Diana Gabaldon

[sunshinelover]

One of my favorite authors!  Primarily known for her Outlander series, which has just had the 8th book Written in my Own Heart's Blood released.  I've barely gotten into it because I'm trying  to make it last...anyone else a fan?

[Athena]

I've read all of the Outlander series except the newest book. In fact, we even have a forum for the new Outlander show and it has at least one book thread in there already. Depending on the interest, I can move this thread over there.

[Hybridcookie]

I've only read the first one (Cross Stitch as it's known in the UK for some reason), and I liked it, but at the same time, I've never felt the urge to read any of the others

[DoughGirl]

Loved the first three books, but after Voyager, this series went off the rails for me. I tried to stick with it, but I've given up. I won't even bother with the latest one.

[Dejana]

I enjoyed the latest, though

it did feel a bit like filler. A few too many coincidences and it seems like so long ago where the story was just from the POV or one or two characters, though I don't mind most of the later editions to the story. William, though, I just wanted to scream at him that he's really not the first nobleman with a father of "lesser birth" and he just needed to deal with it, already. In reality, of course, it would be a huge shock to the system, though it was funny how pretty much everyone else around him saw it for themselves and found the news almost shrug-worthy. I liked the moment of Brian encountering Bree in the graveyard, thinking she and Jemmy were Ellen and his son William. Jenny knows about the time travel, but in the next book, it will be interesting to see what she makes of meeting Roger when she was younger, provided she remembers it.

Has Gabaldon said for certain how many books in the main series are left?

Edited June 29, 2014 by Dejana

[Athena]

Has Gabaldon said for certain how many books in the main series are left? 

 

I don't think she has. I checked her somewhat outdated FAQ and it basically states that the books will end in 1800, there will be a prequel, and she's planning to write about Master Raymond at some point.

[Dejana]

I don't think she has. I checked her somewhat outdated FAQ and it basically states that the books will end in 1800, there will be a prequel, and she's planning to write about Master Raymond at some point.

Thanks for the info, but 1800? My Own Heart's Blood ends in

1779!

At the pace Gabaldon writes, I suppose she's planning to live to 110. 

[DoughGirl]

Just MHO, but I don't see the need for every little piece of this story to be strung out and tied together. As a reader who loved the first three stories, I would have been more than satisfied to have the story end at Voyager. Leave some mystery and some things well alone. As it is now, I've become bored with it and the big production and fanfare for "the next book". Hell, I don't even like Jamie anymore since reading Echo.

[Dejana]

Gabaldon does like to meander but the story seems to be more about the journey than the destination. And how many sex scenes can be cranked out. Claire must have found the eighteenth century Viagra herbs or something.

 

In My Own Heart's Blood, I just realized that

Jemmy is about the same age as Fanny, the little girl they've taken in. My wild prediction is that they become teenagers in love and Jemmy won't want to go back to his own time. The cycle continues.

[Athena]

Since the first episode of the show was made available online this weekend, I decided it would be best to open book topics for every book in the Outlander series and a general Books vs. Show in PTV's Outlander forum. You can continue to talk about the books in this forum as well; the other one will have more commentary on the TV show. 

[Mystery]

I just finished My Own's Heart Blood and was pretty disappointed at the meandering storytelling (I don't need pages and pages leading up to a battle) and excruciating levels of details on medical procedures on characters we'll never even see again. 

 

About the young characters: 

I thought that Gabaldon was setting up Fanny and Germain.

[Archery]

While I love Outlander so much, and the subsequent book progressively less, I don't really think Gabaldon has any idea how the story ends.