My Irish Eyes are Smiling When Scottish Kilts are Flying!: A writer’s review of the first five books of the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon (Outlander, Dragonfly In Amber, Voyager, Drums of Autumn, The Fiery Cross)

Flashplot: Let’s make this clear from the start: these books are mammoth. Micro-summarizing them successfully is impossible. Instead I’ll merely explain the general premise and move on to the review. 

Claire Beauchamp walks though a Scottish stone circle in her own time, just after WWII, and finds herself transported to the same place only two-hundred years earlier. In a plot to keep her alive and out of the hands of a suspicious British Captain, her rescuers marry her off to a Scottish rebel Jamie Fraser. At first Claire’s biggest concern is that she is already married to a man from her own time, whom she wants desperately to return to. Soon, though, she’s fallen for her new husband and has become entangled with his complicated and dangerous past, present, and future. 

The books do some time-jumping as they follow the cast of characters across different centuries and countries. They also do some genre bending as they work in elements of romance, history, magical realism, and adventure.

As a reader: There’s a reason I find myself reviewing all five of these books at once: I read them so fast, one after the other, that I actually couldn’t tell you where one ended and the next began. The characters, plot, and setting were equally enticing to me. Claire is strong, yet not brash. Jaime is everything a girl wants in an alpha-male of a romance book—pig-headed and overbearing on the outside, while sensitive and compassionate on the inside. Did I mention he’s also hot and wearing a kilt most of the time? Yum. Add to that plots with plenty of twists, well-researched historical details, and enough humor to balance out the darker moments, and I was hooked for the long haul.

As a writer: My one complaint is that it is indeed a verra, verra long haul. (I downloaded the seven book bundle on my kindle and it comes in at 7125 pages!) Gabaldon admits she wrote book one, Outlander, as a writing exercise, with no concern over length. In the 90’s apparently publishing such a debut novel was possible; today it would be unheard of, even as good as this story was. I’m not a proponent of strict word counts just for the sake of word counts, but these books are definitely an example of works where a good editor helping to trim the fat would have benefitted everyone. Beyond book one the biggest problem for me was that there was too much rehashing of events from prior books. Different people share varying philosophies on this, but my view is, if you’re going to write a series, write a series. Assume readers have read the previous works. If they haven’t and want to know more, they’ll go back. Don’t punish loyal readers by bogging down the plot. That said, I loved the stories enough to learn to skim some—careful, of course, to stop whenever that kilt came off!

Bottom line: If you like romance with a heavy dose of action and history and you have the time or will make the time for book that’s a little wordy, and a little unique, but really entertaining, than this series is worth picking up!

Rats, Bats, and Cockroaches, Oh, My!: A Writer’s Review of the Underland Chronicles by Suzanne Collins

Flashplot: This five-book fantasy series follows the formula of many middle grade/YA quest fantasies: Young boy living less than desirable life in our world suddenly finds himself in a fantasy world where he’s prophesied to save the day. He makes allies and enemies, looses mentors, and falls in love.

As a reader: Despite following the formula of such series, Gregor the Overlander is a creative and entertaining set of books for young readers. I found it took a while to connect with the main protagonist, Gregor. He seemed flat and a bit void of the emotional responses readers would expect from a character undergoing the trials he was facing. But as the first book reaches its climax, Gregor begins to sound like the eleven-year-old boy he is. The plots of these books also improve as the series progresses. I enjoyed the first two books of the series from the viewpoint of a teacher, but felt, unlike Collins’ newer series, they lacked the more adult themes that gave the Hunger Games a wider appeal. In the final books of the Overlander series, though, Collins definitely addresses the universal themes of oppression, racism, and leadership—all through characters made up of rats, bats, fireflies, and the occasional human. This is a series both parents and children will enjoy!

As a writer: While it took me a awhile to see Gregor as a rounded character, it took me surprisingly little time to picture the world into which he fell. Collins’ is a master world builder. Within the first chapters readers will find themselves not only able to picture the giant cockroaches that make up one set of characters, but will also fall in love with them for their backwards speech patterns and loving nature. I also admired Collins’ ability to develop the character of Boots. It is extremely hard to make a toddler both realistic and interesting to an older audience. Boots could have become an annoying or flat character hindering middle grade readers enjoyment of the story, but in Collins’ hands she becomes a lovable and rather round little tyke.

Bottom line:  At the middle school where I teach, I ran the summer reading group for book one in this series. Of the nearly forty students who read it, three-quarters chose to read the rest of the series—over their summer vacations, without their parents forcing them. I think that says more than anything I could put in a review!