‘Outlander’ is Time Travel Romance Done Right

Content warnings: sexual abuse, murder

• Title: Outlander
• Author: Diana Gabaldon
• Publisher: Arrow
• Pub. date: 19 February 2015
• Series: Outlander #1
• Pages: 864
• Genres: adult fiction, historical fiction, romance, fantasy, action & adventure

What if your future was the past?

1946, and Claire Randall goes to the Scottish Highlands with her husband Frank. It’s a second honeymoon, a chance to learn how war has changed them and to re-establish their loving marriage.
But one afternoon, Claire walks through a circle of standing stones and vanishes into 1743, where the first person she meets is a British army officer – her husband’s six-times great-grandfather.

Unfortunately, Black Jack Randall is not the man his descendant is, and while trying to escape him, Claire falls into the hands of a gang of Scottish outlaws, and finds herself a Sassenach – an outlander – in danger from both Jacobites and Redcoats.

Marooned amid danger, passion and violence, her only chance of safety lies in Jamie Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior. What begins in compulsion becomes urgent need, and Claire finds herself torn between two very different men, in two irreconcilable lives.

When I picked up Outlander, I had already watched 5 seasons of the STARZ show and I was in love with the series. Then I picked up the book and oh boy, I am in deeper than ever now!

Outlander is the story of Claire Randall who mysteriously and suddenly ends up in a century that is years before her time. There are many dizzyingly confusing and tortuous turns that take the story and many 18^th century Scottish strangers we come across (enter Jaime Fraser and gang!).

I instantly liked Claire’s character from the beginning of the book. She was down-to-earth, hardworking and very sensible. She had a very solid character from the get-go, and I found her to be a good change from the more common female protagonist model I read about.

Now Jamie is something else altogether. I tried really hard to not let the TV show get in the way of reading the book and meeting the characters, so Jamie’s character is a total mystery when he’s introduced and I only got bits and pieces of his character as the story progressed and Claire got to know him better. I personally find Jamie to be a total sweetheart and I love him, but he had quite a few macho moments scattered throughout. In his defense, I did see growth in his character as the story progressed.

Now the antagonists. Gabaldon had quite a few unpleasant characters that really gave me goosebumps throughout, but the cake goes to Black Jack Randall! I just cannot fathom his cruel and sadist character.

Gabaldon paced this book out very nicely; everything ran smoothly and was very easy to follow along (even though time travel can get confusing). Also, very consistent narration.

But I should mention that this book is a literal rollercoaster! There are so many twists throughout this story that keeps throwing the characters off their tracks. Personally, I found this fun, so no complaints here!

And can we talk about how the characters had such believable personalities? They were all such grey characters, so there aren’t any good vs. bad characters, but more like who do you side with.

Do be warned that this book ends on a cliff-hanger, but I found it to be perfect opening to Book 2!

First of all, time travel is such a fascinating and fun trope! And Gabaldon’s mode of time travel? So good! I just cannot stop raving about how much I love the Stones!

Reading about a story set in 18^th century Scotland can get confusing and alien very fast, especially when there is Gaelic being spoken and all the details are so on point. But Gabaldon told the whole story through Claire’s POV, so it is so much easier to follow through since the narrator is from a time period that is closer to the readers.

Unsurprisingly, there is a lot of sexism that permeates the story and Claire takes the mantle for all us modern readers and tries to implement some feminism. But the women of 18^th century Scotland (or anywhere else in this time period) find her “foreign”, and we get an unpleasant dose of witch trials in this book.

There is also a foray into sexual assault and its consequences, which I found very raw and saddening to read about.

Marriage becomes a central theme in the story too. I read about a whole lot of different marriages that popped up throughout the book, including what Jamie and the 18^th century believed it to be. Also, Claire’s dilemma in the marriage department certainly throws a fun spin on this theme.

Lastly, there is the concept of soulmates. I found the concept of two lovers separated by several centuries (and a myriad of other problems) to be a very interesting concept. To be honest, I think it is one of main plot drivers in this book. There are still many questions about this pairing and how they are going to prevail through time and space, so it’s a good thing this series spans over a saga.

This book was as entertaining and fun as watching the series was. I love the rollercoaster of plot twists and I love the story that unfolds! I honestly hope I get my hands on the rest of the books soon because I have so many questions and I just need to keep reading!

Are you an Outlander fan? Do you prefer the books or the TV series? Let me know in the comments below!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Hasini | 26 | 🇱🇰 🇦🇺 (@bibliosini)