I previously reviewed the ninth novel in the long series of Outlander novels by Diana Gabaldon, Go Tell the Bees that I Am Gone (2021), but have now decided that I ought to provide a little more information and a description of the entire set of books in the series, which began with the release of the first novel, Outlander, in 1991. That's mainly because, after spending several years reading all nine of the gigantic Outlander novels (each one runs roughly 900 pages of hardback-sized pages filled with small, densely compacted text), I've become a completely devoted fan of this amazing long-running book series.
I was happy to learn last year, around the time Go Tell The Bees That I Am Gone was published, that Dr. Gabaldon (yes, the author is also a PhD biologist) plans to write a tenth and final Outlander novel before the series concludes at the end of the American Revolution. This may take her a few years, if past performance is an indication; each novel she's added to the series has taken roughly five years to appear after the preceding one. Fortunately, recent online stories confirm that she is now at work on this tenth novel, so at least we can start the clock running on when it might arrive!
I decided to try to read the first book after becoming a fan of the Starz TV show, Outlander, which is closely based on the book series. These novels (and the show) are a curious mix of genres, combining well-researched historical fiction, romance and sex from a woman's perspective, and science fiction/fantasy, which have drawn generations of enthusiastic readers and now TV viewers to the outstanding TV version of the story.
The main character and principal narrator at the heart of the stories is Claire Randall, a modern Englishwoman and feisty, resourceful young veteran of World War II service as a combat nurse. While on a "getting reacquainted" holiday after the war with her husband Frank, she accidentally falls through a time portal in a ring of ancient standing stones, and ends up alone in early 1740s Scotland, where she has to quickly adapt to a very different world and life in order to survive.
They're very thick novels, rich in period detail, adventure and racy love stories, and very addicting, but they take a long time to read, and the plot jumps around between olden and modern (20th century) times, so I'll refrain from recounting the contents of each book in my review.
So what are they about? Mainly, they're incredibly rich historical novels. They portray individual, social and family life in the past through a large cast of interesting characters, whose stories and fates are interwoven through their family relationships, wars, rebellion and coincidence across a specific arc of past time, history and locations.
That arc begins with the Jacobite uprising for “Bonnie Prince Charlie” in Scotland in the early 1740s, then moves through the post-Culloden Scottish migration to America, colonial life in the new world, and the years of the American Revolution -- which, as Diana Gabaldon has explained in interviews, is the period when the pre-industrial world was transitioning to the modern scientific and technological era.
They're also wonderful romance novels, focused primarily on one couple (Jamie and Claire Fraser), but also on their children, close family members and friends, and the intimate details of their various sex lives, loves, traumas, battles, adventures and relationships over decades.
But wait, there's more! They also contain a very good sci-fi/fantasy time-travel story, with occasional bits of apparent magic thrown in, as well as a fascinating ongoing exploration of modern medicine in contrast to primitive healing, and the knowledge and beliefs of each, along with convincing portrayals of what ordinary life was like before germ theory, anatomical knowledge and penicillin were discovered.
With all that going on, these Outlander books take forever to read and absorb, but at least from my perspective, it is totally worth it. These books now rank among my top fiction series ever, along with Patrick O'Brien's epic 20-volume Master and Commander Aubrey/Maturin series, C.S. Forester’s Horatio Hornblower series, Frank Herbert's original 6-volume Dune series, and J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. Very highly recommended.
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