Outlander series books #1-9 by Diana Gabaldon

The Outlander series in order:

  • Outlander

  • Dragonfly in Amber

  • Voyager

  • Drums of Autumn

  • The Fiery Cross

  • A Breath of Snow and Ashes

  • An Echo in the Bone

  • Written in My Own Heart’s Blood

  • Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone

Wow! What an incredible mix of genres and an intense storyline. I have spent a great deal of time reading through this series and fell head over heels. While I debated in reviewing each book individually, I felt like I would end up giving away spoilers along the way, both to myself and you, the readers who haven’t dived down the rabbit hole that is this popular series. So reviewing as a whole was my best ticket. But as I look forward, it is well known that Diana is currently writing book #10. From this point forward, I will review each of the books individually in order to keep up with the series, as well as to make sure to give a quality review and opinion on each installment in real time.

Before I took the plunge into the series, I had many recommendations for it. I questioned whether I would be interested or not. As I continued inquiring of fellow readers, I had a lot of people say it was worth it, but I also had a lot of people that told me I should just watch the TV show accompaniment. That it wasn’t worth the time to read it. However, I am one of those people who definitely read the book or series before I watch the film or TV show. While I knew that each of the books were long in length and that it would take me some time to get through them, I am glad to say that I felt it was worth the time. On the flip side, my warning to readers is how slow the books read sometimes. There were several times during the books where I was on the edge of my seat and couldn’t stop reading in order to find out what would happen next. But there were also countless times where I felt bored with reading because of the mundane, everyday details. In my opinion, I definitely felt there were points in the story that could have been more summarized or moved along quicker than they did. STILL WORTH THE TIME THOUGH!!!

Okay, now to some of the details of the story. One of my favorite pieces was the historical fiction aspects. I learned a lot through some of those aspects. I am also a history guru, particularly when it comes to American and European history. Seeing as the series has settings in both of those areas of the world, I felt right at home.

If I had to pick a favorite character, I would say either Claire or Jem, but I also enjoy a lot of aspects of Jamie. Jamie becomes this fierce protector over his family and others around him. When I look back to the first installment of the series, the Jamie we first met was young and watching his growth was so fun. He learns to lean on Claire a lot, and that she is worth fighting for. Claire is also one of those characters that is multi-faceted. I love her gentleness and bravery in a lot of situations, but I also love her bluntness and vulnerability. Jem is just one of those characters I just label as “cute.” He has an adorable personality, but by the end of the series, he experiences things that make him grow up real fast and then he takes a lot of pride and ownership in himself, his siblings and family.

All in all, I wouldn’t call this a 5-star series, but it definitely ranks 3 1/2 or 4 stars consistently. It was worth the hype it has been given. I will be awaiting the series’ tenth installment along with the countless other readers. I’m guessing there is a little bit of time before the book is completed and published, so I highly recommend giving this series a chance. Just know the ninth installment “Go Tell The Bees That I Am Gone” ends in quite a cliffhanger and you will end up having to wait for the next book to publish before we know what happens. Happy reading!