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rosemaryc64's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
rapidtra5h's review against another edition
4.0
I am simply Not Well
There are some questionable parts throughout (esp that trauma resolution), but i really enjoyed this!
please search trigger warnings if you are sensitive to them before reading (if you, like me, are one of the few people who didn't know the plot of the book/show)!!!!
overall, a new favorite romance. it is strange reading something with characters that feel real after being entrenched in Sarah J Maas for like a whole year lol
There are some questionable parts throughout (esp that trauma resolution), but i really enjoyed this!
please search trigger warnings if you are sensitive to them before reading (if you, like me, are one of the few people who didn't know the plot of the book/show)!!!!
overall, a new favorite romance. it is strange reading something with characters that feel real after being entrenched in Sarah J Maas for like a whole year lol
colorgardgirl's review against another edition
4.0
Very good, and having seen the show first I can’t decide which is better. I think they are a tie. People’s choices make far more sense in the book than in the show, but the show did a really good job of simplifying certain bits that I think are a little clumsy in the book.
cooperca's review against another edition
1.0
If I were a 13 year old girl in junior high, I would have loved this book. As such, I am not an adolescent looking for a historical romantic novel full of trite romantic dialogue, dull characters and lackluster action. After being told of how great this series was, I was very excited to get lost in the adventures of a young woman (Claire) who finds herself transported back in time – from 1945 to 1742. Oh, those measly 200 years. It took her no time at all to adjust to her new surroundings and forget her husband! You know the one Claire, the one you have back in 1945. But that’s OK because she soon finds his replacement and the sex is much better. But for the reader the sex scenes left us unsatisfied and disappointed.
What can one say about Claire – dull, annoying, mindless. Everything she does is only in reaction to the world around her and acts surprised every time she finds herself close to being killed. If the author was trying tell a story, it would have been nice if Claire actually had some personality and actually wanted to do something other than scream or have sex with her cute 23 year old Catholic former virgin warrior (with whom she has incredible sex and loses all interest in her husband or getting back to 1945). I’d let you in on the storyline, but unfortunately there isn’t one. It just goes from Claire fucking up and almost getting killed to just fucking her cute 23 year old Catholic former virgin warrior. Wow, for 632 long, boring pages – that’s it. The only time it came close to being interesting is when she realized there were others who had also gone back in time (this was during a time when Claire had fucked up and was on trial for being a witch – yea, can you believe even that was written with no intensity). That whole, other people who’ve traveled back, would have made for an interesting plot twist, but sadly it died quickly. Unfortunately the book did not and I drudged through to the bitter end. Do yourself a favor, use this book as kindling and find another book to read by the fire. Maybe ‘Jane Eyre’ or ‘A House at Riverton’ --
What can one say about Claire – dull, annoying, mindless. Everything she does is only in reaction to the world around her and acts surprised every time she finds herself close to being killed. If the author was trying tell a story, it would have been nice if Claire actually had some personality and actually wanted to do something other than scream or have sex with her cute 23 year old Catholic former virgin warrior (with whom she has incredible sex and loses all interest in her husband or getting back to 1945). I’d let you in on the storyline, but unfortunately there isn’t one. It just goes from Claire fucking up and almost getting killed to just fucking her cute 23 year old Catholic former virgin warrior. Wow, for 632 long, boring pages – that’s it. The only time it came close to being interesting is when she realized there were others who had also gone back in time (this was during a time when Claire had fucked up and was on trial for being a witch – yea, can you believe even that was written with no intensity). That whole, other people who’ve traveled back, would have made for an interesting plot twist, but sadly it died quickly. Unfortunately the book did not and I drudged through to the bitter end. Do yourself a favor, use this book as kindling and find another book to read by the fire. Maybe ‘Jane Eyre’ or ‘A House at Riverton’ --
sj_books's review against another edition
5.0
I want to go to stonehenge, go through the the stones and find lallybroch. One of my favourites.
hughesie141's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
adam_z's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
A few years ago Mike's Book Reviews (YouTube) posed the following question: Can a guy enjoy Outlander? He went on to talk about the first season of the television adaptation on Starz, (which I'm not going to get into here), but never really gave an answer about the book.
My answer to the question is yes - somewhat. I liken Outlander to Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series in the sense that both series have attracted a lot of strong praise and criticism. I come away from Outlander with similar feelings to what I had for Wizard's First Rule (Sword of Truth book 1): It was okay. I enjoyed it somewhat. It wasn't amazing or terrible. There were things I liked, and there were things I didn't like. I get why some people love this book/series, and I also get where much of the criticism comes from as well. If Goodreads allowed half-stars this would sit right in the middle at a 2.5 for me.
It's hard to classify Outlander - I've seen it called a romance novel, historical fiction, historical romance, historical fantasy... and none of these genre tags really fits quite right if applied individually. I think if I had to pick just one, I'd probably land on putting it in a general historical fiction category, with the caveat that there is a strong romance subplot. Not so strong that it is the dominant theme of the story--first and foremost it's a fish-out-of-water story about an English nurse from the 1940's trying to survive when she is unexpectedly finds herself in 1740's Scotland--but the romance subplot is somewhat more prominent than what I'm used to seeing in the books I typically read.
For me, the romance element just doesn't land. I really don't really enjoy reading the inner monologues of characters in the throes of the puppy love stage of a relationship. It feels voyeuristic to me. It wasn't terribly sappy/cringy - it's just not what I'm into reading.
What I DID really enjoy experiencing with Claire (protagonist and sole POV character) was the feeling of newness and discovery of this strange time and culture from centuries past. Talk about history coming to life! There were times where her knowledge of mid-20th century medicine put her in an advantageous position over the methods of the 1740's, but she had much to learn in order to get along in the time she found herself in - things that a mere introductory knowledge of 18th century history couldn't have prepared her for.
I have nothing against long books in general, and will never shy away from a book based solely on length, but if I'm reading a long book I also expect the author to make the added length worth it. The mass-market paperback edition I have is 850 pages, and I feel like this could have had appx 150 pages worth of content trimmed and been better off for it.
YMMV
My answer to the question is yes - somewhat. I liken Outlander to Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series in the sense that both series have attracted a lot of strong praise and criticism. I come away from Outlander with similar feelings to what I had for Wizard's First Rule (Sword of Truth book 1): It was okay. I enjoyed it somewhat. It wasn't amazing or terrible. There were things I liked, and there were things I didn't like. I get why some people love this book/series, and I also get where much of the criticism comes from as well. If Goodreads allowed half-stars this would sit right in the middle at a 2.5 for me.
It's hard to classify Outlander - I've seen it called a romance novel, historical fiction, historical romance, historical fantasy... and none of these genre tags really fits quite right if applied individually. I think if I had to pick just one, I'd probably land on putting it in a general historical fiction category, with the caveat that there is a strong romance subplot. Not so strong that it is the dominant theme of the story--first and foremost it's a fish-out-of-water story about an English nurse from the 1940's trying to survive when she is unexpectedly finds herself in 1740's Scotland--but the romance subplot is somewhat more prominent than what I'm used to seeing in the books I typically read.
For me, the romance element just doesn't land. I really don't really enjoy reading the inner monologues of characters in the throes of the puppy love stage of a relationship. It feels voyeuristic to me. It wasn't terribly sappy/cringy - it's just not what I'm into reading.
What I DID really enjoy experiencing with Claire (protagonist and sole POV character) was the feeling of newness and discovery of this strange time and culture from centuries past. Talk about history coming to life! There were times where her knowledge of mid-20th century medicine put her in an advantageous position over the methods of the 1740's, but she had much to learn in order to get along in the time she found herself in - things that a mere introductory knowledge of 18th century history couldn't have prepared her for.
I have nothing against long books in general, and will never shy away from a book based solely on length, but if I'm reading a long book I also expect the author to make the added length worth it. The mass-market paperback edition I have is 850 pages, and I feel like this could have had appx 150 pages worth of content trimmed and been better off for it.
YMMV
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
hoesforprose's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
markalkman's review against another edition
4.0
I loved this way more than I expected to. I honestly had no idea what to expect when I started this. I've never seen the show (I'm a 'read the book first' kind of person), so I was going in blind. The only thing I knew was that this was a romance/time travel story about Claire and Jamie. And that it takes place in 18th century Scotland. It took me a while to get the hang of the story, but once Claire stepped through the standing stones, the pace of the story picked up a bit.
I have to say, there were quite a few unnecessary scenes. The book itself could've been 200-300 pages shorter, and the important storylines would be unchanged. Nevertheless, I have nothing against books of 800+ pages, so this one didn't scare me. I was kind of worried that the story would bore me, but that didn't happen. The romance between Claire and Jamie was a bit forced at first, but it turned out to be quite captivating in the end. I'm curious to see how the story'll continue, so I'll definitely be reading the second book in the series.
Now, I've read that some people can't get over the fact that Jamie had to punish Claire for walking off and trying to escape. The truth is; it didn't really bother me that much. Not that I enjoyed reading it, but the two characters that had to live through it, didn't either. You have to keep in mind that the story takes place in 1743 for pete's sake. These are not entirely civilized times and these are clearly their ways. Claire did put Jamie and several of his men at risk by trying to escape and walking straight into the arms of the redcoats. Honestly, I thought it was pretty foolish of her to try and sneak off by crossing a river. But oh well. Jamie has to save her and gets really angry with her, because not only did she disobey his orders, but she put a lot of lives at risk at well. To me the scene was a necessity, and not something Claire underwent willingly. I mean, she struggled and bit Jamie during the act itself. Afterwards, he tried to explain what he did and their way of 'punishment' by telling her stories of his childhood and the times his dad had to hit him. No matter how much of a feminist Claire is, no matter how strong and independent; she's in the eighteenth century now and things are definitely a bit different than what she's used to. Sure, if this happened in 1946 with her other husband, Frank, it would've been a different story. But to me, these things should be read in context. Context of the story and context of setting and time.
I have to say, there were quite a few unnecessary scenes. The book itself could've been 200-300 pages shorter, and the important storylines would be unchanged. Nevertheless, I have nothing against books of 800+ pages, so this one didn't scare me. I was kind of worried that the story would bore me, but that didn't happen. The romance between Claire and Jamie was a bit forced at first, but it turned out to be quite captivating in the end. I'm curious to see how the story'll continue, so I'll definitely be reading the second book in the series.
Now, I've read that some people can't get over the fact that Jamie had to punish Claire for walking off and trying to escape. The truth is; it didn't really bother me that much. Not that I enjoyed reading it, but the two characters that had to live through it, didn't either. You have to keep in mind that the story takes place in 1743 for pete's sake. These are not entirely civilized times and these are clearly their ways. Claire did put Jamie and several of his men at risk by trying to escape and walking straight into the arms of the redcoats. Honestly, I thought it was pretty foolish of her to try and sneak off by crossing a river. But oh well. Jamie has to save her and gets really angry with her, because not only did she disobey his orders, but she put a lot of lives at risk at well. To me the scene was a necessity, and not something Claire underwent willingly. I mean, she struggled and bit Jamie during the act itself. Afterwards, he tried to explain what he did and their way of 'punishment' by telling her stories of his childhood and the times his dad had to hit him. No matter how much of a feminist Claire is, no matter how strong and independent; she's in the eighteenth century now and things are definitely a bit different than what she's used to. Sure, if this happened in 1946 with her other husband, Frank, it would've been a different story. But to me, these things should be read in context. Context of the story and context of setting and time.
anotherwomack's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0