I picked up Outlander thinking it was respectable historical fiction--discovered in short order that it was more like a romance, albeit set in one of my favorite places and periods. I kept reading.

Despite my disgust at how often the hero and heroine banged or made allusions to banging (if I'd kept count, I imagine it would have been somewhere around 100), I genuinely enjoyed this book. Sure, I found myself grimacing a lot at the author's sometimes overly-exercised fantastic warrant, and the character's amazing talent of just getting crapped on by fate or whatever, the characters were compelling enough, and the story line was full of adventure and peril.

Spoiler alert maybe, but I want to say this. I found this book toward the end to be somewhat homophobic. I've been noticing it in a lot of books with cut-and-dry villains lately, so it's possible that I'm just extra sensitive to it, but it still makes me angry. Sure, I understood how it was used in this book to show an absolute infraction on emotional and bodily boundaries, and that was obscene and meant to elicit a response from the reader. The description of the treatment did make me nauseous, but it also felt like a cheap shot. Then the pseudo-psychology that followed made me roll my eyes a bit. But again, I kept reading.

I do recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a break. I'd describe it as a light read that tries to be a little too heavy sometimes, but that shouldn't deter you from it. ( )

Maybe it's because of the hype. Maybe, descended from multiple lines of Highlanders and well aware of their history, I'm over-critical of historical fiction that involves the Jacobite Rebellion. Maybe I didn't LOVE this book because it's in need of a good editor to pare it down.

To be fair, I liked the first parts, as Jamie and Clare were getting to know each other. The author lost me, however, when Jamie, professing to love his new bride, "beat her within an inch of her life." I could have done without that.

***SPOILERS***

I also could have done without the graphic depictions of rape. I know that rape is frequently used as a weapon of war and oppression. I credit the author for describing (in my opinion, accurately) what it's like inside your brain when you've been sexually assaulted. However, I was really bothered that, in several parts, more space was given to describing rape and sexual assault than love between a husband and wife. ( )

The book starts as a good book, with a good simple plot.
A girl accidentally travels back in time, and is forced to marry a guy she actually likes, to get protection.
But then she starts getting in more trouble than is believable. And when she kills a wolf with her bare hands the plot starts to loose all credibility... ( )

Other reviewers have said it better, but there’s a lot of WTF going on here.

tl;dr: All the gratuitous sex and violence of “Game of Thrones,” but no dragons, but it’s historical fiction/time travel. Kilts and bodices are ripped. ( )

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