I borrowed this book from my English curriculum teacher and seeing as how I loved the other book I borrowed from her, I had high hopes for this one. The cover made me think that it would have a fantasy bent to it, yet she also mentioned it was about children and took place in England so I figured maybe it would be a fantasy/drama/adventure crossover of some kind. To be honest, I spent the entire first half of the book wondering what I had gotten myself into.

I have never been the kind of person who can just give up on a book, but I kept considering it over and over. It’s a very sizable book and took a lot of time to read, so I kept hoping that the next chapter would get better. Or maybe the next chapter. I very slowly got to the middle of the book, forcing myself to continue waking through the text. By that time, however, I was wondering why on earth the novel had been a finalist for the Man Booker Prize.

The problem was that the text was so dense with with discussion of politics, finance, drama, and art (particularly pottery), techniques and methods that the story was indistinguishable from all the unnecessary information. There is no denying that the prose was superior, but the text was so excessive that I felt the story was lost.

Underlying all the detail was the story of a family and its various branches, as the children mature and grow in the years preceding WWI. It wasn’t until after the children began to leave childhood and move on into life, establishing careers and starting families, discovering they people they would be come, through trial and error, that I actually began to see the true genius behind this novel.

In the first half of the book I just couldn’t understand the purpose if it. I couldn’t see where the plot was going or what the story was trying to accomplish as it just seemed to relate daily, ordinary and uneventful life of these families. Quite frankly, it was dull, unmoving and difficult to get through because of all the extra information about their society that I really wasn’t interested in. When the children grew up, however, I became invested in the people that those children were becoming. I was upset and sometimes horrified by their mistakes, and I was joyful over their triumphs.

In the end, the novel was a very close look at self realization and coming of age that was intimately revealing and real. All secrets were brought into the open, explored and the effects on the family examined so that by the end of the novel you understood exactly the character’s motivations and feelings. By the end of the novel I understood exactly what what the author was trying to accomplish, I just wish it wasn’t so painful to get there.

By all means, read this novel, especially if you have an interest in art, drama, pre-war politics and/or finance. If you are interested in these things, you will ultimately appreciate the first half of the novel much more than I did.

You can find this novel here:  The Children’s Book

This novel was lent to me by my professor, and I actually expected it to be a bit of work to read in between readings for class, and writing assignments and what not.   I was pleasantly surprised, however.   The book isn’t incredibly long, only about 300 pages, and I flew through it effortlessly, finishing it in just a few day (basically over the weekend).

Shanghai Girls is ultimately a story about family and the bonds that are forged between them, over time.   The novel begins in Shanghai and is centered around two privileged sisters who’s lives are thrown completely upside down with the loss of their father’s money, sudden arranged marriages, and the invasion of Shanghai by the Japanese.  The two girls are forced to flee their country and emigrate to America.  The second half of the story is spent dealing with the life of Chinese immigrants in San Francisco, during a time when all Orientals were looked upon with suspicion after the bombing of Pearl Harbour, and then again during the communist threat of Mao’s revolution.

The book was incredibly easy to read, which is really a feat in itself considering the incredible depth of description and the completely alien world (at least to me, and probably  most readers) that the author brings the reader into.   However, the entire reason it was so easy to get through is because  Lisa See effortlessly weaves a landscape of incredible detail that truly made me feel that I was witnessing Shanghai, and later Chinatown, of the 40s and 50s.   It honestly boggles my mind, the amount of research that would have to go into creating such a complete environment.  Short of actually seeing and witnessing 1940s Shanghai myself, I couldn’t write with such depth and I am humbled by her ability.

In the end, what Lisa See managed to accomplish was to  open my eyes completely to Chinese culture, beliefs and family dynamic as well as how that changed, and stayed the same, due to Americanization.   I highly recommend this novel to any lover of history and culture.

You can find it here:  Shanghai Girls

As an education student majoring in English Language Arts, I’ve had the unique opportunity to approach literature from a completely different perspective than most people do.   While reading Pirate’s Passage I was also evaluating it as an educator, keeping in mind the novel’s potential for teaching teenagers.   This is a completely different way of reading than I’m used to, because it cannot be purely escapist, which is my sole reason for reading fiction, normally.  That’s not to say that I read the book from a completely objective point of view, either;  the whole point of reading a novel is enjoyment, after all.

My first impression of the novel was that it was very difficult to get into.  I believe I fell asleep somewhere around page 22, and then again ten pages later.  This could be solely attributed to the fact that I was reading before bed, but I do think that it also had something to do with the pacing.   This is a slow novel to get into.

The novel takes place in Nova Scotia, Canada, in the early 1950′s and begins with the daily routine of Jim, a 12 year old boy who lives in an ancient Inn on the coast.   The monotony of daily routine takes a turn when a mysterious Captain named Charles Johnson is blown in from the ocean during a storm.  The Captain decides to spend the winter in Jim’s mother’s inn, while making necessary repairs to his boat.   During this time, he hires Jim to do small errands and basically keep him company.

Most of their time (and indeed, the majority of the noveol) is occupied with the Captain educating Jim about the history of pirates, to help Jim in an essay for school.  During these stories, the reader gets the feeling that the Captain knows more than he lets on, and it even seems that he, somehow, may have been involved with pirates hundreds of years ago.   He often makes the statement “when I’ve gotten younger” which titilates the imagination of who, or what this Captain is and where he is from.

Unfortunately, that’s a theme that is never actually explored and because of that I was left rather disappointed with the outcome of the story.    I found the second half of the novel to be more engaging than the first; there was a lot less sailing terms being thrown around and a more plot than just daily life at the Inn, interspersed with Pirate history.  I still can’t be happy with the ending though.  There was so much more potential, and while the author makes an effort to wrap up loose ends, I really wish that the supernatural theme that was hinted at had been explored.

As an educator, the ultimate question is would I teach this novel?    The story and whether I liked it or not aside, it is a good example of children’s literature because it does a very good job of portraying every day life for young boy, including common issues which every boy eventually faces.  I can see how boys could relate to the character and be drawn into the story, however I think that girls might have problems getting into the story.   The history in novel is presented in a way as to be very enjoyable to students; short, sweet and exciting however there’s so much of it they might get tired of it by the end, like I did.

I probably wouldn’t use the book in a classroom, but I would suggest it for boys interested in pirate history.

You can find it here:  Pirate’s Passage

In the realms of Science Fiction these days the sub-genre known as ‘Steampunk’ has been gaining a good deal of momentum. If you’re not familiar with Steampunk it’s a form of fiction set in an era when steam is still used as the primary power source. Typically Victorian age time frames are used and there’s a lot of brass and iron machines about. Alternate history is often employed to show a ‘road not taken’ approach where we find dirigible airships sailing the skies and other machines that could have been. I like to describe it as Cyberpunk if it was written in the 1840′s.

Boneshaker by Cherie Priest is one of these alternate history Steampunk novels. Set in 1880′s Seattle the Klondike gold rush has happened about a decade early, and the US Civil War has dragged on an extra ten years thanks to interference by the British. In 1864 the Russians are looking for a way to harvest the gold in the Klondike and other parts of Alaska (which they still own at the time) so they hold a contest to see who can make the best digging machine. A genius in Seattle, named Leviticus Blue comes up with a remarkable machine called Blue’s “Incredible Bone-Shaking Drill Engine”, or Boneshaker for short. On it’s first test run however the machine destroys the financial district of the then burgeoning Seattle and releases a strange and toxic gas the people call ‘Blight’. Rather then kill it’s victims the Blight gas turns them into the walking dead, that’s right, it’s a zombie novel. They never say zombie however, they refer to the undead as ‘rotters’. To keep the world safe from this gas the people build a 200 foot high wall around the core Seattle and meek out a meager existence in the Outskirts.

The book starts in earnest 16 years later when Briar Wilkes and her son Ezekiel are living in the outskirts as outcasts. Why? Because Briar Wilkes used to be Briar Blue, wife of the new infamous inventor and Zeke is his son. Zeke has never known his father but being a teenager he has a lot of angst so he sets off into the blighted city to try and find some evidence to clear his fathers name. Once inside the dead city however we find that there is still a population living among the deadly gas and roving rotters. They refine that gas into a drug called lemon sap and sell it to outsiders via smugglers who fly hydrogen filled airships into the city and trade goods for drugs. Briar hitches a ride on one of these ships to chase after her son.

Inside the city there is a strange dynamic going on where the survivors are quasi-ruled by a mysterious doctor who calls himself Dr. Minnericht. He’s a genius inventor who provides the surviving population of the city with fantastic inventions in return for favors and manipulates the idea alive that he just might be Leviticus Blue himself. Briar must confront this doctor and prove to both herself and her son that he isn’t her long lost husband….or is he?

I’ve never been able to really get into Steampunk, I’m not a huge fan of the Victorian era, but I took a chance on Boneshaker because the idea of steampunk + zombies sounded interesting. I’m glad I did. Boneshaker turned out to be a very accessible introduction to the genre. Priest creates a set of characters that are compelling and hook you into their lives. At the same time there is a rich back-story and strong world building going on around them that teases you with the “what if’s” that are presented. Priest also manages to build a strong sense of suspense when the denizens of Seattle are running for their lives from the rotters and you genuinely feel claustrophobic as the filters in the characters masks start to fill up with the Blighted air.

Overall this is a great book and I can see why it’s been nominated for a Hugo award. If you’re looking for an easy way into the Steampunk genre this is it. You’ll also be glad to know that this is just the first book in what Priest calls the ‘Clockwork Century’ setting and her next novel, Dreadnought is due out September 28th, 2010.

***

Boneshaker

It was time to go on vacation and I was eagerly awaiting an entire week of nothing more demanding to do but read.   I had planned on doing some writing, too, but my laptop never even made it out my bag.   So I packed up my Kobo along with all my other necessities, only to realize after leaving home that I had forgotten to upload the three galleys I had downloaded from netgalley.com.   So when I found myself in a Walmart for a last minute stop at the pharmacy, I also stopped in the book isle, hoping to find something I might like, that was cheep.  When I found The Wise Woman on sale for $9.95, I jumped on it, and finished it in five days.

The Wise Woman is the story of Alys and her ambition.  Taking place in England during Henry VIII’s reign, Alys is abandoned as a baby at the house of the local wise woman, who raises her.   She lives a hard, poor childhood, and is never really loved so when the opportunity comes to raise her station she takes it by becoming a nun.    The story begins when her nunnery is burnt down by the Lord’s son (Catholics being deemed heretics, by Henry VIII), and she flees without trying to save her sisters or mother at the abby, (a truth about her character which plagues her throughout the novel).  She is forced back to the home of the wisewoman, Morag, who raised her, and again grasps at any opportunity to achieve better for herself by becoming healer and scribe to the Lord.   From there, her ambition causes her to plot to rise to lady of the manor.  She breaks her vows, takes the young Lord Hugo as lover and uses ‘dark arts’ to achieve her ends.

This was a great historical fiction, as it’s not very often that authors choose to write about lower classes, in historicals.  The look into the lives of different classes was eye opening and really set the mood for the rest of the novel and causes the reader to empathize with  Alys’ ambitions.

While it’s easy to empathize with Alys, I found it difficult to sympathize.  She’s a difficult character to grow to like because she spends the entire novel deceiving the people who care for her, to get what she wants.   I think that is more difficult to take because she was a nun and made her vows to be a good person, yet at the first challenge she throws all that aside (albeit with some moral struggle).

My favorite part of the novel was the use of ‘dark arts’.  During the time period many people did turn to ‘wise women’ who would use herbal cures, deliver babies and create love spells and such for people who would pay.  These were, of course, not real ‘spells’ but people were very superstitious and witchcraft at the time was a very serious charge.  I would have enjoyed the novel a lot more if it stuck to historical here and made any results of ‘black art’ and women’s mysteries explainable.   It starts out doing just that, however crosses the line with wax dolls that come to life, a miscarried baby made of wax and Morag turning into a rabbit.

The end of the novel also through me for a loop.  Alys spends the entire novel deceiving people to get her way – she’s the highest person in the house after the Lady dies, pregnant with the Lord’s child, and what does she do?  She repents!   After all of that she just turns away from it all.   I think I would have preferred to see her giving birth to a daughter and end up working as the wise woman back in the hovel where she grew up.  It would have been a perfect turn around and counterpoint.  Instead, the moral of the novel becomes about salvation, rather than consequence.

Regardless, I really enjoyed the novel.  The writing drew me in completely and the research was excellent.  I really felt like I understood the time period and the motivations of the different classes, and class structure.   I like how Phillipa Gregory writes and will definitely seek out more of her work.

You can find the novel here:  The Wise Woman

Ahh….this brings me back.   I think I was 18 when I first read this book; the age when you feel so old, but you’re really so young.   This book is sentimental favorite of mine, because it came into my life just when I was rediscovering myself, and creating an identity separate from my home and family.   I was on my own and independent and responsible for my own ideas and beliefs.   I think I even felt a little rebellious.

So I first picked up this book not very far into my new found Pagan faith.   I had been interested in witches since high school and discovered Wicca and Paganism in university, going so far as to head the Goddess 2000 group in my area and create the Society of Pagan Fellowship student group on campus.    I know, it all sounds so fruity  (I can hear my huband’s eyes rolling in their sockets”) but it was my identity then; it was newborn, bright, gleaming and proud.

This book took the classic Arthurian legend and turned it on his head.   It took the story away from the male-centric myth that everyone knows and made it about the Goddess and her Priestesses and Druids and the mystical, magical Avalon struggling to exist in a world of new faith.    It was like the novel was speaking to my own transformation – trying to exist as Pagan in a Christian world (campus).    What was amazing to me was the pagan rituals, festivals and rites written as if they actually happened, and how they were slowly extinguished by the Roman legions and the modernization of Britain, through kings.    The book was read so many times that I’m surprised it’s held together.   I can’t speak now about how good the writing was, (though I do know the mini series was horribly cheesy) but I will say that the images are still strong in my mind.

The sequels and other historical fiction that came after this book I can imagine as  representations of my own growth and maturity in my beliefs and even in life.   Each book that emerged became more sophisticated and learned more away from magic and myth and attempted to recreate history from a feminine point of view.  I read them all, always eager for the next in the series, but none of them affected me like the first book did.  Maybe it’s just my mind trying to cling to those young fresh years.

I read The Firebrand last year and it did a wonderful job of demonstrating the roll women could have had in history, as it tells the story of the fall of Troy from Kassandra’s perspective.   It almost seemed to me to be the culminating story of my own beliefs – the history of Troy, it’s cultures and peoples are all examined from a probable point of view, with just a little bit of old school mysticism on the side.

Everyone once in a while, though, it’s nice to go back to your roots.  So, go here to find The Mists of Avalon.

Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series is an old favorite of mine, that I’ve already discussed in a Sunday Favorites post, so I won’t go into the series here.   An Echo in the Bone is the seventh book in the series, after a four year break, and to be honest it had been so long that had forgotten a lot about the other books, much less the fact that the story was left open for another novel.  So, when I discovered this book on the store shelves I was both surprised an excited to get reading and be reunited with my favorite characters again.

The four year break really worked against me, however, and it really would have been to my advantage if I was able to pick up the entire series and read it over again to refresh my memory.  However, seeing as how I’m trying to read as much as I can, as quickly as I can, in order to keep posting fresh reviews, that wasn’t really an option.  As such, while first getting into the novel I ended up feeling like I was missing a lot.

Unlike a lot of authors, Gabaldon doesn’t spend a lot of time recapping what happened earlier in the series.  On one hand, this is a good thing, because recaps can get annoying, especially when an entire chapter devoted to it.  On the other hand, this left me feeling lost.   I had completely forgotten the back story of many characters,  and even the existence of some, and so when their names were brought up I was left confused.  However, lucky, there were enough small hints and memories shared throughout the novel that the rest of the series very slowly came back to me, with great feelings of relief.

One of these characters is that of William Ransom.   I had forgotten entirely that he existed and was very confused, in the beginning, when it was suggested that he was Jamie’s son.  I had no recollection as to how this could be possible, and had completely forgotten the entire story line of Jamie as an indentured servant in England and his relationship with William’s mother.

The reason why this was such a glaring omission of my memory is that half of the chapters taking place in 1777 were told through the perspective of William, and his adoptive father Lord John, as he fights in the Independence war on the side of the British.  It took me a very long time to figure out how this was significant or even necessary, before being led to remember his history.  In the end it made perfect sense, as all of their stories converge, but at the time I found it difficult to care about his story.

One of my favorite aspects of this series is the whole idea of time travel, however some people have said that this leaves the novel feeling disjointed.   I can understand that view, as half the novel is written about Brianna and Roger, in the 1980s while the other half takes place during the latter part of the American Revolution.  The switch between time lines can be a little jarring, as it brings you out of the action, but its also necessary to further the story, as it reveals how much the lives of this family revolve around the phenomenon, and how history is affected by small changes, which is a key theme.

In the end it all comes down to the characters and their relationships.  Jamie and Claire’s relationship is as intense as ever, and as usual frought with tension as Jamie continues to fight in the war and get injured (he loses a finger, this time).  Roger and Brianna are back home with their children and experience a little bit of marital tension as they each try to define their roles back in the 20th century.  Ian is reunited with his parents again, just in time for tragedy, but he also finds love, again.  In the end everyone is brought back together through extraordinary circumstance and we are left, with bated breath, waiting for the next installment.

*sigh*  To be content, but wanting more, is always the best way to end a novel.

You can find this one, here:  An Echo in the Bone

Around eight years ago (wow, how time flies!) I was living in the Caribbean on a tiny little island that didn’t have very many amenities.   There was no book store, besides the tourist shops that sold Harlequin romances, and the library was the top floor of a house about 500 sq ft in size, and frankly, scary to go into.   All of my books, therefore, were passed down or borrowed from friends; it’s how I came to read the Harry Potter books, and this one, Memoirs of a Geisha, by Arthur Golden.

I can honestly say that I didn’t have very high hopes for this novel, mostly because it just wasn’t my type; At the time drama wasn’t really my thing and I hadn’t discovered my affection for historical novels yet.  I was pleasantly surprised, however, when the novel drew me in from the very first pages.  Part of this was because the narrative of the story makes it seem as if it’s a true story, after all, crediting a fictional person as the translator and author of the story.  It actually took me a long time to figure out that it was in fact fictional, it was so well done.

Secondly, I enjoyed how the beginning of the novel focussed on the main characters childhood and family; it establishes where her personality and perseverance comes from.  Throughout the novel it is said that she has ‘too much water’, which is evidenced by her blue eyes, but it is always said in a derogatory way.   Her mother, before her death, however, is the only person who refers to her ‘water’ as her strength, and tells her it’s a good thing.

The character is very strong and it’s what makes her enjoyable.  She may be sold and stuck in a situation beyond her control, but she doesn’t let it defeat her, she always tries to gain the upper hand and take control of her life.   The entire premise of the novel – from her being sold to a geisha house, to her determination to become the most popular geisha in Japan, to her life during the war and comeback afterwards – is a testament to her strength and determination to survive and make her life the way she felt she deserved it.

When the movie came out I was satisfied by the way the novel was represented on screen, however I felt that it lost some of it’s heart.   Without the personalization the narration provides, and with only a minimal of time spent on Sayuri’s the history, her motivation is lost and she is seen only as a character that is strung along in the stream of events, rather than dictating their direction.   Instead of having the strength of character of the novel, she is turned in to the typical female heroine.

Besides the treatment of the main character, the majority of the novel is covered in the movie accurately enough that none of the plot is lost.  I also have to commend the directors for not ignoring small details and actualy focussing on scenes that might seem insignificant, such as Sayuri’s first time pouring tea for the Chairman, only to find the pot is empty.

I’ve enjoyed the movie and have even watched it more than once.  I feel that a person could watch it in place of reading the novel and not lose too much.  However, I do think that to really understand Sayuri, to really feel for her character, the novel needs to be read.

You can find the novel here: Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

and the movie here: Memoirs of a Geisha (2006)

I first discovered Jack Whyte after reading a very satisfying trilogy, The Authurian Trilogy by  Mary Stewart, about the life of Merllin.  The series wet my appetite and left me craving more about Arthur, Merlin and the mythical world of Camelot. (Incidently, research for this post has shown me that there was a fourth book about Mordred that I never read!  I am now sorely tempted to pick up the series, again).

Now, at the same time, I had had sitting on my bookshelf a very old and faded book given to me second hand by an Aunt, which had been left over after a garage sale.   It was so faded and stained, possibly crusted in something that used to be sticky, that the appeal of picking it up and reading just wasn’t there.   Hence, when I began searching for new novels to read after finishing The Last Enchantment I was surprized to see that the first book in an even larger series was already in my library, if barely recognizable as such.

That book was The Skystone and it did more than open me up to another series about aurthur, it fueled a fire for early European history, which spread into a blaze so great, that I went on to minor history for my teaching degree.  What’s special abouot this series is that it’s more than just another tale about Aurthur, Merlin and all the other characters we’ve become familiar with.   This series is a journey back into history that is so incredibly well researched as to almost be an instruction manual.

The story starts with the history of Publius Varrus, a roman soldier in England and his experiences with the legions.  This goes as far as describing the setup of the legions, battle techniques,  weapons, the technology of the roman empire in building roads and other structures, as well as the Roman government prior to 500 a.d.  I had to admit that there were times when all of this description became a bit dry, as I really didn’t care about how many men made up a legion, or how a camp was laid out (complete with maps!).

However, the story begins to move along when Publius is nearly fatally injured and has to quit the legions.  He begins his life as an ironsmith and begins to make plans, with is friend, and former General, Caius Brittanicus for what he feels is the inevitable end of Roman occupation in England.  Spurred by rumors of his grandfather finding a piece of sky stone from which he created a small blade, Caus and Publius go on a search for more stone and discover it at the bottom of a lake. After many hears of work, he discovers how to smelt it, and from it he creates a goddess statue and calls it The Lady of the Lake.

This is just the beginning of a multi-generational saga of nine books that begins with Publius, and ends with Aurthur Pendragon, his great granddson.   Throughout the series the Aurthur story is taken out of fantasy and explained what at the time may have seem magical. Camelot (Camulod) Excalibur, Merlin and the Sword in the Stone are all explained away to make perfect sense.

While the history of the novels is the obvious attraction for me, the characters are easily likable and the reader really becomes invested in the family.  As you move through the novels you find that you develop relationships with the characters and grow old with them.  I felt real saddness and regret when characters came to the end of their lives, like I was seeing the passing of an era.

Apart from the main story of the Varrus/Brittanicus/Pendragon family in Camulod, we learn about the fall of Rome, are lead through the evolution of Christianity, and experience the fight to keep England from invading hordes, including the discovery and development of military technology.  The only part of the novels that I found slightly unbelievable was how every advancement in weapons seemed to come from Camulod.

Despite there being aspects of the novels, particularily military history,  that I occasionally found a bit long winded, this is the only series I’ve ever read that brought the myths to life.   These stories make it possible to imagine Arthur and Merlin as the really could have been in life.  It’s because of this that I have read the entire series over and over again, and why they never get old.

It’s because of this that I’ve also picked up Jack Whyte’s latest series about the Templars. While I really enjoyed the first book, Knights of the Black and White, I found the second book to be a disappointment. While it was as meticulously researched as all his others, the story wasn’t involved and interesting enough to disguise the history from being dry and boring.  I haven’t read the third book yet, however, so maybe it picks up.

You can find the Camulod Chronicles (known as the Dream Of Eagles saga in Canada), here:  Camulod Chronicles

I was introduced to Diana Gabaldon by the same friend who lent me Eragon, and I was instantly hooked. I started with Outlander, and made my way through the series at lightning speed. I finished reading just as she was starting up the Lord John Grey series, which, I unfortunately had no desire to read. Having fallen in love with the characters in the Outlander series, I didn’t want to explore the story an, albeit major, protagonist. Over the years, when looking for something to read, I have reconsidered my position from time to time, but somehow never picked the other series up. I’ve decided to talk about the Outlander series today, because the latest book (which I really wasn’t expecting), “Echo in the Bone“, came out in June and it’s my current read.

So, why is the Outlander series among my favorites? I’ve always been fascinated with historical fiction, and consider it to be my favorite genre. When I was a teenager I discovered historical romance. The very first romance novel I ever read, in fact, had something to do with pirates and slave traders and a helpless woman captured at sea. That first book began a love affair with historical romance, but never before had I read one that throws the past and present together in a big tangle. Outlander does just that, as the Heroine, Claire, a married WWII nurse at the end of the war, stumbles through standing stones in Scotland and finds herself 200 years in the past, during the Jacobite uprising. It is here she meets the love of her life (and best romantic hero, ever,) Jamie, and she must come to terms with where, and with whom she belongs.

At the outset, despite the time travel, this seems to be a standard formula destined for a happy ending where the heroine chooses her true love and they live happily ever after. Well, that’s why this is an amazing series; it doesn’t happen that way. Instead, Claire finds herself pregnant and Jaime in the middle of a war. To protect herself and their unborn child, she is forced to flee through the stones, back to her own time. Thinking that Jamie dies in the war, she goes on with her life, becoming a doctor, and she and her husband raise her daughter, while their marriage falls apart. When Claire discovers that Jamie didn’t die, after all, she heads back through the stones, unknowingly followed by her , now grown, daughter. This turns out to be the catalyst for the series, now seven books long, as the family reunites and has amazing adventures of crossing continents, war, love and time travel.

While the story itself is unique, fascinating and enduring, its the characters that really carry it. The love story between Claire and Jamie is passionate and pure, even after being separated for twenty years. The love story of a couple in their fifties, however, may not be as sexy to some people, and that’s where the story of their daughter, Brianna , and her romance with Roger comes in. The cross generational nature of the series keeps the story fresh, and helps the reader to fall in love with an entire family and become invested with everyone’s welfare, rather than just a couple of short lived characters.

I was thrilled, upon discovering the newest novel, that I would get a chance to reunite myself with this fascinating family, and you can look forward to a review on how that went for me, soon.

There are a lot of novels in this series, as well as “The Outlandish Companion” a handbook and guide to the novels, partly to help the reader remembering details of characters and events from past novels, but also as a companion for the truly devoted, including recipes, characters’ horoscopes, and notes on plot development and research.

The novels in the series can be found here:  Outlander Series