Genre: Adult Historical Fiction/Romance
Pages: 627
Type: #1 in The Outlander Series
My Rating: 5/5
Synopsis: 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.
Review:
What a hunk! Honestly, 627 pages of tiny font! Anyways, don't hesitate to read it, because the book will not disappoint you. To get things clear, I don't know what genre to classify this one in. It does have a good amount of romance in it, but that does not mean that it's completely romantic. It has time-travel and action and all of that.
Anyways, I loved the book. It is absolutely phenomenal. I love the writing and the descriptions and the characters and everything. The book never lets you slip out of it's grip. There are some slow parts, which makes the book a tad more realistic. But throughout the book, you always want to trudge on. It keeps you just on the edge of your seat. It is quite difficult to do this, and not a lot of authors pull the trick off. I mean, slow parts are often boring.
Anyhow, I absolutely enjoyed the writing and the characters. I'd have thought that the book would be a bit hard to... Understand, digest, I guess. But it wasn't. It was actually pretty easily understandable. As in, even YA readers could read it.
The world was developed wonderfully. The historic accuracy was something that really drew me in. I've always liked to know more history and this was something that quenched my thirst wonderfully. Also, it kind of reflected on what Scots were like in the 1740s. The descriptions given for everything was splendid. I can't imagine the sort of research work Diana would have had to do to get this book written! Anyways, everything was to the point, accurate and was thought-provoking.
The characters were brilliantly created. Each one had a unique appeal and persona. Unfortunately, there was one thing that nagged me about the book. You see, the book was in Claire's perspective. She narrated everything to you. What I felt was the lack of her thoughts. Example, of there was a conversation between two people and she was listening to them, she failed to tell us what she thought about the conversation. What was going on. This is the only thing that the book lacked, I personally felt.
Overall, if you like romance, and you like historical facts and want to get into adult fiction, I think this book is perfect for you. Also, it is and eight book series, so get to it!
