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Book Review of Outlander (Outlander, Bk 1)

Outlander (Outlander, Bk 1)
Outlander (Outlander, Bk 1)
Author: Diana Gabaldon
Genre: Science Fiction & Fantasy
Book Type: Mass Market Paperback
Mamie avatar reviewed on + 4 more book reviews


**Contains Spoilers.**
Much closer to the supermarket-romance genre than I'd been expecting. I enjoy time-travel that really makes use of the different periods, and romance that is well-woven into a plot, like Time & Again. Glowing reviews led me to believe I might have found another winner, but I would say you should only try this book if you like the Romance-with-a-capital-R genre. In Outlander, Claire is magically transported to the 18th century, but her experiences adapting to the period are too quickly glossed over in favor of heated romantic encounters with a man whom I frankly found a little off-putting. I know many other readers think he's the height of sexy, but I prefer heroes who 1) never beat up their women no matter how justified, 2) win ladies with their activity, charm and wit instead of brawn and farming-knowledge and 3) don't spend quite so much time being stabbed, whipped, humiliated, and raped. In fact, there was altogether too much raping, attempted raping, misunderstood raping, and threatened raping throughout the book. It hit the point of being silly, where I was rather expecting every new character and scenario to somehow work in a rape angle ("Claire, I hope you will have another pancake - the cook makes nothing but pancakes since she was raped by a baker.")