Voyager: A Novel (Outlander) (Mass Market Paperback)

Voyager is spell-binding in the extreme. This one kept me on the edge of my seat for the entire book from start to finish. Even though I have read this book before, it still caught me by surprise. I did not remember it being such an exciting, nail biting read. This book is so much more than just a romance, even though the love between Claire and Jamie is a love of a lifetime in its intensity. I am so glad I decided to read this epic series again. When Claire finds out Jamie survived the Battle of Culloden, she is faced with an agonizing decision. Does she go back to his era to find him, or stay in hers with her daughter. While Brianna did not take the initial news that Frank was not her father, as she helps discover what happened to Jamie and grows to understand the great love between her mother and Jamie Fraser, she encourages Claire to go find him. When they determine that if time moves parallel then she should end up twenty years from when she last saw Jamie. Brianna tells her mother, “Then you can go back, Mama,” she said softly. “You can find him.” Even though it has been twenty years since she returned to her own time, her heart has never forgotten the love they shared. Claire returns to Craigh na Dun, but just when she begins to doubt whether she should go, Brianna convinces her. “We owe it to him, Mama,” she said softly. “Somebody has to find him, and tell him.” Her hand touched my face, briefly. “Tell him I was born.” She takes a step and then another and is swept back through the creak in time to 1766. When Jamie and Claire see each other for the first time in twenty years they are so stunned to be together it’s as if time stands still. I felt my heart pounding with their hearts. I felt their joy, their fear, their uncertainty. They come together slowly, afraid to believe they are actually together again. Of course all is not smooth for them. They begin a journey to places neither of them had ever imagined going. There are so many incredible moments in this amazing story, I bookmarked pages and pages of these moments, way too many to even begin to share. I will share this one moment since it deeply touched my soul. Jamie: “Do ye want me?” he whispered. “Sassenach, will ye take me—and risk the man that I am, for the sake of the man ye knew?” Claire: “It’s a lot too late to ask that,” I said, and reached to touch his cheek, where the rough beard was starting to show. It was soft under my fingers, like stiff plush. “Because I’ve already risked everything I had. But whoever you are now, Jamie Fraser—yes. Yes, I do want you.” While I do recommend you start with Outlander first, if you have not read it yet, you will not want to miss this amazing story. Even though all the books in this series are long, they do not read that way. They are extremely fast paced, keeping me reading well into the night. I am confident they will do the same for you. Happy reading!

As a blogger, when you have to read on a schedule... you never really have a spare 40+ hours to re-read an audiobook at your whim. But I felt compelled to do just that this month. Last week, I tackled Dragonfly in Amber so I could finally watch Season 2 of Outlander on Starz. I had planned to save Voyager to re-read when Season 3 comes out this Fall... but I just couldn't. Some of my favorite events of the series happen in this book, so I was impelled to continue on ahead of schedule. This book again starts out on Culloden field on April 16, 1746. We spend some time with Jamie, learning what his life has been like during the twenty years since he was with Claire. There are a few time jumps to 1968 in both Inverness, where the hunt for Jamie has begun in earnest, and then to Boston with Claire wrapping up her life there in preparation for the day that Roger Wakefield finds Jamie in historical records. This will cover the time when Claire lost Frank, and also some tidbits of her professional life with dear friend Joe Abernathy. Keep an eye out for Claire's examination of skeletal remains (to which you, the reader, should also pay close attention). But then word comes from Roger and, finally, its time. Sigh. The reuniting of Jamie and Claire. It's one of my absolutely favorite moments of the series, and the driving force behind why I was driven to listen to this story ahead of schedule. While Gabaldon didn't make a huge production of the event in the writing... all the feels come from the time you have lived and breathed this story along with Jamie and Claire. You know what they mean to one another. You cried when they were separated, and your heart hurt for the twenty years they were apart. So every time I have read this series, my anticipation builds and builds and builds for this moment. All through Dragonfly in Amber, you are just waiting for her to go back. I remember the first time I read these books that I was so disappointed that she didn't go back in the second book. I can't imagine how impatient I would have been if I had read Dragonfly in Amber before Voyager was published, and had to wait two whole years to get to that moment. Gah - it makes me anxious just thinking about it! Once our duo is back together, Gabaldon hits the ground running and the story takes off at a steady clip that will put you through the ringer. Voyager spans continents and oceans, and fate seems to be against Jamie and Claire at every turn. There are so many freaking highs and lows in this book that you will feel exhausted at times. And I can't talk about any of the major plot conflicts without giving spoilers! I swear its so hard to write a review for a book that you have read so often because you just want to talk about all your favorite things... but you can't because you don't want to spoil that very special first experience for the random reader. We get to revisit with some of our favorite characters from the past, some of whom we never expected to see again. We meet new and interesting secondary characters, some of which will endure far into the future of this series. I liked spending some time with Jamie's sister, Jenny, and her husband, Ian. They have a huge family containing both children and grandchildren now, and I was so happy they survived the trying times following the failed rising. That being said, I wasn't happy with many of Jenny's actions in this story. Then you have Jenny's son Ian, with whom I share something in common. A little black cloud. Ian is the type of person to whom things just happen through no fault of his own... and I could definitely relate. And because Claire has a little of that same phenomena going on - putting them together is a recipe for disaster. Much of this story involves crazy things happening to Ian or Claire... and Jamie dealing with the fallout. Again, Davina Porter does a fabulous job narrating this story/series. I am continually impressed by her ability to give the multitude of characters their own unique voice, and she has no problem (to my ignorant ear) changing accents and dialects. And now you know what I've done? You guessed it. I started Drums of Autumn as soon as Voyager concluded. DofA has another one of my favorite moments of the series and I just really want to hear it! It also has some of the most gut-wrenching moments of the series, and those fill me with dread. So stay tuned for that review, coming soon.

My friend is obsessed with everything Outlander! She kept trying to get me to start the series, but I really didn't want to get involved in something that would take so long to get through. I finally, somewhat hesitatingly, began the first book. Maybe I was just too skeptical, but the back story unfolded too slowly for me, and I really wasn't hooked for quite some time. But, since my friend, and many other friends of hers, are completely crazy about it, I stuck with it. I wouldn't say I'm over-the-top obsessed like many others, but I am committed now, and determined to get to the end of the story! The story line is fabulous, weaving fantasy, relationships, and several love stories in with breathtakingly beautiful geography and realistic history, including wars, peace, and the hardships of a life in Scotland, before the luxuries we enjoy today. I, personally, could do without the explicit details of the many sexual adventures, interspersed evenly throughout the entire series, and this is the only reason for not giving the book series 5 stars. When I see that she is building to a sexual encounter, I just fast forward a minute at a time, until I get past it. I just don't enjoy reading about who touched what and what was experienced as a result (it's really a little pornographic at times). Sometimes the intimacy isn't really so intimate, and is occasionally overly aggressive. The relationship of the two main characters is fascinating enough to keep me buying the next kindle book, and always including the audio option for an additional $3.99! However, I have to use headphones when listening around others, because you never know what is going to fly out of her mouth!

Oh my God!!! Outlander keeps getting better and bigger!!!!! There was even more pain and anguish in this book compared to the previous novel. In the end of ‘Dragonfly in Amber’ Claire had just discovered that Jamie did not die in the Battle of Culloden. With Roger and Brianna’s help they try to uncover what might have just happened to Jamie. Simultaneously we get to read about Jamie’s struggle and misery after losing Claire and surviving Culloden. So when they do finally discover the possibly of Jamie being alive. Claire decides to risk it all and return to 17th century Scotland to re-discover the greatest love of her life – James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser. Claire and Jamie’s love is well established, but in Voyager it was extremely endearing to read about Claire and Jamie’s love for Brianna. “All the names I’ve called you through the years—my chick, my pumpkin, precious dove, darling, sweetheart, dinky, smudge … I know why the Jews and Muslims have nine hundred names for God; one small word is not enough for love.”

For me, the last god-tier book in the series. I'm a purist and love me some OG characters and conceit. This is a gorgeous, romantic, epic book

If you loved the TV series as much as I did, then you’ll no doubt enjoy this as much! So many adventures, so many harrowing escapes and so much love! Hard to say more without adding in any spoilers, but I will definitely go on to the next book in the series!

日本語版はすべて読んでいますが、一番わくわくするこの巻は更に原語版も読みました。日本語と違いジェイミーの英語がだいぶなまっているので、そのあたり雰囲気が変って、新鮮かな。

The third outlander book was different from the others, it is more an adventure book than the others. Not that the first two didn't have adventure, but they were more romantic or more about history than this one. I enjoyed the three books a lot and I'm going for the fourth!