Customer Reviews

Voyager

5 star:		(190)
4 star:		(42)
3 star:		(20)
2 star:		(19)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

The third in a series of exceptionally well written time travel, adventure/romance books by the author, it tells a gripping and highly entertaining tale. There are four such novels published to date in what is hoped to be a series of six books. I urge the interested reader to start at the beginning and read each and every one. Do not be daunted by the length. Trust me when I say that you will wish that they were longer, so riveting a story does the author unfold. A masterful storyteller, the author employs the superlative use of historical events and period detail to weave an engaging three dimensional tapestry of timeless love and adventure. While the core of the story is about a love that transcends time, it is, however, much more than that. It is an adventure story that grips the reader from beginning to end and is positively addictive!

The love that spans time is that which twentieth century Englishwoman, Claire Randall, has for eighteenth century Scottish highlands warrior, James Fraser. Those readers who have read the first book in the series, "Outlander", know that in 1945, Claire, a combat nurse during World War II, is reunited with her husband, Frank, after the war. While on a second honeymoon in Scotland, she visits a strange, flat topped hill, where a forbidding stone circle draws her. Touching one of the stones, she is hurled through a vortex in time and finds herself in eighteenth century Scotland, where she meets a brave and brawny, red headed Scot, James Fraser, with whom she falls head over heels in love. Finding herself thrust into the midst of clan warfare and intrigue, she and her beloved 'Jamie' have enough adventures to last a lifetime.

The second book, "Dragonfly in Amber", is a continuation of that story, told from the perspective of the twentieth century where Claire, now a doctor, has lived for the past twenty years. Upon the death of her twentieth century husband, Frank, Claire returns to Scotland with her grown, red headed daughter, Brianna. There, she discloses to Brianna the events of her secret past, as well as the truth of whom Brianna's biological father truly is and of the love that Claire bore him.

While in Scotland, however, Claire discovers something that will forever change her future, as well as her past. You see, for the past twenty years, Claire has mistakenly believed that her beloved 'Jamie' died in the historic battle of Culloden. It was there that the Scottish highlanders bravely fought the English in a misguided attempt to restore Charles Stuart, their bonnie Prince Charlie, to the throne of England, only to be decimated on the battlefield. Those few who survived were branded as Jacobite traitors and imprisoned, and their families disenfranchised. It is this very event that Claire and 'Jamie' had conspired to change, only to fail.

Their story transports the reader from the turmoil of the Scottish highlands to the intrigue of the French Court and regales the reader with the adventures of the two lovers, as they conspire to change the very course of history. It was this valiant attempt that ultimately brought Claire and 'Jamie' to the crossroad that would compel them to part and have Brianna become a denizen of the twentieth century.

In "Voyager", Claire, now realizing that the love of her life and soulmate survived the battle of Culloden, makes the decision to go back in time and find James Fraser, as for the past twenty years her love for him has remained constant. Leaving her daughter, Brianna, she once more hurls herself into the vortex of time to eighteenth century Scotland to begin her search for James Fraser, in hope of being reunited with her 'Jamie'.

This book tells the story of what happened to Claire Randall and James Fraser in those intervening twenty years. It tells of their ultimate reunion and rediscovery. With historical events as a backdrop and an unforgettable cast of characters, it regales the reader with their new adventures, as Claire returns to a still divided, turmoil ridden Scotland. Reunited with James Fraser, none the worse for wear, they seek to make a life for themselves. As their love comes full circle, they take to the high seas, and their adventures continue. This compelling time travel saga is sure to captivate the reader.

The third in the 'Outlander' series and still kept me riveted. In this enstallment, Claire is in her own time and its twenty years later from the time she first went back (1945)and she has a daughter from Jamie, Brianna who is 20 years old.
Claire is now a succesful doctor living in Boston and still longs for her lost love, a Scottish warrior from the 18th century named Jamie Fraser. Her twentieth century husband Frank having passed away two years ago, Claire is feeling that heartwrenching pull to return to her love.
But how does a mother leave her only child to find a man she once knew and loved almost two hundred years ago? How does she explain this to the man's daughter who looks just like him? Just seeing Brianna makes her heart ache for Jamie.
With the help of Brianna and a friend who studies genealogy charts, Claire finds out that Jamie somehow survived the bloody Battle of Culloden! Dare she risk another trip through the stones to find him?
With understanding and the love from her daughter, Claire finds the support and courage she needs to take the plunge into the unknown with the knowledge that she may never again be able to return to the future and Brianna.
Seeing Jamie again nearly knocks the breath from her. Their love is still intact, even 20 years later. Trouble is still in the air, this time they are uprooted from the battlefields of Scotland to the exotic and mysterious West Indies. Coming face-to-face with an 18th century serial killer, Claire is the only one who can stop the madness.
Voodoo magic and political intrigue, Claire and Jamie are thrust on a voyage to the pits of humanity and must use their love and trust in one another to survive.
I thought the use of voodoo and the islands in the 1700's was unbelievable! It was so fascinating and kept you on your toes! Their journey through the world of magic and greed for life made sense and also explained things to me that I missed in the first novel 'Outlander'. The stones are more in depthly explained along with the travel of time. It was so unbelievable that I was engrossed for hours and hours and found it dark outside before I thought to even eat!
This is probably one of my favorites so far of the three I've read. It moved faster and with more excitement that the last (even though I loved 'Dragonfly') and I was sad to see it end, some 1050 pages later, lol.
The time spent apart made the heart grow fonder and I was happy to see the passion still well alive between them. I love Jamie anyway, and fell in love with him in 'Outlander', but in this, I loved him even more and wished I were Claire, lol. I am anxiously ready to plunge right into the fourth installment, 'Drums of Autumn', in the New World...

1. Outlander 2. Dragonfly in Amber 3. Voyager 4. Drums of Autumn 5. The Fiery Cross

Tracy Talley~@

After finding out that Jamie survived the battle of Culloden, Claire makes the heartwrenching decision to leave her grown up daughter, Brianna behind in the present, and after a hilarious scene at a shop that sells period costumes, Claire finds her way back to the stones of Craigh na Dun and Jamie, who lives under various guises as merchant, printer and smuggler

Their reunion is passionate but not peaceful for long. Jamie and Claire's efforts to save his nephew, Ian take them to the West Indies where they meet Geillis Duncan, the time traveller from Outlander, who not only holds the boy hostage for her own sinister purposes, but who also threatens Brianna all the way in the twentieth century. Their final escape hurls them into a storm that nearly kills them all, but lands them in a new world - together.

Throughout the many twists, turns and revelations of incidents past, we never doubt Jamie. Not when he is constantly thrown from one danger to another, not even when he warns Claire that she might not want the man he has become. Her answer is our own, and her implicit trust in him is truly justified as he tries to explain every circumstance that fate has thrown at him. But he has changed. He has been forced by blackmail and loneliness into a loveless marriage with one woman and to father a son on another. These relationships will be explored in further installments of the series.

Claire has been dealt a rough hand in some ways, and she has also become tougher during the twenty years of separation from Jamie. Her profession of surgeon serves her well in this book and her decades of loneliness in the 20th century, while remembering the love she shared with Jamie, only strengthen that love when they rediscover each other and she sees how very much he has changed. Claire clings to the chance of happiness she knows she is lucky to have, even if it means leaving behind her beloved daughter.

The scene where Claire shows Jamie photographs of his daughter Brianna, taken at many stages in her life, is heartbreakingly tender with the pain of what could have been. Claire and Jamie do not dwell on this, but instead face each new challenge together. Old friends and nemeses are back, each of them adding their own piece of the puzzle to this intricate story, but Jamie and Claire are, again, the center of it all. We know them now and we cheer for each victory and despair at each cruel twist of fate.

In the end, the theme of Voyager is one of tremulous hope. Hope, because this is a new beginning for Claire and Jamie. After all their misunderstandings and disagreements have been dealt with, they find themselves on a new continent which represents their new chance at a life together. Tremulous because, let's face it, this is a Gabaldon novel, and we have not only Drums of Autumn after this installment, but two, or perhaps three more books. In any case, Voyager is a well-crafted work, not overwhelmed by the carefully detailed research that has gone into it, but supported by it.

I think this book and the rest of the series were fantastic! They were easily the best books I've ever read - and I'm an avid reader. I laughed out loud while reading (something I very seldom ever do). I cried during some of the passages. These books were so real, I felt as though the characters were my very best friends after the first book. The author's descriptions were so vivid, you could almost see what she was talking about. She didn't repeat events over and over when she was talking about something else - she trusted you to know what she was referring to. One event didn't last for several pages; she described something fully and moved onto something else. There was something different happening all the time; this book and the series were anything but boring.

The book was over way too fast and the series could have had many more books in it. It was just over way too soon! I hope the next book is ready soon. I would recommend this series to anyone who likes to read - no matter what category.

I just finished reading Diana Gabaldon's Voyager. It is my first book of hers and lo, I find that there are two others that preceed it! This story of Claire and Jamie set both in the 1960's and in the 1700's, is a great read for anyone that loves Scotland and Scottish history. The period comes to life and Claire's unique outlook is both funny and fascinating. Like Marion Zimmer-Bradley, Diana Gabaldon is able to transport us back in time, making it come alive, making the people seem real. I lost myself completely in this book and am now reading her first, Outlander. I am not disappointed! What a great author, I can hardly wait to see what happens next to those wonderful lovers, Jamie and Claire. Even my husband loves these books! There's something for everyone, adventure, fantasy, romance, history. Summer reading at its best!

It is more than likely unnecessary to tell you to buy this book if you've already read the first two (Outlander & Dragonfly in Amber). You are probably dying to get your hands on this novel so just go for it.

Outlander: Claire thrown back in time. Ends up marrying Jamie do to circumstances beyond anyones control. Falls madly in love with him, rescues him from the evil Captain Randall, nurses him back to health in France.

Dragonfly in Amber: Claire and Brianna (her daughter, with Jamie) are in Scotland two years after the death of Frank Randall. Claire hopes to find out what happened to all the men she knew with the exception of Jamie who she knows died at Culloden and work up the courage to tell her daughter that her father wasn't Frank Randall but a man from 200 years in the past named Jamie Fraser.

Claire's story puts her and Jamie in France at his cousin Jared's house. Jamie is running Jared's business in Jared's absence and Claire is supposed to be taking it easy... she's with child. Jamie finds a young pickpocket and employs the both with the agreement that if young Fergus loses a hand with stealing mail for his new master... Jamie and Claire will care for him for the rest of his life.

Claire meets several strange and intriguing characters upon living in France including the woman who is supposed to marry Captain Randall, who they believed dead in the first novel, and being the line of Randall's that produce her husband, Frank, who still resides in her own time.

Claire and Jamie go through a horrible time in France (loss of their child) and end up returning to Lallybroch in Scotland only to be summoned by Bonny Prince Charlie as he gathers troops to march into Scotland and take back his thrown... an endevour both Jamie and Claire thought they had prevent. The two reluctantly join the Jacobite army. Jamie fights with the men and Claire fights to save the injured men with her doctoring.

Spoiler to Dragonfly: In the end, they both know the ill fated battle of Culloden is just around the corner and Scotland will be plunged into a horrible time when the English hunt all the men who were involved in the Jacobite cause. Because of the death of Dougal McKenzie, Jamie knows he will die no matter what and so takes Claire back to the stones (she is pregnant again) to send her back to her own time where she and their child will be safe.

This Book: The heart wrenching end to the second novel left me feeling quite raw and I was pleasantly able to simply pick this novel up off my bookshelf and begin reading.

The books tells us about Claire's return and her life with Frank Randall, who by this time realizes she is still very much in love with Jamie, and is at times cruel, but stays with her because of Brianna (Jamie and Claire's daughter) which he loves as his own.

Brianna, Roger (Rev. Wakefield's foster son) and Claire (in 1967) begin the seach for Jamie when it comes to their attention that he didn't die at Culloden.

Another story in the book is the actual telling of what did happen to Jamie from the battle fields of Culloden, to Lallybroch, to prison, to England, and then on to Edinburgh where Claire, Brianna and Roger track him too.

It takes a bit of reading but we finally get to the part where Claire throws herself back through the stones (with her daughters blessing) and goes from the stones to Edinburgh where she is almost sure she will find Jamie.

Their reunion is wonderful and their furthering adventures are spectacular! This book was far from ever being boring though some of the Jamaican parts are hard to follow but the adventure is awesome. We also get to see Jamie's family again (Jenny, Ian, Young Jamie) and we are introduced to a new man but an old character as Claire realizes one of the men so happy to see her is Fergus!

Fergus all grown up is a delight as his on going devotion to Jamie and Claire. There are some painful realizations but everything works out enough that Jamie and Claire can be together and go in search of their nephew Young Ian, who was taken by pirates. Yes! The seasick Jamie braves the Atlantic!

We even get a wedding and the surprise return of a character I wasn't fond of the first time around but makes this story quite interesting.... wonderful... spectacular... and worth your money to buy and your time to read!

Another great book in this series. It's amazing that Diana Gabaldon can keep a story line going without losing quality, interest, novelty, or suspense. I highly recommend all five in the series....this third one is wonderful.

Read the book. Don't bother with the audio version if you enjoy the depth and humour in Gabaldon's writing. The abridgement made the story sound like your typical trashy romance, with all of the emphasis on the sex scenes. It removed all of the intrigue, character development and history from the book.

While she writes decent romance, that is not what makes her books so worth reading and eagerly anticipated.

This third book in the historical Scottish trilogy by Diana Gabaldon was as riveting and intense as the previous two installments. I will admit to dragging myself through the first couple hundred pages, however, there were enough interesting and engaging segments in those first chapters to keep the fire of interest alive.

The beginning of the book switches back and forth between 1746 in Scotland with Jamie Fraser's post-war life and 1968 in Scotland with Claire, Brianna and Roger Wakefield undertaking the historical search for traces of Jamie Fraser and what might have become of him after the war.

Brianna, Jamie's daughter, finds the proof of Jamie's life as a printer in Edinburgh years after the battle at Culloden. Claire then makes her decision to, once again, step through the Druid stone circle at Craigh na Dun and back into the 18th century to find Jamie.

The reunion between Claire and Jamie was everything a reader could ever possibly want in a novel and more. Ms. Gabaldon anchors the love story with a strong element of believability, regardless of the time-travel aspects of the story. Claire and Jamie have little time together before being thrown into danger, mystery and mayhem. Several surprises await the reader with twists and turns that had me commenting a loud to myself! As the title would indicate, much of the book takes place on a ship as Jamie and Claire are bound for the West Indies in a daring rescue attempt. Several characters from the previous novels reappear, some in ways that are delightful surprises. Others return in devious deadly plots.

Although I have read over 3,000 pages of this story I am not yet tired of it. The characters of Claire and Jamie are still strong and continue to hold my interest. This is one of those stories that I do not want to see end for when it does, I will miss Claire and Jamie terribly. The next book, Drums of Autumn, promises to be perhaps the best of the trilogy.

I most certainly recommend this series to readers enjoying adventure, time-travel and romance. I would, however, recommend beginning with the first book in the series, Outlander, and then reading the second, Dragonfly in Amber.

I ordered this book directly from Diana Gabaldon herself and she even autographed it for me! How cool is that? Anyway, I had already bought the 4th one, Drums of Autumn, but refused to read it until I had read Voyager. I know that they all stand on their own, but you know, there's nothing better than starting from scratch and learning the characters' backgrounds first. I was so ready for Voyager when it arrived that I read it in 4 days, which is probably a record for me (especially considering the size of these books!). How anybody who reads this series of books can say that they are boring is just beyond me. I wish someone would make a movie out of these. I wonder who would play Jamie and Claire?