Voyager [Mass Market Paperback]

 

 

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Third in the phenomenally best selling Outlander Series, "Voyager" picks up where "Dragonfly in Amber" left off. Claire is shocked to learn that Jamie Fraser did not die at the battle of Culloden as he had said he would. After he forced Claire through the standing stones at Craigh na Dun, he went back to the battle but did not die as he had hoped. Instead, much to Claire's surprise, he survived the battle.

Claire and her daughter Brianna search with the help of Roger Wakefield through prison records and files in order to find out where Jamie may have gone after the battle. They learn that his life was spared and that he lived on after the battle under the assumed name of Alex MacKenzie.

Claire is torn between two worlds. Jamie sent her back to her husband Frank twenty years ago so that the baby that Claire carried would live. Now, those twenty years have passed and Frank is dead. There was no love between them, as Claire loves Jamie with all her heart. There is nothing holding her to the present except for her beloved daughter Brianna.

She makes the heart wrenching decision to travel back in time again, though it may kill her. Her love for Jamie is all the keeps her going. She leaves Brianna with Roger, and they begin to get closer to each other, a romance budding between them.

Claire hurtles herself back in time and finds Jamie with little to no problem. Their reunion is brief, as Jamie faints away at the sight of her. When he is roused, they have a proper reunion, though Jamie warns Claire that she may not love the man he has become. Apart from still being wanted by the red coats, Jamie lives under disguises as a merchant and printer. However, he also supplements his income as a smuggler. Claire assures him that she wants nothing more than to be with him.

Their adventures take them all over and they are soon on the run again from the English. It's quite a journey! While chasing a ship that has kidnapped Jamie's nephew Ian, the two love birds encounter pirates, battle with a witch (who readers will recognize from "Outlander"), survive sword fights and brushes with typhoid and violent storms at sea. Good will prevail in the end however, if only our two travelers can live long enough to get there.

I enjoyed "Voyager" much more than "Dragonfly in Amber". There was more adventure in this novel, more love, more romance, and more sex. This novel had everything possible to make it an excellent read and then some; it also kept me wanting more.

The story in "Voyager" seems to just hum along, much different than "Dragonfly in Amber" which was a far denser book. Jamie and Claire are also older now, by twenty years. I loved the idea that a hero and a heroine could be older than twenty five and still be able to kick butt.

There is a new character here that added spice to the novel as well. Lord John Grey makes his first appearance in the "Outlander" series (from "Lord John and the Private Matter") and his character adds something to the novel. We also get treated to appearances from all the other characters that have appeared in the previous two books, so that "Voyager" is a character smorgasbord.

I loved every blessed moment of "Voyager" and I am very glad that I have my copy of "Drums of Autumn", fourth in the "Outlander" series, ready to go. Though "Voyager" is 870 pages long, it is a well drawn, deftly told voyage that just keeps getting better and better. Thank you, Diana, for another amazing read.

If you haven't started the "Outlander" series yet, what are you waiting for?

Perhaps what I loved best was the portrayal of middle-aged passion as Claire and Jamie are reunited again. What a rare romance novel to feature a heroine in her late 40s(?) or early 50s(?). Obviously I need the "Outlandish Companion" since I can't remember these little details.

I was surprised to see that other readers thought this was a little slow paced, took too long to get started, and that the years apart were "too sad." Although I was anxious for Claire and Jamie to reunite, I felt that the bittersweet years apart heightened the joy of their return, and the sense that Claire and Jamie truly are the greatest loves of each other's lives. I enjoyed the opportunity to get to know Jamie more, and see things through his eyes for a change, instead of mostly getting Claire's perspective.

The chapters focusing on how Claire's disappearance and return affected her marriage to Frank satisfied questions that remained unsettled after "Dragonfly in Amber." I had found Frank's apparent acceptance of Claire back into his life in "Dragonfly" somewhat unbelievable. (Yes, for some reason, despite a book premised on the ability to time travel, I still expect believability in the other aspects.) Frank's attitude in "Voyager" seemed much more what I would have expected.

I'm notorious for reading ahead, especially if the plot is dragging, but I was rarely tempted in "Voyager." I couldn't put the darn book down. I felt that the plot moved along much faster than "Dragonfly."

Some of the coincidences at the end became a little much for me, hence my decision to give only four stars. I don't want to give away the plot, but I did feel that the likelihood of Claire, Jamie and Fergus & Co. all ending up in the same spot following "challenges" at sea a little unlikely. If I could write like Mark Twain, I would skewer those scenes as savagely as he did James Fenimore Cooper's unbelievable twists. Since I can't, I'll just note that it's hard enough sometimes for me to find my fiance when we get separated in the supermarket, and yet, in all the Carribean, they manage to reconnect pretty quickly. (Just read through it, roll your eyes, and move on.)

On the other hand, the connection that Claire discovers between a friend in her time with someone whom she meets in the past didn't bother me, the more I thought about it. For me, that just seemed part of the "pull" that connects her to the two time periods. At the end of "Voyager," I was left with a sense that her time traveling could be connected with some deeper type of mystery.

If I weren't so broke, I'd be ordering "Drums of Autumn" this second rather than writing this review.

***SPOILERS ALERT!!!***

You may recall me bemoaning Diana Gabaldon's previous book in this series, Dragonfly in Amber, because it was long, boring, and took me FOREVER to read. Of course, once I finished reading that book, I just had to start reading Voyager, the third book in the series.

Voyager starts with Claire researching (with the help of her daughter Brianna and friend Roger) whatever happened to Jamie ' the love she had to leave after Culloden in order to save her and their daughter's life. Twenty years have passed and lo and behold, it is revealed that Jamie did not die at Culloden like she thought he did. The problem is that a lot can happen over the course of twenty years.

With Roger's expertise in research and Claire's never-give-up attitude, they find out approximately where Jamie would have been twenty years past the day when Claire was forced to go back through the stone circle to her present day. So what's a girl to do when she finds out the love of her life is still alive, 200 years before her time? Go back, of course.

Maybe it was because this book was so similar to Outlander, the first book in the series, but I absolutely devoured it. There wasn't a lot of political jargon that mussed up the pages of Dragonfly in Amber, nor were there endless fight scenes long enough to make even the most caffeine-addicted man fall asleep.

Claire goes back and is reunited with Jamie and they have to learn to live with what happened in the last twenty years. None of it was innocent, considering each thought the other was dead. Frank takes Claire back after learning she was with child when she returns 'home', thus making Brianna ('Bree') believe that Frank is her father. And Jamie is shipped all over the place, thrown in jail a few times, has a CHILD WITH ANOTHER WOMAN (unbeknownst to anyone but him and another person), and ends up remarrying not just another woman, but Laoghaire, the girl Claire saw him canoodling with prior to their wedding 20+ years ago.

Somehow, most things work out. But not everything. Claire's return isn't received as she would have liked by Jamie's sister, and there's the mystery of who-exactly-is-the-little-Chinaman-Jamie-keeps-calling-Mr.-Willoughby? When Laoghaire enters the picture (and then leaves the picture after shooting Jamie in the arm), the lawyer, Ned, comes in to settle the matter of First Wife vs. Second Wife. As usual, Jamie has to pay.

But wait! One time when Jamie was in jail, he learned of a story of a treasure on an island. Of course he manages to escape said jail and SWIMS to the island to find a treasure that doesn't match the description originally provided, but a treasure nonetheless. And now that he has to pay up to Laoghaire for the 'divorce', Jamie, Claire, Jenny's son Ian, the Chinaman, and some Scottish smugglers are all en route to obtain said treasure (since who has the kind of money to pay for a divorce?).

On the way, Ian is kidnapped and the gang must band forth to rescue him. But from whom, you ask? Well, from Geilis Duncan ' the WITCH we thought was burned at the stake! From the looks of it, Ian was her sacrifice, and her slave people were all too happy to relay this information to Claire and Jamie.

In the end, Ian is rescued and Claire and Jamie are in hot debate over where they should live since Jamie is a smuggler ' nay, a WANTED smuggler ' and many of the places he called home are now off-limits. Fortunately, their boat was being followed by the same ship that kidnapped Ian, which forces them to head out to sea. They're hit by a storm and wind up in ' America.

Du, du, du ' !

Unfortunately for Diana Gabaldon, I'm putting the reading of the 4th book on hold until I read other books that are on my To-Read list. However, I was pleasantly pleased with this book ' it held my attention, had just the right amounts of love and action (though I could do without the very detailed 'love' scenes) and still kept my intrigue to read farther into the series. And instead of taking a whopping 2 months to read book, this one only took 11 days. I know, I'm a machine. (LOL!)

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5.0 out of 5 stars Voyager
Excellent can't stop reading the whole series of books by Diana Gabaldon. 5 star

Published 21 months ago by Debs

3.0 out of 5 stars Series is slipping
I read Voyager immediately after Dragonfly in Ember because I so desperately wanted to see where Gabaldon was going with this love story. Read more

Published on Oct 23 2009 by Linda D

5.0 out of 5 stars The series only gets better...........
First of all, this 3rd book in the Outlander series introduces Major Lord John Grey who is the main character in Diana Gabaldon's new trilogy. Read more

Published on Sep 28 2003

2.0 out of 5 stars A Terrible Disappointment. . .
I devoured the first two novels in the series, Outlander and Dragonfly in Amber, so I was thrilled when I began this third volume in the series. Read more

Published on July 7 2002 by Rosamond1

5.0 out of 5 stars Everlasting Love Found, Windswept Seas & Adventure Abound!
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... Read more

Published on Jun 7 2002 by Tracy Talley

4.0 out of 5 stars a good read, but not as good as the first two
I enjoyed reading about the continuing adventures of Claire and Jamie. They managed to find just as many problems and scrapes to get into as they did in the first two books, and... Read more

Published on May 24 2002 by C. Hill

3.0 out of 5 stars Self-Indulgence Starts to Creep In
I have read all five "Outlander" novels, and must say that I feel they started to go downhill a little with "Voyager". Read more

Published on April 1 2002 by Sarah

3.0 out of 5 stars The weakest of a brilliant lot of 5 (so far)--t'ain't bad
I have read all 5 Gabaldons from Outlander to Fiery Cross. While others I pass them on to, saying YOU HAVE GOT TO LOVE THIS! Read more

Published on Mar 18 2002 by Joan Stuart Livingston

4.0 out of 5 stars A little slower paced than the first two in the series.
This is the third in a series of books about Claire Randall, an English woman who mysterious falls through a wedge in some ancient stones and finds herself in eighteenth century... Read more

Published on Mar 10 2002 by Betti Trapp

5.0 out of 5 stars The adventure continues.....
in 1968 as time-traveler Claire Randall learns that her 18th-century Scottish husband, Jamie Fraser, did not die on the battlefield at Culloden after all. Read more

Published on Mar 4 2002 by L. M Prestwidge

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