Fiction Review: Voyager

I finally finished my biggest book of Big Book Summer 2023, Voyager by Diana Gabaldon, book three in her amazing Outlander series that begins with Outlander and Dragonfly in Amber. It was 870 pages long, and I was sorry when it ended!

I will tiptoe around the description to avoid any spoilers for those who have not yet read books one and two. In the first book, WWII has just ended, and a young British woman named Claire has reunited with her husband, Frank, for a second honeymoon in Scotland. Claire worked as a nurse during the war, and Frank was a military officer. While Frank is doing some genealogical research, Claire explores a ring of ancient stones nearby. When she touches one, she finds herself instantly transported back to 1743. Lost and alone, two hundred years in the past, she eventually meets Jamie, a tall, redheaded Highlander. The rest, as they say, is history. Book two has Claire and Jamie traveling to France to try to convince King Louis XIV to support Bonnie Prince Charles in Scotland's fight for independence (we all know how that ends). Here, in book three, Jamie and Claire are apart for the first 200 pages or so, and through a series of flashbacks and story-telling, the reader finds out what has happened to each of them during the past twenty years, since book two ended. Once they are reunited, the title of the book becomes clear, as they set off on a voyage across the Atlantic.

This was my favorite of the first three books so far! I loved it so much that after reading 870 pages over a month's time, when I finally finished it, I immediately turned the page and began reading the first chapters of book four, included at the back. In fact, several days later, I am still dearly missing Claire and Jamie and the other characters. All of that is just to show you how incredibly compelling these books are. Gabaldon writes fascinating historical fiction, filled with both widely known events and the small details of everyday life. Jamie and Claire's epic, across-centuries love story is at the center of it, of course, but these books are not typical romances. Voyager, in particular, was non-stop action and adventure from cover to cover. So much happens in this novel! The characters encounter everything from prison to pirates in settings from 1960's U.S. to 1700's France to a ship in stormy seas to the jungles of the Caribbean. Tension and suspense were sustained throughout this gripping novel. It's not hyperbole to say that I stayed up much too late every single night because I just couldn't bear to put the book down ... just one more chapter ... I can't wait to read book four, Drums of Autumn.

870 pages, Dell

This book fits in the following 2023 Reading Challenges:

 

Mount TBR Challenge

Monthly Motif  - July: one-word title

Alphabet Soup Challenge - V

Travel the World in Books  - Scotland, France, Jamaica, Hispaniola

Big Book Summer Challenge

 

 

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