The Pitch:
A woman inadvertently falls through a time portal from Post-WW2 to 18th Century Scotland during a second honeymoon with her husband. She must navigate the land, culture and her own conflicting heart.
The Pros:
This was a sweeping novel with a very intriguing idea. What would you do if you were transported so far back in time that it was jarring to your current sensibilities? And would you choose to stay if you fell in love while you were there? There were moments of high stress, passion, hilarity, cringing and horror. Overall a very well planned plot albeit a little long.
The Cons:
My suspension of disbelief evaporated by the last third of the novel. There are only so many times a man in 18th century Scotland can have the crap beaten out of him and not succumb to his injuries. Also, the direction she took Captain Randall in the last third of the novel was just too much – she went too far. He was already evil enough, she didn’t need to tack on those last few personality ‘quirks’ to round him out. Finally, Claire started to turn into a bit of a Mary-Sue at the end there. Everyone suddenly wanted her, she was suddenly charming to everyone around her, she possessed sudden abilities beyond what we knew her to possess. You could argue this was set up over the course of the novel with hints (which it was) but it almost felt like the author was fatigued at the end there. Like she just wanted to start wrapping it up so everything that had been so carefully crafted was suddenly jammed into a convenient series of event. Perhaps I was the one that was fatigued…it was a long novel.
The Soapbox:
I would never pick up a book like this on my own. But, between a friend recommendation and seeing that it had been turned into a TV series I figured it would be worth a try. I did like the novel, but I felt it really fell into a meandering trap throughout the middle of it. Instead of quickly escalating the plot and building on the momentum of the beginning it stalled out in the middle and that was very difficult to slog through. The climax was breathtaking (and unbelievable – see above) but the denouement took so long that I found myself wanting to say, ‘yeah, yeah I get it – hurry this up!’ Perhaps it’s conditioning from how YA novels are written now, but the long and languished close of the novel changed my opinion of it a bit.
The Breakdown:
Rating: 3 Stars
Reasoning: This could have been a much tighter novel, my suspension of disbelief evaporating at the end and the unnecessary disturbing turn of events with Captain Randall.
Recommended For: Romance fans, historical fiction fans, lovers of long novels.
I’m not sure if my previous comment went through….
I read Outlander and loved it. I’ve since listened to the entire series and ADORE it. Davina (sp?) Porter narrates the novels and they are superb. If you get a chance, check the next one out from the library and give it a listen while on a long walk. I think they are close to 40-50 hours per book.
🙂
Sara