Voyager

So since watching the first episode of the television adaptation of Outlander I have been working my way through the novels, thoroughly engrossed in the love affair between Claire and Jamie Fraser which spans 200 years thanks to a little time travelling magic.

With the wonderful cliffhanger ending of Dragonfly In Amber I knew it wouldn't be long before I found myself drawn to book 3, Voyager. I delved in with wild abandon and the promise of another week of dramatic story lines and passionate love as Claire travels back through the stones in search of her husband Jamie.

It was a wonderful beginning to the book, told through the eyes of Claire and Jamie they tell us their stories separately of the 20 years they've spent apart. Jamie telling of his life as a fugitive after Cullen and Claire that of raising their daughter in 1960'S Boston. The stories are told beautifully and lead us to the point where Jamie and Claire are reunited.

Once they are reunited we have been told some of Jamie ‘ s story but Gabaldon has withheld just enough that we hold our breath with Claire waiting to find out more about the man he is and just how he comes to be in Edinburgh with several dubious careers. This part of the book was beautifully written, reminiscent of the first two books in character and with lots of familiar faces popping in to make the reader feel at home.

Our two lovers though find themselves headed toward Jamaica on board a ship, chasing a stolen treasure and Jamie ‘ s nephew who is likely to be sold as a slave. It is at this point I began to feel a little disjointed from the story, suddenly it's all sailing talk and pirates and slave traders which feel a million miles away from the original books.

There are flashes of story brilliance but then there are also chapters which seem to be built for action but have no real input to the overall storyline. There are truly only so many times that Claire can be told by Jamie to stay put, only to find herself getting into scrapes he must rescue her from. Truly I don't advocate the smacking he gave her in book one but if he'd kept it up her bottom would be red raw and reminiscent of his back by now.

The ending was poor for me, I didn't love it but it has set up book 4 nicely and I do believe this book might translate really nicely onto the small screen and maybe I'll learn to embrace it more then. For now I'm going to go and have a break from the throbbing manliness of Mr Fraser and come back anew to book 4 and life in the America's and the promise of more land bound adventures with Jamie and Claire.

My favourite of the three so far. I enjoyed finally having Jamie's POV and wished more, if not all, of the book was it, instead of Claire's narrative. I also enjoyed the returned presence of one John Grey and am excited to start his series of novels.

[SPOILERS]
The return of Geillie was odd and unnecessary. All of her bits could have been done with a new character, instead of rehashing Claire's obsession with Geillie over and over in these books. I can only assume the author herself really liked her creation to continue to reuse her. I'd like to see Claire meet more time travellers - if there are stones all over the world like we see on Hispaniola here and twice in Scotland...
Also, barring the presence of “Nessie” in book #1 and the loa magic here in book #3, there isn't any more proof of the supernatural. If there are magic circles and voodoo, an actual ghost or two wouldn't go amiss.

Review Coming Soon