Review: Outlander

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Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Outlander #1

864 pages

Finished in September 28th

5 stars

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“What if your future was your past?”

Let me just say that I love this tag line.

I had been hearing a lot of good things about Outlander that left me really curious to read it. My only problem was the fact that this book kind of intimidated me because 1) it’s historical romance, which is a genre I had never read before, and 2) it’s huge.
I had also heard that Outlander had been adapted as a tv show on Starz, so before buying the book I decided to watch the first couple of episodes. The problem was, by the time the book arrived I had already finished the season. Needless to say I quite enjoyed it (even though the season finale left me quite a bit scarred).

With that being said, I was very excited to read the book because I know from experience that the books are more often than not better than the adaptations. And I wasn’t dissappointed.

While reading Outlander I was very pleased to find that the tv show is amazingly accurate! And even though I already knew most of what was gonna happen, that didn’t keep me from constantly turning the pages and enjoying the book, because there were many interesting scenes that didn’t made it into the tv show.

I first fell in love with Jamie Fraser while watching the tv show and by the time I finished the book that love grew even more. He has everything I look for in a character. He’s sweet, funny, witty, passionate, loyal… His devotion to Claire was amazing. Theirs is a beautiful love story. I’ve actually teared up quite a bit because of these two. And even though I’m not a big fan of love triangles this one is different. It’s a love triangle devided through time. I also quite liked Claire as the female lead, she’s a very strong character and she definitely defies the standards for the 18th century woman. I found it particularly funny when the guys were shocked by her behaviour.

This book is extremely well written. You can just imagine everything that is happening like you’re the one who’s living it and Diana Gabaldon doesn’t shine away from the truth or sugar coats it, which is one of my favourite things about Outlander. The authenticity.

Outlander has a lot of sexual scenes as well as violent ones, so if you’re susceptible to these topics (like rape) this might not be the book for you. Otherwise I highly recommend both the book and the tv show!