Voyager

Rating:
Summary: Best series of books I ever read
Review: One cannot describe how one feels when reading Diana's books. I absolutely love the series and encourage anyone who enjoys great reading to pick up the first book of this series. Thank you Diana for sharing this work with us

Rating:
Summary: Not just another "chest-heaver"..Quality Escape Literature
Review: "Voyager" by Diana Gabaldon is a spellbinder for sure! This is one book I hate to put down. My husband has to call me to bed when I am caught up in the adventures of Claire and Jamie Fraser! The writing is vivid and exciting. The reader feels drawn in to the adventure and stands there with the Scotts in the soggy highlands. I rate my personal excitement with these novels on the level of the Ayla books by Jean Auel. By the way, the series of three Gabladon books were highly recommended to me by a Librarian! What higher praise can one hope for? Cathie

Rating:
Summary: It's the best, spellbinding escape reading ever!
Review: I have read all of the books in this series, and have found each one to be more compelling than the last. The attention to historical accuracy is refreshing and each book has been worth the wait. I look forward to "Drums of Autumn".

Rating:
Summary: Great!
Review: Fine fiction... however not of the quality of the first two stunning novels

Rating:
Summary: A Good (Not Great) Read
Review: I thought this book started slow, I would have preferred jumping right into the plot instead of so much backstory. There were quite a few things that were hard to suspend disbelief about. How many times can Jaime be injured? Does anyone realize how hard it was for a woman to get into medical school in the 1950's, especially since she has no formal education whatsoever? And what is with the homosexual hangup? It was OLD in the second book. Does the author think every gay man is out to get her husband? Lots of great action, though, still a very entertaining read.

Rating:
Summary: The series only gets better...........
Review: First of all, this 3rd book in the Outlander series introduces Major Lord John Grey who is the main character in Diana Gabaldon's new trilogy.

I am not a "romance" reader but am completely hooked on this series. The Outlander Series was recommended to me 10 years ago and when I read the discription of the story, I thought, "noooo, not for me". Then it was recommended by another person who just raved about the book. So I picked up a copy of Outlander almost a month ago, then Dragonfly in Amber, now Voyager and haven't put the series down. I absolutely loved reading the historical detail, the growth of respect and love between Claire and Jamie, and the fascinating characters introduced in each book in the series. Who couldn't fall in love with Jamie afterall?

It is seldom when an author can make me unconsiously smile and then a few pages later tear. I liked this book more than I did Dragonfly because the intimatcy between Claire and Jamie was left more to the imagination of the reader. This made the story flow more smoothly in my opinion. In addition, this book answered a number of questions left from Dragonfly.

This is more than a story of Claire returning to Jamie. It explains what happened to the clansmen during and following the Battle at Culloden. In addition, we find out what happened to Claire and Jamie during the twenty year separation. I felt sad to think that Jamie had not survived after Claire stepped through the stones, even though I knew better because he appears in the next book. Now that's good writing!

There is only one issue, just how many more whippings, stabbings, hits over the head, rapes, and shootings is Jamie going to be able to take?

Rating:
Summary: The Best Book Ever
Review: This was her best book ever. Outlander comes in second. This was the best set I have ever read in my 46 years of life! This is NOT A ROMANCE NOVEL! It's often mistaken for one, possibly cause of the cover art. It is as good or better than any Ken Follet or Robert Ludlum novel. The action, the blood and guts, the adventure is an adrenaline rush and everyone I've passed the book on to also thinks so. It's been 10 years since I've read her first two books and there's not a week that goes by that I don't think about it. ABSOLUTELY AMAZING.

Rating:
Summary: The Love Is There...Keep Reading!
Review: Yes, Claire left Jamie for 20 years, with good reason! She left because he bid it, she thought him dead and raised her daughter well, as he wished. She also risked everything to be back with him again, once she knew he did not die in battle. Not an easy choice. She came back to a world she hardly knew, tolerated endless trials (most modern women would not) and a little betrayal, to be with the man she loved more than life. This book takes off where Dragonfly left off perfectly and leads us on to the next chapter of Claire and Jamie's lives. As in Outlander and again in Dragonfly, life in that time is not easy or sweet, but the good can be found and savored, as our characters did, dispite insurmountable obstacles. This is not a series of books to be undertaken lightly, which is the meat of the whole endeavor, but the end result is just as it should be. Keep the faith! I will not spoil the outcome with detail, but encourage all readers to stick with it! There is love! And it is worth the journey!

Rating:
Summary: A pleasure to read
Review: I have read all the other reviews of these books on Amazon and am amazed at how seriously some reveiwers have undertaken the task of deconstructing this book and comparing it to the others in the series. These are NOVELS; fiction; a.k.a. a bit of fun. Who cares if the storylines are far fetched? It is fiction. For me these novels are just pure escape to a different time and place. (I like to read them in sequence over about a week) Don't take them too seriously, and don't expect that the author does either. Have you read the Author's note published in Cross Stitch?

I have loved all the books about Jamie and Claire. I applaud Voyager for continuing the story of their love. I thoroughly enjoyed the stories of their far fetched adventures. I fervently hope that Gabaldon writes of them again to wrap up some of the story lines that have been left hanging.

Having read the other reviews, I have two comments to add-

As to the homosexuality themes, I too find them all too frequent and irrelevant to the storylines. The point had been made extremely well with Randall. I fail to see the point of Grey. His relationship with Jamie is confusing.

As to the convoluted story lines, Gabaldon's publisher seems to be letting her get away with longer and longer novels. I enjoyed the passage in Drums of Autumn where Jamie and Grey discuss the length of books; the author obviously poking fun at herself. But, the length of Voyager contributes to the loss of some of the magic of the first books. If the author was made to focus on reducing length, then some of the more convoluted storylines could, at least, be tightened up. Voyager was unweildy and looked as though it had been edited in a hit and miss fashion. As a result, I found that it was, at times, difficult to follow.

Rating:
Summary: How much more torture can these guys take?
Review: I never read reviews in detail until AFTER I have read a book because I never want to spoil my impression of it. This book was good, if somewhat contrived. There were just too many coincidental "meetings" of characters again and again. I feel Gabaldon could have moved the book along significantly by jumping right in where Claire goes back in time to find Jamie, and THEN filling us in on the backstory. As it was, the first third of the book grew tiresome to me sometimes.

In Outlander, I loved the sweetness of Claire and Jamie but was concerned back then that they were altogether too "good" and the bad characters were too "bad." As their story unravels, however, I love that they are increasingly revealed as complex and at times troubling people. Sometimes they make bad choices. Sometimes they make decisions that hurt each other or betray each other (witness Claire associating with Jack Randall in Dragonfly). That's what makes their relationship so heartbreaking to me and what keeps me going through all the wordiness and slowness of these books. You feel like you slowly learn the dimension of these people. There are no pat answers in this series and nothing is quickly wrapped up.

I have to admit, Claire and Jamie I felt rather departed from their sensible selves in this volume. As far as Jamie's bastard son, come on, Jamie's an intelligent man. You can't tell me he wouldn't know of the ways NOT to get a girl pregnant (even if it is the 1700s)! Claire rarely tells Jamie she loves him and she doesn't adequately explain to him the emptiness of her life with Frank. Also, I felt she expected way too much of Jamie upon their meeting again. She flies in off her fairy hill and expects things to be exactly the same between them. Twenty years is a LONG time to be apart and she should have been more accepting of his choices. I commend Jamie for trying to get on with his life. Besides, for one who has enough guts to ask people, "who the hell are you?" -- don't you think Claire would have just ASKED Jamie straight out if he had remarried? This just seemed a departure from her character as we had known it. However, I am so taken with Claire and Jamie and their relationship I have to keep reading the series to find out what happens to them.

I am fatigued with the homosexual theme in these books - when it popped up in this one I hit my forehead with my palm and said, "AGAIN??" Not that I am a prude by any means, I just think it has been repeatedly overused and with the continual mention of homosexual sex and even various forms of male rape among various characters, I have to wonder at the psyche of the author??? I am also growing bored with poor Jamie (and now Claire) being wounded again and again and again. Jamie seems to spend his time being sewn up by Claire and I have to wonder how much a body can take!

That said, this is an awesome and very thorough series of books and I can't wait to continue the adventure. I approach Drums of Autumn a bit apprehensively, but I'm sure it won't disappoint. None of the books have, yet!