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A review by midici
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
3.0
*3.5 stars
For the most part, I enjoyed this book. Gabaldon has a nice writing style, and the story is fairly engaging. Claire's confusion and constant mis-steps, the constant British/Scottish drama, the Scottish inter-famility drama, the steamy romance - all great.
However, that being said, I could have done with some help. For example, a family tree would have been super useful or some sort of guide to Scottish clan affiliation, as I had a difficult time keeping everyone straight. Also A MAP with the route marked out. I could not for the life of me figure out how they kept going to places (usually different places) and then running into the exact same English guy and his soldiers. I kept picturing them all running in circles and constantly just walking straight into the people they just ran away from.
I suppose as a historical fiction / romantic drama it should be expected, but there's pretty cavalier attitudes towards rape, near-rape, molestation, etc. Most of the time it's treated as something that's a nuisance or not too serious, and occasionally presented humorously. There's roughly only 2 or 3 times where it's presented as something to be upset about.
Possibly silly to admit but I actually don't know much about the history of Scotland or Britain so Claire kept having revelations that the reader (me) isn't fully clue in on. Like, I googled what a Jacobite was but was still kind of confused. Also her concerns over the fact that the two brothers are supporting different people for the crown - but I have no idea who wins or loses or what that has to do with the future, even though clearly Claire does and I kind of got the feeling that the reader was also supposed to be following along with it.
For the most part, I enjoyed this book. Gabaldon has a nice writing style, and the story is fairly engaging. Claire's confusion and constant mis-steps, the constant British/Scottish drama, the Scottish inter-famility drama, the steamy romance - all great.
However, that being said, I could have done with some help. For example, a family tree would have been super useful or some sort of guide to Scottish clan affiliation, as I had a difficult time keeping everyone straight. Also A MAP with the route marked out. I could not for the life of me figure out how they kept going to places (usually different places) and then running into the exact same English guy and his soldiers. I kept picturing them all running in circles and constantly just walking straight into the people they just ran away from.
I suppose as a historical fiction / romantic drama it should be expected, but there's pretty cavalier attitudes towards rape, near-rape, molestation, etc. Most of the time it's treated as something that's a nuisance or not too serious, and occasionally presented humorously. There's roughly only 2 or 3 times where it's presented as something to be upset about.
Possibly silly to admit but I actually don't know much about the history of Scotland or Britain so Claire kept having revelations that the reader (me) isn't fully clue in on. Like, I googled what a Jacobite was but was still kind of confused. Also her concerns over the fact that the two brothers are supporting different people for the crown - but I have no idea who wins or loses or what that has to do with the future, even though clearly Claire does and I kind of got the feeling that the reader was also supposed to be following along with it.