Rating: 
Summary: Outstanding!
Review: Very shortly following W.W.2 Claire Randall,a young Englishwoman and former battlefield nurse,is second honeymooning in the Scottish highlands with her husband Frank. While on a solitary walk,she enters a time-travel portal in a group of rocks and finds herself in 1743 Scotland,just prior to the Jacobite uprising and the Battle of Culloden.She meets a young (and gorgeous) Highland warrior she she instantly recognises as her soulmate.This is a "rippingly good yarn" as it encompasses adventure,passion and rather graphically detailed sex. I'd defy any red blooded woman NOT to fall madly in love with Jamie Fraser...as Claire did,and to find it difficult to put this book down before the end!
Rating:
Summary: Pleasantly surprised at this "romance" novel
Review: I picked up this book on vacation not really expecting much. I was pleasantly surprised, becoming completely engrossed in it. It is very much escapist literature. However, if you aren't very keen on history, you might find the novel boring. Gabaldon includes a lot of details pertaining to the setting, which makes it interesting to me (I am a big fan of historical fiction like Sharon Kay Penman), but may not be what some readers want. The characterization is also particularly good (though it may be too subtle for some who are expecting a cookie-cutter romance). The other books in the series are also good, and are even less similar to "romance" novels.
Rating:
Summary: You will be crying out for more
Review: In Australia we know this as Cross Stitch but it is still the same book. It is riveting, steeped in intriguing history and positively romantic in the historical sense.You want a good book to curl up with? Then don't go past this one.
Rating:
Summary: TAKEN BACK
Review: I HAVE NEVER READ A MORE CHARMING SERIES OF BOOKS IN MY LIFE. ONCE I READ THE OUTLANDER I COULDN'T WAIT FOR THE NEXT BOOK TO COME OUT. CLAIRE AND JAMIE ARE WONDERFUL....LADIES GET COMFORTABLE BECAUSE YOU WON'T WANT TO STOP ONCE YOU START READING...I GUARANTEE IT...
Rating:
Summary: Even My Mom Loves This Book!
Review: Outlander is the kind of book that you pick up and just can't put down until you are completely done. Of course, once you are done, you'll immediately want to rush and get "Dragonfly in Amber", etc...this series is absolutely addictive! Gabaldon's first book is a wonderful time travel adventure where Claire Randall, a 20th century woman, is transported to 18th century Scotland. As can be expected, this causes more than a bit of "jet lag" and Claire gets a crash course in how different the world was before things such as modern medicine, women's lib, and fair trials for accused witches. Many of the negative reviews for this book have stated that the reader discarded the book after one event or another...please do yourself a favor and actually READ the entire book. Life itself can be rather unfair and violent and in this reader's opinion, Gabaldon's style of writing makes for a much more interesting read than most other romances. I highly recommend this book as a reader's advisory librarian and have been suggesting the title to my library's patrons for some time. With that in mind, I have yet to be told by anyone that they did not enjoy this book, and all the books in the "Outlander" series hop off the shelves faster than you can say 'due date.'
Rating:
Summary: Wonderfully Romantic
Review: I haven't read a book in ages that has made me laugh and cry. I just loved this book and didn't want it to end. I am so glad there are more in this series. I can't wait to start the next one. I read a review from someone who didn't like it, and that woman sounded like a hard core feminist who doesn't think the past and how it really was should be retold. How sad. Also, after reading I'm under the impression our world today would be a lot better if we still held to some of these "old, outdated, barbaric" ways, where the woman honers her husband and the children obey their parents!!
Rating: 
Summary: Romance? umm...
Review: Historical romance? Historical yes but definitely NO romance here. I read and read and before i knew it i was half way through the book expecting to see Jamie and Claire's love to be riveting but sadly it was not to be. What i found was two people thrown together with way way too much info about themselves and not enough about their burning love for each other. If anything it would have been better if they were paired as brother and sister.
Rating:
Summary: Truly awful
Review: This novel is about 10 times longer than it needs to be ... pages and pages of inane rambling interspersed with barely enough action to make the reader hold out hope that something will actually *happen.* Reader beware ... if you're not into it in the first 50 pages, drop it. It doesn't get any better -- in fact, it gets much worse -- and the ending belongs in the dictionary under "hackneyed." Frankly, I am floored that this book got as many good reviews as it did. Not only did it start out slow, but when Jamie beat Claire and she took him back with hardly a flinch, the author reached a new low in romance writing. Claire's character wasn't realistic or likeable to start with, but that scene removed all hope that I'd ever like her or take her seriously ... or that I could see Jamie as anything but the violent, sexist jerk he was. Despite the swooning reviews, this is nothing but romance ... with a little bit of historical accuracy thrown in. Apparently that is enough to make many readers think it actually qualifies as great literature. Trust me, it is not.
Rating:
Summary: 5 Stars is not enough!
Review: For several years I've heard readers rave about the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. Following the recent release of The Fiery Cross, the fifth book in the series, I finally decided to see what all the fuss is about. I've just finished the series beginner, Outlander, and all I can say is 'Wow!' It definitely surpasses the hype! It's 1945, and having been separated throughout most of their eight-year marriage due to their respective WWII duties as nurse and intelligence officer, Claire and Frank Randall are enjoying a second honeymoon in the Scottish Highlands before he begins his new post as a history professor at Oxford. Frank, a Jacobite historian, spends his leisure time exploring old documents and ghost stories with the local vicar, while Claire, an amateur botanist, gathers wildflowers in the surrounding fields. Fascinated by her discovery of a miniature Stonehenge at Craigh Na Dun, Claire returns one morning with Frank, where to their mutual delight they secretly witness some of the local women performing a ritual dance among the circle of stones. The next day, as Frank busies himself with the genealogy of his English ancestors, Claire returns to the stones to gather some rare plants. She hears a strange vibrating beehive-like sound coming from one of the stones. When she places her hand on the stone, she is instantly sucked through a crack in time back to 1743. Found wandering the eighteenth-century hillside in suspicious clothing, Claire is captured by an English dragoon captain who suspects her of being either a spy for the Scots or a prostitute. Thinking the second more likely, he decides to find out for himself. Suddenly they are attacked, and Claire is snatched from the randy Redcoat by a red-haired Scottish outlaw who rides off with her into the night with his clansmen. The Scots can't decide if she is a spy for the English or French, but can't risk letting her go. They take her back with them to Castle Leoch, land of the MacKenzie clan, where her nursing skills prove useful and she is given the job of Healer. She strikes up a friendship with a frequent patient--horse trainer Jamie Fraser, the Scottish outlaw who rescued her from the ruthless English dragoon Captain Jack Randall. Wanted for questioning by the English, and not quite trusted by the MacKenzie clan, Claire agrees to a marriage of convenience with Jamie. Since the English cannot storm the castle and forcefully remove a resident from Scottish territory, she knows this is her best chance for survival until she can get back to the stones and return to her life with Frank. To assure that the marriage will not be challenged, Jamie and Claire are under strict orders to consummate their vows as soon as possible. And thus begins a physical, spiritual and emotional bond unlike any other, leaving Claire torn between two different centuries and two very different husbands. Outlander takes you on a thrilling historical adventure, filled with sensuality and gut wrenching, blood, sweat and tear-filled emotional upheavals. I could not put this book down! The characters are strong and gutsy. Claire is one tough woman with a vocabulary to match! Jamie is a big, fierce Highlander who vows he'd fight to the death to protect his new bride. I have one minor complaint about the book. It bothered me that at first Claire didn't seem too upset about being torn from her husband and everything she held dear. She seemed to adjust to her new surroundings a little too quickly. Gabaldon deals with this later in the book, but it seemed almost as if she wrote it in later as an afterthought. However, that did not detract in the least from my enjoyment of this book. If you have not read this book yet, you must read it immediately. Do yourself a favor and buy all five books in advance--once you finish this one you'll be anxious to devour the entire series.
Rating:
Summary: Och, What a Verra Good Read!
Review: Diana Gabaldon is an outstanding story teller. Outlander is a big read - it is full of romance, adventure, magic and history. When Claire is transported from mid 20th century Scotland back to the 1740s she is surrounded by a wild country, warring clansmen, heroes, villains and much more. This book never slows down despite its length. The author manages effortlessly to also transport the reader back to this adventurous and romantic time. I think it would be hard for any reader not to be engulfed by the romance between Claire and the headstrong young Jamie Fraser. However, be warned, it is not a gentle romanctic read full of swelling bosoms and hinted-at lovemaking. This book is full of raw, untamed sex and somewhat graphic violence. Its a great read and I can't wait to get onto the next installment!
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