Posts
So I gobbled up the third book, Voyager, in Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. It was over 800 pages, and it went down easy, folks. Except.......
I think I'm starting to get a little irked with these characters.
(could it be??? The fabric of my lust for these books is starting to unravel??)
You see, in the first book the hero, Jamie, was an outlaw because he was wrongly accused of a crime he didn't commit. From there most of his troubles come because he is being noble and brave and good.
I can't remember how to sum up the second book as far as this goes, but this third book seems very unlikely to me. But, hey--YOU be the judge.
If YOU had already been hunted down like a dog for decades of your life because the English wanted to hang and quarter you for treason, or for other crimes you may or may not have committed, would you then decide to make your living in a dual career of printing sedition and smuggling???? I *think* NOT!
So, it's as if now Jamie is just looking for trouble. I guess one might say that once he thought he'd never see Claire again maybe he didn't care about his life, but I don't buy it.
So, the whole start of this novel's adventurous troubles is based on something I cannot accept as plausible, and therefore had me at many moments rolling my eyes and saying, "*Can't* this guy just lead a simple life and stop with the dramatics??"
So, I'm kind of dreading the next 3 books. If he just spends the rest of his life getting into trouble where he shouldn't have been in the first place, then I'm just not going to enjoy that too much. Surely it'll have to be better than that to go on for 2500 more pages of reading! Right?
That being said, I still liked it. 800+ pages proves it, I guess. I'll read the next one soon, but probably will take this week off since I have my son's 13th bday bash to plan, a home to clean, friends hopefully coming to visit on the weekend, and homeschooling to do.
Sunday, August 07, 2005
Book Review: Voyager
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
I agree, sometimes the plots seemed contrived; however in the later books, other family members become involved, and some other mysteries are unraveled. As I said before, these books suffer the fate of most sequels, which is that they have a hard time living up to the first book. Personally I also had a hard time beliving how much time these people um, er, "enjoyed" each other in such varied, unconventional, and surely uncomfortable places! I thought the stories would have been better if she had left more to the imagination, kwim?
Well, I will look forward to the mysteries becoming unraveled and the other family members being more involved in the story. Quite a soap opera, eh?
I HEAR YA about the, uh, "enjoyment." This issue has crossed my mind more than a few times. I'm thinking things like, "No bath for a month and...oral?!?!?! SURELY you jest!"
or
"He has lice and still they get it on? hmmmm."
Maybe it goes back to the idea that Claire and Jamie's passion cannot be dampened no matter the dirt, grime, smells, weather, or accomodations. Not exactly reality, in my experience, but maybe I'm just much less passionate than Claire. :) (apparently so!)
I forgot to say that I did enjoy the whodunnit in this book. Throwing in a murder mystery was an interesting twist. There were several other elements that I found interesting and not things I had thought of or read in other books.
I thought of something in relation to our comments about their conditions and level of (lack of) cleanliness. Now I know why Laoghaire cried when Jamie tried to get romantic! She was probably as traumatized as I would be if I had to do the deed with an unwashed man, and without the benefit of a bath afterwards!
Post a Comment