Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Title: Outlander 
Author: Diana Gabaldon 
Type: Novel 
Genre: Fiction 
Series: Yes, Outlander #1 
Pages: 627 
Copyright: 1991 
Publisher: Delta Trade Paperbacks 
Rating: 4 out of 5


Cover Rating: 3 out of 5
I think that the simple cover is actually pretty nice. I'm not sure it is really going to get anyone who wasn't already interested in the book interested. I expected to see an image of Jamie and Claire on a horse together. I guess that was just me thinking what would they do if this was a romance novel. It isn't just that so I think that the simple cover is good. It leaves many things to the imagination that are best there.

My cover design

Summary: from Good Reads

The year is 1945. Claire Randall, a former combat nurse, is back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon--when she walks through a standing stone in one of the ancient stone circles that dot the British Isles. Suddenly she is a Sassenach--an "outlander"--in a Scotland torn by war and raiding Highland clans in the year of Our Lord...1743.

Hurled back in time by forces she cannot understand, Claire is catapulted into intrigues and dangers that may threaten her life...and shatter her heart. For here she meets James Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior, and becomes a woman torn between fidelity and desire...and between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives.

Feelings:
I had heard a bit about the book before it was picked as a cover blind read for me. I thought it would be more of juicy romance than it was. There was quite a bit of violence that I didn't expect. The beginning of the book was largely exposition and I had a hard time getting through it. Once Claire is with the Scots the book gets much more interesting.

I enjoyed reading this book a lot more than I thought I would. It wasn't just a romance it was more than that. Claire is stubborn and so are most of the other major characters. This leads to some interesting conversations and scenes in the book.

"You are not all right, and it's no wonder," I snapped, venting my fear and irritation. "What sort of idiot gets himself knifed and doesn't even stop to take care of it?[...]You're lucky you're not dead, tearing around the countryside all night, brawling and fighting and throwing yourself off horses . . . hold still, you bloody fool." (p. 54)

This is about where the story really started to get me interested. Jamie and Claire are strong characters and they pull the story forward.

I liked the new interpretation of what stone hedges were. Markers for rifts in time. That is really interesting to me.

I recommend this book.