Outlander - Diana Gabaldon

THE FIRST NOVEL IN THE BESTSELLING OUTLANDER SERIES - soon to be a major new TV series.

Claire Randall is leading a double life. She has a husband in one century - and a lover in another.

In 1945, Claire Randall is back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon in Scotland. Innocently she walks through a stone circle in the Highlands, and finds herself in a violent skirmish taking place in 1743. Suddenly she is a Sassenach, an outlander, in a country torn by war and by clan feuds.

A wartime nurse, Claire can deal with the bloody wounds that face her. But it is harder to deal with the knowledge that she is in Jacobite Scotland and the carnage of Culloden is looming. Marooned amid the passion and violence, the superstition, the shifting allegiances and the fervent loyalties, Claire is in danger from Jacobites and Redcoats - and from the shock of her own desire for James Fraser, a gallant and courageous young Scots warrior. Jamie shows her a passion so fierce and a love so absolute that Claire becomes a woman torn between fidelity and desire, and between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives.

                                                                                                                 
-- Amazon.co.uk description --


Ok, this is a popular book and with the TV show coming out it even got more attention. I read Outlander this summer before the TV show started. First of all, this is a big, chunky book and it definitely isn't a quick read. You need to take your time to read this one. I was intrigued by the synopsis and bought the first three books online. When I finally got them, I was surprised that they each counted more than 800 pages (the third one counts even more than 1000 pages) but once you read it that is not really an issue anymore. My book cover is not the blue one, but the cheesy pink one (picture on the left), and that's why I hesitated to buy it in the first place. However, this is not a cheesy book and I truly enjoyed it. It has a lot of drama, suspense and romance; everything I hoped for, so this book even exceeded my expectations. Nevertheless, I do have some problems with Outlander. Some scene described in the book are downright disgusting! One scene in particular really did make me gag, this is not even an exaggeration! It was near the end, and I think everyone who read this book will know what I'm talking about. I can't for the life of me think why the author felt the need to describe that scene in such detail and length. I don't think a lot of people enjoyed it, and I hope it won't be in the TV show.
All in all, though, I really did enjoy it. Loved the main characters, the romance, the historical setting and no obvious historical inaccuracies. Diana Gabaldon really did her homework! So it is a good book but those scenes I talked about earlier and the ending are the only things I disliked about this book.

I ultimately give it 3,5 stars out of 5 (I probably would have rated this book 4,5 out of 5 stars if those scenes didn't bother me this much because the rest of the book was awesome)! And you should give it a try, just keep in mind that it isn't written for sensitive or squeamish people. The TV show, so far has been amazing and I definitely recommend that one too!

This a link to the trailer of the TV show Outlander. Enjoy!