.

The book follows heroine Claire Beauchamp Randall Fraser who is a WII nurse living in the 1940’s with her husband Frank Randall. After returning from war, Claire and Frank take a second honeymoon of sorts to the Scottish Highlands where Claire somehow travels back in time to the 1700’s–the story picks up here–the same location, different time where she meets Jamie Fraser.

From the summaries I have read all say the same thing–the series itself is hard to categorize and sell/market because of the many themes. It’s a romance novel to be sure, but also historic fiction, and fantasy because of the time travel. So really it could be categorized in many areas.

The series is mostly geared toward adult, female audiences but because of the history, politics, and battle/adventure elements men would also enjoy it somewhat. I would categorize it as a historic romance for lack of genre. Claire as a heroine is not the typical woman of romance novels–she is older and more sexually experienced than Jamie which is unusual but at the same time this doesn’t make Jamie appear weak or less attractive, in fact it has the opposite effect. Jamie is strong, educated, charming, heroic, romantic, and chivalrous as any of the famous ‘knights in shining armor’ one would expect to sweep the heroin off her feet. Continue reading “Review: Outlander (Outlander #1) by Diana Gabaldon” →