Monday 2 March 2015

Cross Stitch by Diana Gabaldon : Review


Cross Stitch by Diana Gabaldon (uk version) also known as Outlander

Synopsis: Originally set in the 1945 Claire Randall and her husband are on a second honeymoon in Scotland. Whilst her husband is discovering more about his family ancestors, Claire explores the area including a stone circle. It is from here Claire finds herself transported back to 1743, where she crosses paths with her husband’s ancestor Jack Randall whom she soon discovers is a brutal man. What follows is a story that will leave not only Claire Randall shocked by the brutality of the time but also the reader. 

My Review: At the heart of this book is a story based in the Scottish Highlands the hierarchy of the clans and their battle with the English, as seen from Claire the intruder. What follows is a story that will leave not only Claire Randall shocked by the brutality of the time but also the reader. Claire’s skills as an ex battlefield nurse may see her survive with the clan but can she find a place within it, whilst still trying to find a way back to 1945. Having treated an injured Jamie Fraser, a young burly red haired Scot, will then see Claire entangled with his past and his clans future.

This book has an excessive amount of violence, torture and sexual violence. Claire and Jamie’s lives are forced together in order to save Claire's life from the hands of Jack Randall. The story then proceeds to see Jamie and Claire spend every other page romping around the highlands trying to avoid clashes with the English, only to end up having sex, more sex and more sex. Quite frankly I got rather fed up with it, along with Jamie’s not stop need to address Claire as ‘Sassenach’. 

Elements of the book are quite honestly unbelievable and some quite frankly repetitive and unnecessary. At over 800 pages long this book could of easily have been halved to 400. I was disappointed with this book as I love historically based book and did so want to enjoy it and the first 190 pages were good, but I soon tired of it.  This book is the first of the Outlander series, and at its core had the potential to be something amazing however I will not be reading the next. 

I gave this book 2 stars out of 5 on Goodreads where it currently has an average of 4.1 stars.

To find out more about the book or the author visit the following links.
Goodreads ~ Amazon

Angela

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1 comment:

  1. The plot captures from the first minute of reading. I am delighted! This book carries to far-off Scotland so naturally that the skin crawls! I know many papers writers who write well but the style of this book is special.

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