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A review by eantoinette285
Written in My Own Heart's Blood by Diana Gabaldon
5.0
I have no words. What a series! I finished this book at about 1am and fell asleep with tears in my eyes.
I'm finally finished with the Outlander series (until book nine comes out in a few years) and it's absolutely bittersweet. I adored my journey with these characters and I can't even begin to explain how much Diana's work has impacted my life.
In the beginning, I was wary of taking this series on. The books were daunting to tackle, (the shortest being the first book at about 600ish pages) and not every review I read before I picked up a copy was one of praise. People talked of cheesy love-making and an abusive husband, blah blah. With all do respect, what book were you reading? Were you paying attention to the plot and the story on a larger scale? The love scenes were gorgeous and the relationship Claire and Jamie have is one of the greatest love stories I've ever read (and I've read a LOT of them).
I digress... let's discuss book eight. WIMOHB finds us back in America in the middle of a Revolution. Jamie is gone, and Claire is grief-stricken and married to one of Jamie's most trusted friends. When Jamie returns, will things be the same? Do he and Claire have obstacles to overcome? Of course they do, and that's what makes this book so real. Their lives and their story doesn't consist of constant fluff and perfection. It's raw, gritty, and powerful. I can't put into words what it has meant to me to meet these two. Once in 1945, then again in 1743 where they first meet in their twenties, and then following them through 1778/9 and beyond. They've become aunt and uncle, grandmere and grandpere, da, grannie Claire, etc. Witnessing them with an expanding extended family is a moving thing.
War brings on its issues. The family is constantly on the move and has eyes wide open at all times. Claire is caught in a crossfire during battle, Fergus and his family have to escape a fire in their print shop that will forever altar them, Ian has to protect his aging companion, Rollo, and his new wife, Rachel, and Brianna and Roger have to navigate Jem and Mandy between the 1700s and 1980 with threats on their family's future.
It astounds me the places this book has brought me. I learned more about world and American history than I thought I would, I took lessons from Jamie and Claire about life and love, I got a taste of battle, and the thrill of parallel universes and time-travel.
I'm devastated that my time with this amazing family is done(for now). I'm almost scared to move onto another book or series because Outlander has become such a part of my day-to-day life, and they made my life just a bit more thrilling. I think at some point, I'll be visiting the Lord John Grey spin-off series in order to cure my Droughtlander. I'm sure I'll be in a mild state of depression until season two picks up on Starz and book nine is released.
Please do yourselves a favor, and do not let this series slip through the cracks of your ever-expanding TBR. Go as soon as you can to your local bookshop and pick up this whole series. You will not regret it, I promise you.
I'm finally finished with the Outlander series (until book nine comes out in a few years) and it's absolutely bittersweet. I adored my journey with these characters and I can't even begin to explain how much Diana's work has impacted my life.
In the beginning, I was wary of taking this series on. The books were daunting to tackle, (the shortest being the first book at about 600ish pages) and not every review I read before I picked up a copy was one of praise. People talked of cheesy love-making and an abusive husband, blah blah. With all do respect, what book were you reading? Were you paying attention to the plot and the story on a larger scale? The love scenes were gorgeous and the relationship Claire and Jamie have is one of the greatest love stories I've ever read (and I've read a LOT of them).
I digress... let's discuss book eight. WIMOHB finds us back in America in the middle of a Revolution. Jamie is gone, and Claire is grief-stricken and married to one of Jamie's most trusted friends. When Jamie returns, will things be the same? Do he and Claire have obstacles to overcome? Of course they do, and that's what makes this book so real. Their lives and their story doesn't consist of constant fluff and perfection. It's raw, gritty, and powerful. I can't put into words what it has meant to me to meet these two. Once in 1945, then again in 1743 where they first meet in their twenties, and then following them through 1778/9 and beyond. They've become aunt and uncle, grandmere and grandpere, da, grannie Claire, etc. Witnessing them with an expanding extended family is a moving thing.
War brings on its issues. The family is constantly on the move and has eyes wide open at all times. Claire is caught in a crossfire during battle, Fergus and his family have to escape a fire in their print shop that will forever altar them, Ian has to protect his aging companion, Rollo, and his new wife, Rachel, and Brianna and Roger have to navigate Jem and Mandy between the 1700s and 1980 with threats on their family's future.
It astounds me the places this book has brought me. I learned more about world and American history than I thought I would, I took lessons from Jamie and Claire about life and love, I got a taste of battle, and the thrill of parallel universes and time-travel.
I'm devastated that my time with this amazing family is done(for now). I'm almost scared to move onto another book or series because Outlander has become such a part of my day-to-day life, and they made my life just a bit more thrilling. I think at some point, I'll be visiting the Lord John Grey spin-off series in order to cure my Droughtlander. I'm sure I'll be in a mild state of depression until season two picks up on Starz and book nine is released.
Please do yourselves a favor, and do not let this series slip through the cracks of your ever-expanding TBR. Go as soon as you can to your local bookshop and pick up this whole series. You will not regret it, I promise you.