Reviews with content warning for Child abuse - Outlander

I think this book was… problematic, at best.

There’s great actual writing here, but there are way, way too many negatives with the plot to really offset the style of writing.

I did some cursory google searches and apparently the nickname Claire is given was used as a slur, which I find just… absolutely mind boggling.

There are multiple scenes of what I can only see as marital rape, which is horrible normally, but is made even worse because of the attempts at spinning it as love.

There’s also a huge dialogue to be had about beating your children/spouses in a book about going back in time, but it is completely inconceivable to me that someone from “the future” would forgive being beaten, and then being told how hot she was while being beaten, in about 24 hours and then just sleeping with the attacker again.

All of this, before we get to the male rape scenes and how utterly disgusting one of the characters is.

Maybe in a couple days my opinion of this story will change but it just… I was so disappointed that Claire forgives horrible things (by today’s standards, or WW2’s) and seems to have zero real issues whatsoever acclimating to the past. Yikes.

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bookish_village's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-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? No

2.75

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breegoux's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Outlander is an interesting read and I'm not quite sure how to classify it. Historical romance isn't quite right as it spends a good deal of its time setting up a deeper political plotline, but historical fiction doesn't fit either because (at least to me) it ventures a little too far into the drama aspects of someone is always captured/in trouble/under threat to quite fit there. So probably closer to dramatic historical romance? And there is something to be said for "well what does the genre really matter?" which is fair, but I found myself constantly bouncing around in the narrative confused as to what exactly the book was trying to do or where we were going - it just wasn't cohesive to me. Some plotlines had me hooked and unable to put the book down and others had me thinking that Gabaldon had really lost the plot somewhere. All that being said, it's easy to see why Outlander is such a hit and a bestseller - it's hard to put down. It keeps you on the edge of each page wondering what's going to happen next, the characters are loveable if not rough around the edges, and the landscape of 1744 Scotland is magical. Where it failed for me is the repetitive "oh no they're captured again" narrative and over the top drama that seeped into a lot of the subplots

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adeperi's review against another edition

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adventurous slow-paced

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

1.0

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amy_sl's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

2.75

The book begins relatively "innocently", with characters and themes suitable and likeable for the time period that Claire is transported into. However, trigger warnings for the last part of the book

descriptions of rape, body horror, wishing for death, torture etc. overall just unpleasant and disgusting. If you are sensitive to any of these things I wouldn't really recommend it. Though reoccurring themes throughout the whole book, the final third of the book takes it all a step further and, honestly, it's all just unnecessary as well.

I Had a pretty enjoyable read up until this point, but this last part definitely knocked off a few stars.

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gellyreads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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? No

2.0

I feel like this book is just an absolute mess.

She’s abused and forgives him too quickly.

The romance is paper thin. The fantasy and time travel elements were the most interesting, but it’s not really the point.

Why couldn’t we see more of the “witches?”

I don’t get it.

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rachel_reads_them_all's review

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I could read this story a million times and not get tired of it. Gabaldon's story telling is so rich with detail, history and her story telling makes you forget that her books are so long. I can fall right into Claire's world, never missing a beat.

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elizlizabeth's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

3.0

I enjoyed the first half of the book but by the end it honestly felt like the plot was there only to justify the smut. Jamie was my favorite character but by the end he had lost all semblance of personality and coherency in favor of whatever the plot or Claire's own arch required. Claire herself was very annoying and unlikable to me, but her actions and personality made sense for the plot so it's not really a critique and more of a lack of affinity on my part.
Gabaldon is a very good writer and I truly enjoyed the historical fantasy part of this. Not sure if I'd read the rest of the series after that infamous dungeon scene tho. Definitely read and heed the warnings on this one.

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