*Contains spoilers for the first 3 books (including this one!) and TV seasons!
“Are some people destined for a great fate, or to do great things? Or is it only that they’re born somehow with that great passion — and if they find themselves in the right circumstances, then things happen? It’s the sort of thing you wonder…”
So, Voyager has always been one of my least favorite entries in the series (please note that I still gave it 4 stars, because…Outlander). Part of the problem is I’ve read it A LOT — when I first got into the series, I reread every book I already had before starting a new one. This became unfeasible around book #5 or #6, since rereading them took approximately 2-3 months at that point. So I’ve read the first few multiple times, and have had a lot of time to consider them.
My main issues with Voyager:
Voyager starts with Claire discovering that Jamie did not die at Culloden. So we spent the whole first section of the novel catching up with Jamie. And guys, I love Jamie, but I’m not here for him. I want Claire, or at least Claire + Jamie. So devoting what translated to hours of an audiobook with his 20 years without Claire starts to drag. Plus…it’s a pretty depressing 20 years.
I don’t like how Gabaldon turns Frank into such a villain. I feel sorry for Frank. His wife disappears for several years, reappears pregnant and raving, and then pines for her lover while Frank raises her child and (begrudgingly, I admit) supports Claire’s dreams to be a doctor. There’s no need to turn him into a philandering racist. He’s Brianna’s daddy — let us all think nicely of him.
When Claire does return to the past — oh my god, I get that they’ve been separated for 20 years and have missed their sexytimes, but she asks him NO QUESTIONS about what’s happened during that time. Yes, he should have mentioned Laoghaire and Willy and John. But she doesn’t ask anything! It’s 80% into the novel that someone even mentions Murtagh! How could Claire not be dying to know how Jenny and Fergus and all those people she lived with for years were faring? I certainly was, and I KNEW THE ANSWERS.
And finally, the whole Mr. Willoughby thing makes me really uncomfortable. I’m dreading to see how they translate that to the television show. I get that it’s set in the past, but Gabaldon wrote it in present day and probably could have eased up on the stereotypes at least a little! When we find out at the end what he did and why, I was cheering for the man who they referred to as “the little Chinee” for 800 pages for standing up for himself. I did like the pelican though.
Now, there’s a lot of good about this book. Once Claire and Jamie reunite and end up on the boat looking for Ian, the pace picks up and things get more exciting. The big bad in this book works wonderfully — you really cannot kill a witch. And I loved Claire’s time on the plague ship, watching her kick all sorts of ass. And I like the time on the island with Lawrence Stern and the crazy priest and the goats. Young Ian remains one of my favorite characters in the whole series, and we don’t even get to know him until this book. I also love the beginnings of Fergus and Marsali, before he turns into a total ass. So really, the back half of the novel works for me. And I’m excited for the next novel, in which Bree discovers…things. I missed Bree and Roger in this book, and can’t wait to see them again.
My least favourite of the entire series, and the book that nearly broke me on my last re-read (to finally get to books 7 and 8 after a looong hiatus) is The Fiery Cross. There’s just so much that should have been edited out of that one. I fully agree with you about your gripes with this one – I would also add that the structure of the novel really is ALL over the place, and as Mrs. Julien has pointed out before, it does get a bit “Perils of Pauline” with all the different ships and people being separated and then conveniently finding each other again.
I desperately hope that Mr. Willoughby is dealt with a LOT more sensitively in the show, because having a pervy, racist stereotype for a whole book, just so Claire could get some acupuncture needles for Jamie? Not great.
They’ve already tried to give Frank more nuance in the show than he gets in the books, and Tobias Menzies plays him so well, so we can only hope that this continues throughout the next season, as well. Gabaldon really didn’t have to make him into a such an unpleasant person, just because Claire had grown to love Jamie more. It’s not Frank’s fault that he looked just like the man who ruined their lives.
All good points! I didn’t think about it til reading this, but I think Tobias Menzies portrayal of Frank for the show has definitely made me more soft-hearted towards him in the books. He’s just excellent.
I adore reading reviews about this series, but so far have not been able to muster the energy for book #1. I think it’s the length that gets me. And I tend to read very long books, but if I get bored it becomes a chore. I breezed through House of Leaves, but felt every page of freaking NOS4A2.
They definitely require a commitment. I’m doing the series on audiobook this time through, and Voyager was 44 hours long. The sixth book is like 56 hours long. It definitely makes for an immersive experience.
Wow. I can’t do audiobooks for the most part unless it’s short. I read fast and having to play with the audio speeds to get the right pace drives me bonkers.
I spend a lot of time in the car, and at least an hour a day running, so I get through them fairly quickly. These are fun on audiobook b/c the author does all the accents
Agreed with all your gripes except the first one. I loved being tortured by their separation, and then when they met up again for the first time I legit almost died from feelings.
Totally agree with you on how Gabaldon handled Frank. He went from being a standup guy to a total tit. The series was much more interesting when Claire actually had to choose between two good dudes. This was a cop-out.
I read this one in one long sitting on a beach in Southern France a while ago, and the next one, and then I felt like I OD’d and never touched the rest of the series. Maybe I should pick it up again.