Time travel you say? I'm willing to give it a shot, even though the cover is a suspicious shade of pink with flowery writing...
It turns out the time-travel construct is an un-explained crutch to write a soft-porn novel for middle-aged women who have a thing for big Scottish red-heads in kilts. This 863-page novel is chock full of sex and disturbing sexual violence. It isn't long after Claire arrives in 18th century Scotland that Gabaldon invents a bizarre reason for her to marry Jamie so the sex can kick off:
...the only way I can legally refuse to give ye to Randall is to change ye from an Englishwoman into a Scot...Ye must marry a Scot. Young Jamie.
It annoyed me that Claire slotted perfectly into Scotland in 1743 after being transported from 1946. She effortlessly recalls dates, obscure names and customs from history lessons, and isn't surprised by anything she encounters. She doesn't complain about hygene, clothing, backward customs, women's rights (she takes a beating from her husband), or anything else you might expect to shock a modern woman thrust into life in the wilds of Scotland 200 years earlier. Also, the few people who do know she is from the future show only a mild interest in the future. What the hell? If I seriously believed someone was from the future I would be hammering them with questions.
I also got sick of reading passages like this:
'Aye, I mean to use ye hard, my Sassenach,' he whispered. 'I want to own you, to possess you, body and soul.' I struggled slightly and he pressed me down, hammering me, a solid, inexorable pounding that reached my womb with each stroke. 'I mean to make ye call me "Master", Sassenach'.
Why does Jamie continue to call Claire 'Sassenach'? It is pretty much like calling her 'English', which he continues to do after they are married and declare their love for each other. Weird.
I can't believe how many people on Amazon gave this 5 stars.
1 star.
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