Review: Outlander

(a book review of Outlander by Diana Gabaldon)

The Short Version

Diana Gabaldon's ambitious tale Outlander tells the story of a 1940s British woman who time travels to 1740s Scotland by an ancient stone circle. Soon she finds herself torn between two worlds, two times, and two different loves. The tale combines historical fiction and romance with just a hint of fantasy or science fiction (via the mysterious stone circle).

The worlds and people of the story are all realized with great detail, making much of it believable. All of this makes for an intriguing start, but unfortunately the plot arch becomes disjointed early on, and Gabaldon often overshares the results of her historical research. Overall, the plot is bogged down by this excessive detail and by a meandering event path that never picks up steam, much less builds up to a story climax. This was all a bit disappointing for me, as I love a well built story.

I still enjoyed some aspects, including the steamy love scenes, the scenery of Scotland, the encounters with characters, and all the excessive tidbits pertaining to herbalism. The fact still remains that any plot that is weighed down with superfluous detail and extends over 800 pages is a trial for any reader's stamina.


The "Gradebook" Version

Overall Score of 23/34 (aka 67%, aka D+)
Breakdown of points:

1. Realization of the story's world (5/5)

2. Development of characters (4/5)

3. Plot (1/8)
   -pacing (0/2)
   -all parts build to a major turning point (0/2)
   -believability (1/2)
   -arcs satisfyingly (0/2)

4. Style (4/6)
   -consistent (2/2)
   -cleanly written, both in wording & scenes (0/2)
   -balance of high and low moments (2/2)

5. Originality: the story isn't directly "lifted" from other stories. Any similarities are due to genre, to interesting recycling of popular plots or characters, or exploring an alternate route within a story or story type, especially for humor or resonance (5/5) 


6. Follow Through: the story upholds the implied writer-reader contract which is set up via story style, foreshadowing, and marketing (4/5)