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Diana Gabaldon

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quillon
Post subject: Diana Gabaldon
Posted: Tue 19 Jul , 2005 1:40 am
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I wondered if anyone here has read her Outlander series, and what did you think of it? I've been thinking about starting this series, but I hate to commit myself to a series if it ends up being tripe since I sometimes feel obligated to finish just so I know what happens.

I know the basic premise of the series, and I do like historical romance and fantasy books best of all. Are Ms. Gabaldon's books worth buying? TIA :)

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Eruname
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Posted: Tue 19 Jul , 2005 1:44 am
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I really enjoyed her books, especially the first three. I will admit after the first three they can be a bit weak, but since you became hooked to the characters, you wanted to continue on.

I think the books are very worth buying. :)

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ccmsOrlilvr
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Posted: Tue 19 Jul , 2005 1:46 am
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You know, I read the first one and it was pretty good, though it did feel like it dragged sometimes. And then I started the second one but couldn't really get into it, maybe just because the first part is kind of slow and the book is forever long. But you really need to ask elwen, she's read them all... she'd know what to tell you. I'll try to get her in here.

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Primula_Baggins
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Posted: Tue 19 Jul , 2005 1:48 am
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I've read no romance other than the occasional Georgette Heyer, but I did read most of these (read a review in Locus that made me seek them out) and found them quite entertaining. They aren't tripe, in my opinion. Good characters and description, exciting action, and a believable romance.

If you like historical romance and fantasy, I'm betting you'll like these. I liked them and I've read little of either (though I love historical fiction).

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vison
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Posted: Tue 19 Jul , 2005 2:40 am
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For my own self, me that is, personally.......I read three of them and they teetered on the edge of the Tripe Chasm.

Bits of them were REALLY good, but I could not "get" the hotness of the 18th century Highlander who was the "male lead". Unfortunately the description of his person nearly exactly matched that of my cousin Donald, and my cousin Donald is about my least favourite guy in the known universe.

Having said that, I repeat: bits of them were REALLY good, since there is a Time Travel element to the story. This is NOT a spoiler, btw, or if it is, it is a very minor spoiler.

Ms. Gabaldon, we are told, did a lot of research on the Jacobites, and Bonnie Prince Charlie, etc., and I guess she must have as she did not make the kind of egregiously stupid mistakes so many writers make when writing about that era.


The Outlander series is sorta like Jean Auel and her Earth's Children series, which I toil through religiously even though they are AWFUL, particularly the most recent one. I am more than half ashamed of reading them, but I confess I am waiting for the very last. I do expect that Ayla and Jondalar will build a nuclear power plant and develop faster-than-light travel, this time. :D


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elwen
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Posted: Tue 19 Jul , 2005 6:46 am
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I loved the first, and the next few were good, if not quite as intresting as the first one. I never finished the series though. I got halfway into the 4th book and got bored. I've always wondered what happened...I was just too lazy to read and find out.

I would definitely recomend the first book though (that's why CC read it :P)

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Eruname
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Posted: Tue 19 Jul , 2005 8:02 am
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Ooooh, at least I made it halfway through book 5! :P

I was wrong. I definately recommend the first two books. Voyager isn't so good, but Drums of Autumn was alright.

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fisssh
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Posted: Tue 19 Jul , 2005 2:39 pm
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I really enjoyed these as well. I read the first three - I started to lose interest when it got to the next generation. Claire and Jamie are great characters and their romance is compelling. But they're also well written and well researched historical novels with an interesting story and a fantasy element so I think you'll like them.
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I do expect that Ayla and Jondalar will build a nuclear power plant and develop faster-than-light travel, this time.
So true! :LMAO:

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fisssh
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Posted: Wed 27 Jul , 2005 2:51 pm
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FYI, the next book in the series is due out September 27 - called Breath of Snow and Ashes.
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The year is 1772, and on the eve of the American Revolution, the long fuse of rebellion has already been lit. Men lie dead in the streets of Boston, and in the backwoods of North Carolina, isolated cabins burn in the forest.

With chaos brewing, the governor calls upon Jamie Fraser to unite the backcountry and safeguard the colony for King and Crown. But from his wife Jamie knows that three years hence the shot heard round the world will be fired, and the result will be independence — with those loyal to the King either dead or in exile. And there is also the matter of a tiny clipping from The Wilmington Gazette, dated 1776, which reports Jamie’s death, along with his kin. For once, he hopes, his time-traveling family may be wrong about the future.

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quillon
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Posted: Wed 27 Jul , 2005 10:32 pm
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Thanks for all the feedback! Will this newest book be #6 then?

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Eruname
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Posted: Wed 27 Jul , 2005 10:57 pm
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She's still continuing them? Wow. Maybe I ought to try to read book 5.

quillon, it will be book #6 in the series. She's written many other books. Her latest was about a character that was in the Outlander series.

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Abandon this fleeting world
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fisssh
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Posted: Thu 28 Jul , 2005 2:36 pm
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Yeah, Lord John and the Private Matter is not part of the Outlander series, though as Eruname says it features a character from the series. The Outlander series so far is:

Outlander
Dragonfly in Amber
Voyager
Drums of Autumn
Fiery Cross
Breath of Snow and Ashes

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Celebne
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Posted: Mon 05 Sep , 2005 7:28 am
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I love the Highlander-books from Diana Gabaldon. And soon the new book will be released. :thewave:

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