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88 reviews for:
Clanlands in New Zealand: Kilts, Kiwis, and an Adventure Down Under
Graham McTavish, Sam Heughan
3.97 AVERAGE
88 reviews for:
Clanlands in New Zealand: Kilts, Kiwis, and an Adventure Down Under
Graham McTavish, Sam Heughan
3.97 AVERAGE
This book was a poor choice to release for so many reasons. Were there no editors who weren’t white men? Were there no sensitivity readers? From the “we can’t hold people from the past responsible for reprehensible acts” and “at least they were brave” pussyfooting around colonization, to using the term “midget” MORE THAN ONCE, to “don’t drop the soap” jokes to what I swear was laughing mimicry of the way Māori people talk, my mouth was open in horror throughout. Everyone involved should be embarrassed.
2 stars only because I listened to the audiobook and their voices are gorgeous. If I’d read it, I would’ve DNFd and it would get 1 star.
2 stars only because I listened to the audiobook and their voices are gorgeous. If I’d read it, I would’ve DNFd and it would get 1 star.
I really enjoyed this book. Both are very good at conveying their experiences, McTavish especially so.
To the eXtreme
‘Whisky?’ I shot up again, my head not even acknowledging the second bump against Graham’s bunk. ‘Whisky cures everything.’
In terms of judging what they got up to in New Zealand - yeah, all good. Honestly, it is not a big drawcard for me reading what tourist traps New Zealand has to offer. Enough of it was similar to my own experiences that there was nothing revelationary. I would just say that as with any country you can pick your own pace and you certainly aren’t obliged to do any river rockslides (New Zealand’s shocking drowning rates would have me recommending you don’t).
McTavish does a better than reasonable job of adding in asides of local history, showing good insight as to the context of the times (albeit I worry about using that as a crutch too often to dodge assigning blame). Do you get the real New Zealand from the book? Absolutely not, other than fragments such as that Rotorua really does smell. The marketing point of their adventures is to push things to “extremes”, though the ziplining seems a bit passe – Canada has a beat based on my own goes at it, Accordingly very little of the book reflects day-to-day life in New Zealand (other than the drinking).
Also There is absolutely no way Taihape hit 40 degrees Celsius in the shade though, that’s just another Scottish thistle wilting in the mild heat.
Frenemies or Radical Honesty
There’s no doubt he knew his stuff, but he was as dry as an oatcake, like a black hole of tedium, sucking all enthusiasm from the atmosphere, leaving Sam and I reaching for the nearest weapons to mercifully club each other to death.
McTavish and Heughan’s relationship, or at least the version portrayed in the book, is one of constantly exchanging barbs. I am sure there is some artistic licence in picking the most memorable conversations but it does portray an antagonistic dynamic between them.
To be fair, two guys talking shit to each other constantly is pretty plausible, and the dynamics of age/relative appetites for risk defang any potential competitive elements. It is still interesting to see that editorial choice. I do not have a problem with it but I would probably be exhausted about it. The tone flows over to descriptions of some of their guides, particularly in Dunedin where I would go as far to say it comes off as harsh. It leaves me wondering – are their descriptions accurate, or do McTavish and Heughan occasionally rub people the wrong way then fail to get the best out of those others, perhaps losing something from the experience?
I am not going to dock the book for that – their style may not be mine (40-something Heughan being out to all hours drinking in Wellington is eyebrow raising to me) but it is interesting perspective to human interactions. In their defence, they showed an impressive level of engagement with the Tā moko portion.
Sometimes their abrasiveness is an outright positive. Heughan hates his time in COVID enforced quarantine and is willing to write things about his experience that more politic celebrities might not have. While personally I thought “suck it up” to those doing it at the time, I know my view is not the only one, probably not even the majority one. Reading someone write the equivalent of “That was a bit shit” about even your closest held truths can make you think differently. There are other times where I suspect they were hostages to their filming schedule (they liked Oamaru’s steampunk and blue penguins a whole lot less than I do), and that’s fine, good even. I don’t need celebrities wheeling out their accolades over the dullest parts imaginable. Since McTavish chose to live here, I do not take it too personally.
My main observation about these tiny penugins was that they were clearly not blessed with a lot of brain power.
Five stars because it’s a semi-alcoholic blast through some tourist hotspots that doesn’t come off as overly fawning.
And it was substantially reduced in price.
To the eXtreme
‘Whisky?’ I shot up again, my head not even acknowledging the second bump against Graham’s bunk. ‘Whisky cures everything.’
In terms of judging what they got up to in New Zealand - yeah, all good. Honestly, it is not a big drawcard for me reading what tourist traps New Zealand has to offer. Enough of it was similar to my own experiences that there was nothing revelationary. I would just say that as with any country you can pick your own pace and you certainly aren’t obliged to do any river rockslides (New Zealand’s shocking drowning rates would have me recommending you don’t).
McTavish does a better than reasonable job of adding in asides of local history, showing good insight as to the context of the times (albeit I worry about using that as a crutch too often to dodge assigning blame). Do you get the real New Zealand from the book? Absolutely not, other than fragments such as that Rotorua really does smell. The marketing point of their adventures is to push things to “extremes”, though the ziplining seems a bit passe – Canada has a beat based on my own goes at it, Accordingly very little of the book reflects day-to-day life in New Zealand (other than the drinking).
Also There is absolutely no way Taihape hit 40 degrees Celsius in the shade though, that’s just another Scottish thistle wilting in the mild heat.
Frenemies or Radical Honesty
There’s no doubt he knew his stuff, but he was as dry as an oatcake, like a black hole of tedium, sucking all enthusiasm from the atmosphere, leaving Sam and I reaching for the nearest weapons to mercifully club each other to death.
McTavish and Heughan’s relationship, or at least the version portrayed in the book, is one of constantly exchanging barbs. I am sure there is some artistic licence in picking the most memorable conversations but it does portray an antagonistic dynamic between them.
To be fair, two guys talking shit to each other constantly is pretty plausible, and the dynamics of age/relative appetites for risk defang any potential competitive elements. It is still interesting to see that editorial choice. I do not have a problem with it but I would probably be exhausted about it. The tone flows over to descriptions of some of their guides, particularly in Dunedin where I would go as far to say it comes off as harsh. It leaves me wondering – are their descriptions accurate, or do McTavish and Heughan occasionally rub people the wrong way then fail to get the best out of those others, perhaps losing something from the experience?
I am not going to dock the book for that – their style may not be mine (40-something Heughan being out to all hours drinking in Wellington is eyebrow raising to me) but it is interesting perspective to human interactions. In their defence, they showed an impressive level of engagement with the Tā moko portion.
Sometimes their abrasiveness is an outright positive. Heughan hates his time in COVID enforced quarantine and is willing to write things about his experience that more politic celebrities might not have. While personally I thought “suck it up” to those doing it at the time, I know my view is not the only one, probably not even the majority one. Reading someone write the equivalent of “That was a bit shit” about even your closest held truths can make you think differently. There are other times where I suspect they were hostages to their filming schedule (they liked Oamaru’s steampunk and blue penguins a whole lot less than I do), and that’s fine, good even. I don’t need celebrities wheeling out their accolades over the dullest parts imaginable. Since McTavish chose to live here, I do not take it too personally.
My main observation about these tiny penugins was that they were clearly not blessed with a lot of brain power.
Five stars because it’s a semi-alcoholic blast through some tourist hotspots that doesn’t come off as overly fawning.
And it was substantially reduced in price.
Starting off 2024 the same way as 2023, with my first read being a two-star review! Maybe it will become a tradition or a curse.
I got this book as a gift before my upcoming trip to New Zealand, and I believe I had reasonably mid expectations going in for a sequel book (to the original Clanlands book in Scotland) that is effectively a companion read-along to a TV show sequel (Men in Kilts 2) to a TV show spinoff (Men in Kilts), inspired by the origin TV show of these two actors meeting (Outlander). If that was confusing to read, you can possibly imagine that just how far down the rabbit hole of this fandom this book certainly contributed to its lackluster quality.
While I can’t vouch for how someone who has seen these actors on multiple shows and loves them would be better able to imagine their intonation and banter, as someone who picked up this book as a New Zealand travelogue, it was barely readable. The format involved switching between the two authors, often recounting the same story multiple times with just a slightly different perspective, but not enough to actually make it worth reading twice. The form almost appeared designed for a talk-back of the corresponding TV show, Men in Kilts 2, so perhaps an audiobook format would rescue this unfortunate style, but probably not. There were weird gaps in detail, like how they were supposed to be driving a caravan across the country, but then randomly took flights between the North and South Islands with no explanation of how the caravan met them there in their tight timeline (forgivable, knowing that this is to produce a TV show, but confusing if read as an actual log of travel).
Even more than the repetitive, confusing dialogue style was the fact that this book was almost completely devoid of content about New Zealand save for some long passages about massacres (and truly, only massacres) that seemed as if they might have been taken verbatim from a history book and editorialized with a cheeky tone. And don’t even get me started on the cheekiness — the most salient feature of the entire book was the incessant, repetitive dialogue where the two characters made the same jokes and pranks about how grumpy, stinky, and wimpy the other was. It was completely over the top and felt manufactured.
While there were a few scenes (even if clearly partially fabricated or over-dramatized) in the book that caught my attention (Sam stumbling through the steampunk village at dusk, learning the culture around Māori tattooing), by and large this book contained endlessly long descriptions of extreme outdoor adventures one might take in New Zealand with limited information on, well, New Zealand. While I guess I might come across a few places in New Zealand, and think, “hey — I read about that in the book,” this could have been achieved through a variety of different means of higher quality. I am genuinely curious what made the original Clanlands such a success, but not curious enough to slog through another book.
I got this book as a gift before my upcoming trip to New Zealand, and I believe I had reasonably mid expectations going in for a sequel book (to the original Clanlands book in Scotland) that is effectively a companion read-along to a TV show sequel (Men in Kilts 2) to a TV show spinoff (Men in Kilts), inspired by the origin TV show of these two actors meeting (Outlander). If that was confusing to read, you can possibly imagine that just how far down the rabbit hole of this fandom this book certainly contributed to its lackluster quality.
While I can’t vouch for how someone who has seen these actors on multiple shows and loves them would be better able to imagine their intonation and banter, as someone who picked up this book as a New Zealand travelogue, it was barely readable. The format involved switching between the two authors, often recounting the same story multiple times with just a slightly different perspective, but not enough to actually make it worth reading twice. The form almost appeared designed for a talk-back of the corresponding TV show, Men in Kilts 2, so perhaps an audiobook format would rescue this unfortunate style, but probably not. There were weird gaps in detail, like how they were supposed to be driving a caravan across the country, but then randomly took flights between the North and South Islands with no explanation of how the caravan met them there in their tight timeline (forgivable, knowing that this is to produce a TV show, but confusing if read as an actual log of travel).
Even more than the repetitive, confusing dialogue style was the fact that this book was almost completely devoid of content about New Zealand save for some long passages about massacres (and truly, only massacres) that seemed as if they might have been taken verbatim from a history book and editorialized with a cheeky tone. And don’t even get me started on the cheekiness — the most salient feature of the entire book was the incessant, repetitive dialogue where the two characters made the same jokes and pranks about how grumpy, stinky, and wimpy the other was. It was completely over the top and felt manufactured.
While there were a few scenes (even if clearly partially fabricated or over-dramatized) in the book that caught my attention (Sam stumbling through the steampunk village at dusk, learning the culture around Māori tattooing), by and large this book contained endlessly long descriptions of extreme outdoor adventures one might take in New Zealand with limited information on, well, New Zealand. While I guess I might come across a few places in New Zealand, and think, “hey — I read about that in the book,” this could have been achieved through a variety of different means of higher quality. I am genuinely curious what made the original Clanlands such a success, but not curious enough to slog through another book.
Enjoyable in doses, one can have too much banter. I’m puzzled by the friendship, why does McTavish put up with Sam? He seems bent on torturing his elder costar and yet they remain friends? All that being said, New Zealand was already on my bucket list and now I have some ideas of what to do when I get there.
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
Fun travel story. It really feels like you’re travelling with the two of them. An easy read that you can pick up a bit at a time. I like that they included so much of the Indigenous culture in their recounting.
I've seen all the Men in Kilts episodes and have read all the accompanying books that Sam and Graham have written (together and individually), and I'm sad to say this one was my least favorite. I had hoped for a lot more insight into the New Zealand show, which being only 4 episodes, was very rushed and didn't seem to show a fraction of what they actually did during their time there. Sadly, this book only filled in those gaps a little bit.
I realize the purpose of this book is probably more to tie the 'clan' aspect into their travels like they did with the Scotland book, but the historical bits were really boring to me, despite the (forced) sarcasm and humor that was tied in. Speaking of forced - the humor throughout this book really felt fake. I know that Sam and Graham like to tease each other a lot, but it just became a bit much and felt like the constant ribbing was trying to add humor that wasn't naturally there.
I enjoyed the photos at the back of the book, and wished there was more insight into those activities.
I realize the purpose of this book is probably more to tie the 'clan' aspect into their travels like they did with the Scotland book, but the historical bits were really boring to me, despite the (forced) sarcasm and humor that was tied in. Speaking of forced - the humor throughout this book really felt fake. I know that Sam and Graham like to tease each other a lot, but it just became a bit much and felt like the constant ribbing was trying to add humor that wasn't naturally there.
I enjoyed the photos at the back of the book, and wished there was more insight into those activities.
This was I Think even more fun than the first book! The banter between Sam & Graham whilst there's this really magical friendship underneath, is just utterly amazing haha.
Their adventures in New Zealand were really awesome and aside from the fun stuff that's present, these books come with a healthy dose of interesting information as well which I really love. I loved reading more about Scotland in book 1 and now more about New Zealand; it's history and the natives, food, nature, and so much more.
I listened to the audiobook while reading the printed copy which was really fantastic and an amazing addition I think on top of reading it. Sam & Graham did such an amazing job narrating their book and take the experience of reading and listening to a whole new level. Enjoyed every single second of it. And now I want to re-read book 1 while listening to the audio as well haha. Highly recommend!
Their adventures in New Zealand were really awesome and aside from the fun stuff that's present, these books come with a healthy dose of interesting information as well which I really love. I loved reading more about Scotland in book 1 and now more about New Zealand; it's history and the natives, food, nature, and so much more.
I listened to the audiobook while reading the printed copy which was really fantastic and an amazing addition I think on top of reading it. Sam & Graham did such an amazing job narrating their book and take the experience of reading and listening to a whole new level. Enjoyed every single second of it. And now I want to re-read book 1 while listening to the audio as well haha. Highly recommend!
adventurous
funny
informative
fast-paced
adventurous
funny
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced