Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

10 reviews

sup3r_xn0va_maya's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

💬: “Don’t be afraid,” he whispered into my hair. “There’s the two of us now.” I felt warm, soothed, and safe for the first time in many days."

Gabaldon, Diana. Outlander: A Novel (Outlander, Book 1) (p. 212). Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

📖Genres: romance, romantasy, adult, adventure, historical romance, historical, fantasy

📚Page Count: 850

🎧Audiobook Length: 32h 38min

👩🏾‍🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️ - 2/5
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TW -

ableism, animal death, blood, body horror, cursing, death, death of parent, emotional abuse, gore, grief, injury/injury detail, misogyny, murder, physical abuse, pregnancy, rape, sexism, sexual assault, sexual harassment, sexual content, sexual violence, torture, violence, vomit, war

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon is an 800+ page historical romance that has action, spice, time travel, and adventure. Claire is a nurse from 1945 and she's thrusted back in time a few hundred years, where she has to survive until she figures out how to get home. It's here that she meets Jamie, a Scott who wants to show her a love so true. At least she won't have to try and survive alone, with him by her side. I didn't love this story, I barely liked it. Between the weird and slow pacing and the threat of rape being constantly thrown around, by the time the book was over I was exhausted and annoyed from the read.

I didn't like the book's pacing. The book started off really slow, I'd say it took about 2 to 3 hours of listening to the audiobook for the story to actually start moving forward. Once the story started to move, things got interesting and I became invested. Then, I'd say 200 pages into the action, things slowed down to a crawl and I stopped caring about the story. After about 150 pages of the slow crawl, things picked up again. Do you see where I'm going with this? This strange pacing continued throughout the entire novel.

(Trigger Warning  - rape, sexual assault)
The threat of rape was constant from the moment the main character went back in time. I understand that your female main character went back in time, that doesn't mean you have to have every other man she encounters try to physically & sexually attack her. I honestly should have counted the amount of times Claire was threated with physical or sexual harm by a man, there are a few times where she actually IS attacked. Claire apparently isn't the only one who's in danger of being sexually assaulted.

At the tail end of the book Jamie gets arrested and he incidentally ran into Randall, well Randall is an evil man so he wanted to take revenge on Jamie and he does that by mutilating, torturing, and raping Jamie for an uncertain amount of days.

(Trigger Warning  - rape, sexual assault, drugging)
Unfortunately, it gets worse. Now,

by the time Jamie is rescued from Randall at the end of the book, he has PTSD, he's so sick that he might die, and he doesn't want to look at his wife because he feels ashamed and disgusted with himself because of the sexual assault. How do I know this? Because he tells Claire and there's a dialogue about the assault and Jamie tells Claire exactly what was said and done to him. For some odd reason the author decided to make Claire drug Jamie with opium, so he hallucinates, and then she pretends to be his assaulter (Randall) and she says the things he said and then she does the things he physically did to elicit a response out of Jamie. Well, it does get a reaction, Jamie attacks Claire and they go tumbling to the ground (while Claire is getting beat on by Jamie). Somehow, while they're tumbling on the group Claire is able to insert Jamie into her, and now they're having intercourse. Claire "cured him" and helped him claim his "manhood".

OMG. How ridiculous, gross, and unnecessary.

(Trigger Warning - physical abuse, domestic abuse)
The spice fluctuated. At first I was into it but then there was this strange scene where

Jamie physically held down and beat Claire because he wanted to prove to his band of merry men that he was punishing her for her actions. I just didn't understand this scene, it made me sick to my stomach and it made me like Jamie a lot less than I previously did. After that, I wasn't interested in any spice between Jamie and Claire.

I'm giving it one and a half chilies 🌶️.5 out of five chilies

This book also ends in the

pregnancy trope

, and if you know me then you know I hate that trope very much. So, the ending was just disappointing for many reason. I really tried to trust recommendations and then trust the process with this one and that failed me. There were only a few times during the 32 hour audiobook that I enjoyed the reading experience. I just didn't like this book and I won't be continuing with the series.
⭐️⭐️ - 2/5

I listened to this for free on the library app, hoopladigital.com

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Ableism, Body horror, Drug use, Murder, Gun violence, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Grief, Emotional abuse, Animal death, Death of parent, Blood, Infertility, Rape, Sexual content, Domestic abuse, Gore, Violence, Vomit, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Torture, and War

emhaze's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Drug use, Gore, Racial slurs, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Bullying, Classism, Colonisation, Cursing, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Torture, Alcohol, Gun violence, Murder, Violence, Animal death, Child abuse, Infertility, Medical content, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Death, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Vomit, War, Blood, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Abortion

water_violin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Definitely an interesting story, but clearly had been published in the 90s, given the portrayal of the only gay characters as predatory and sadistic. The portrayal of Romani travelers was also somewhat problematic to a modern eye, but at least they were not shown to be monolithically negative. I was personally not a fan of how the main relationship developed, as both of the characters were in turns somewhat emotionally manipulative or abusive, but it does make sense with the setting and characterization. Overall, some very unpleasant themes, but an interesting storyline. I’m curious to see how the rest of the books progress and whether there are any more diverse portrayals of queer or non-white characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Medical content, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Rape, Gore, Sexism, Violence, Kidnapping, War, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Blood, Medical trauma, and Mental illness

Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Infertility, Drug use, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Vomit, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Suicide, Xenophobia, and Racism

Minor: Child death, Chronic illness, and Classism

strawberrypinch's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Torture, Pregnancy, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Violence, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Grief, Infertility, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Rape, Vomit, Cursing, Death, Gore, Child abuse, and Suicide

Minor: Abortion, Animal death, Car accident, Child death, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Homophobia, War, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Drug use, and Fatphobia

donatio's review

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

The author's style was easy to read but I have a view critique points:
- Why so much sex? 
-

The first point connects to the second: I had a problem with Jamie, he had a few good lines and while I understand that the time was different then, I just can't agree with some things he did, because he really doesn't give her a proper choice. And the beating, no, I could not really forgive him for that even though Claire did.

-

Why did Claire have to cry so much and always had to be held in Jamie's arms to calm down?

-

The ending. I knew she would have a baby but still. Maybe it's just personal preference but I don't like the Pregnancy trope.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Misogyny, Sexism, Cursing, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Murder

Moderate: Infertility, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, and Drug use

Minor: Abortion, Animal death, Child death, Addiction, and Child abuse

brownieboo's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Blood, Death, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Rape, and Sexual content

Moderate: Kidnapping, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Pedophilia, Death, Homophobia, Infertility, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Chronic illness, Incest, Infidelity, Suicide, and Sexual violence

tiana_king's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Dreamy 

Well thought out book that was clearly researched. It did seem odd to be so long though. Such a thing has too many details. Overall the story was very well done and the characters were great.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Death, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Rape, Sexual content, Animal death, and Gore

Moderate: Death of parent, Drug use, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Homophobia, Child abuse, and Child death

danajoy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective tense

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Blood, and Violence

Moderate: Animal death, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Vomit, Child abuse, Cursing, and Pedophilia

Minor: Car accident and Excrement

madchen's review

adventurous dark emotional inspiring reflective 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? Yes

4.75

This would be 5 stars if it weren't for the undertones of

homophobia

and lil whiffs of 

racism

here and there. Like I get that Black Jack Randall is a 

villain

  but did he really have to be an 

Evil Gay

  to trauma bond Claire and Jamie? Idk, I know this book isn't fresh as a daisy but I just can't find it in myself to give five stars and excuse a book because of "the time it was written in" and "historical accuracy". You do you, but my lil queer heart just can't do it at the moment. I watched the TV series before this and felt it there too, just in case anyone is wondering, though I doubt a lot of people are reading the book before watching the series at this point.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Homophobia

Minor: Ableism, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Fatphobia, Grief, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Terminal illness, Vomit, and Xenophobia

bookcaptivated's review

adventurous dark emotional slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Death, Gore, Medical content, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Ableism, Drug use, and Homophobia

Minor: Child abuse, Infertility, and Suicidal thoughts