Wow, did I love this book.
Let me back up a moment, though. I have to give full disclosure and say that the first 40-60 pages (can't quite remember) are a bit slow. This book is about time travel -- well, not precisely *about* but it involves time travel and those early pages are a lot of set up for what's to come in the rest of the book. And, frankly, it's obvious.
But the rest of the book is SO WORTH IT.
What a lovely, lovely romance. Once I got past the slow beginning, I was *hooked* and could NOT put the book down. I read the first 150 pages or so over a few days in between busy holiday preparations and the last 600 or so in two straight shots over two days. Glorious.
One of the things I loved the most about this book was that it takes its time with the romance. Claire and Jamie don't rush at each other and, once they do begin to fall for each other, there are hundreds and hundreds of pages exploring their relationship as it deepens. What a wonderful luxury to spend so much time in their lives! I feel like a lot of romances are all about the chase and then as soon as they "get" each other, bam! The End. It always leaves me wanting more and not always in a good way. Not so with OUTLANDER - I drank my fill of Claire's and Jamie's love and *still* found myself wanting more when I closed the book.
This is also an historical romance, something I don't read too much of. But wow, this is great! I have no idea how accurate the historical details are, but there are a lot of them. Tons of little details about the time period (largely 1740's Scotland with some 1940's England) deftly woven throughout the narrative so that I never felt like I was getting an info dump or a history lecture. And the historical setting gave the romance a wonderful, thrilling, at times heart-in-your-throat adventure for a backdrop.
Well done, Ms. Gabaldon. I received 10 shiny new books for Christmas and all I want to do is buy the next one of yours.
I'm giving this one 4.5 stars--just short of 5 for the slow opening.
Go! Buy! Love! B&N | Amazon | Indiebound (p.s. If you have a Nook, the whole series is on sale for $5 each...)
2 comments:
Mark and I listened to this as an audiobook when we drove up over the summer and loved it. I'm about 40% through "Dragonfly in Amber" on my Kindle now. I put off getting it for a long time because I wasn't sure where the story could go, but about 5 minutes in I was hooked. Now just need to find time to read the rest of it...
I'm about halfway through it now. I skimmed through the first 88 pages (until she was in Scotland!) but then I was happy again. I don't like this one quite as much - I'm getting a little lost in the politics - but it's still a great, compelling read. I've heard the third book is just as good but that they decline from there. We'll see. You'll have to let me know what you think when you finally get to finish it! :)
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