Voyager by Diana Gabaldon
(Format used for this read: Print–paperback)
Yall…I swear I did not think I would EVER FINISH THIS BOOK.
Ringing in at 1059 pages, it’s a long ass read…but ALL the Outlander books are super duper long so no big surprise there.
I seriously have no clue why it took me so long to get thru….I really really enjoyed it! 🤷♀️
With all the unpacking and settling in (still), by the time I actually had the time to read this month, I’d read like less than a chapter and fall asleep.
BUT….
I started having problems STAYING asleep again due to a bout of anxiety flare up (gotta love the surprises THAT always throws my way) so I figured I’d ride out this cycle of unbalanced rest by filling it with reading and finishing this book.
Sleeplessness from anxiety = LOTS of reading time
Making lemonade out of lemons here, my friends 😆
This is book 3 of the Outlander series…at the rate I am going with this big ol’ ginormous series, Kaden may be graduating from college by the time I wrap it up completely LOL
If you wonder why I’m not reviewing as many books as I usually do this year, this series is totally gonna be the reason why 😆
Here is what Book 3 was about:
“Diana Gabaldon’s magnificent historical saga, begun with Outlander and Dragonfly in Amber, continues with this New York Times best seller. Set in the intriguing Scotland of 200 years ago, the third installment in the romantic adventures of Jamie and Claire is as compelling as the first. Now that Claire knows Jamie survived the slaughter at Culloden, she is faced with the most difficult decision of her life. She aches to travel back through time again to find the love of her life, but, in order to do that, she must leave their daughter behind. It has been 20 years since she and Jamie were forced to separate. Can she risk everything, maybe even her life, on a gamble that their love has withstood the long, rigorous test of time?
Diana Gabaldon’s powerful, witty, and heroic characters lend themselves well to the rich, melodic narration accorded them by Davina Porter. Under her spell, listeners find themselves transported back through time to exciting, faraway places alive with people they would enjoy knowing.”
Okay so that summary is kinda lame because there is SO MUCH THAT HAPPENS in this book…this doesn’t even START to give a glimpse into all the events!
What I loved about this book was that it had more of what I enjoyed from Books 1 & 2….in depth character development and LOOOTS of dialogue.
Yall know some of the history bits in Book 2 were a bit stale for me…but this one had ZERO moments like that.
Even though this read was like fifty hundred infinity pages long, I don’t have a whole lot to say about it.
Weird shit, right??
I think that is because I usually type my reviews 24 hours or less after I finish a book…and this time I waited more than a week so all the various details of the plots and storylines have faded a bit. 😬
My bad, bookworm friends. But we had our very first houseguests here in our new house and we were enjoying every millisecond we had with these loved ones we haven’t been with in over 3 years!!!
This review is gonna be short and sweet.
So I still love Jamie and Claire and I ADDDDOOORRREEE hearing about their journey in finding each other again. Time and life circumstances have changed them….but deep down, that connection they have never EVER severed over the years.
This book has so much adventure and so many feelings…there are pirates, deserted islands, treasure, marriages, new characters and discoveries. It’s fun, emotional and just plain enjoyable…it’s just very very long 😆 But yall know that is just how Outlander rolls. It’s good times.
EXCEPT….
There is ONE THING that had me feeling some kinda not good way.
The Chinese character Yi Tien Cho and how he is portrayed.
The racial stereotypes the author has him embody had me CRINGING….plus he was constantly referred to as the “Oriental” or the “little Chinese”. I get that this was written in the early 1990s …and that also she was trying to be true to attitudes of the time period towards people of various ethnic backgrounds….but STILL.
It was just NOT GOOD and I feel like his character could have been created differently and respectfully and still served the same role in the story.
I have heard that in the TV show they DID change some of the problematic things with this character…but considering I am STILL on season 1 (I told yall it takes me six hundred forevers to finish shows…I am just NOT a regular TV person 😆), I can’t really assess the validity of that.
That was the ONE THING I could not get on board with while reading this one.
Seems like there is always at LEAST one thing I don’t like in these, so I can’t give it a full five star review….which is a pretty good parallel to how I do everything in life…I’m good being all “This was AMAZING…EXCEPT for THIS which was horrible” in like ALL SITUATIONS. 😆 I am honest and a realist thru and thru.
The ending was really good and it leaves you VERY excited to get started on the next one.
Except…. I gotta take a teensy break and read a couple books right now that are like REGULAR length so I can get thru them at my typical pace.
Then I will feel like I am my normal reading self again. LOL
And then I’ll get back together with Claire and Jamie and see what’s gonna happen next…