Outlander

Outlander, Book 1

By: Diana Gabaldon

Narrated by: Davina Porter

Length: 32 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

This stunning blend of historical romance and time traveling adventure has captured the hearts of millions of readers around the world and catapulted author Diana Gabaldon to the top of the New York Times best seller list. Outlander introduces an exhilarating world of heroism and breathtaking thrills as one woman is torn between past and present, passion and love.

In 1945, former combat nurse Claire Randall returns from World War II and joins her husband for a second honeymoon. Their blissful reunion is shattered when she touches a boulder in an ancient stone ruin and is instantly transported to 1743 Scotland, a place torn by war and raiding border clans. Will Claire find her way back to her own time, or is her destiny forever linked with Clan MacKenzie and the gallant James Fraser?

©1991 Diana Gabaldon (P)1997 Recorded Books, LLC.

Critic reviews

"Davina Porter maintains the distinct voices she creates for each character throughout the lengthy narration. Her delivery of 18th-century language sounds authentic and is easily understandable." (AudioFile)

Yasssss

This was such a wonderful book and it had an absolutely amazing narrator! Highly recommend!

Awesome book awesome narrator

loved it! it was wonderful! so much history, love and adventure! should be required reading

very engrossing

I loved it. The story was very entertaining and suspenseful. The narrator's performance was splendid.

wonderful

Amazing Story with well developed characters that makes you miss them when the book is done. the narration was beautiful for Claire. probably best to read on vacation as I never wanted to go to sleep

Had me hooked!

This book was full of suspense, romance, and kept me hooked through the duration. I fell in love with the characters and wanted to be transported to the 1700's Scottish Highlands myself to experience the imagery that came to mind.

One of my all time favorite series of books

I love this series of books. I love this narrator. I love that all the books in the series are now available on Audible (there were two in the middle that previously weren't). The Outlander series is what Audible is all about.

The series is the story of a woman who accidentally travels 200 years back in time and meets the love of her life. Whenever I explain this premise to people I get raised eyebrows, but the truth is that the books are more historical fiction than sci fi/fantasy. I read an interview with the author once in which she said she set out to write historical fiction, but just couldn't get into the mindset of an 18th century woman so devised the time travel in order to place a modern woman in the period she wanted to write about. That decision made the books even more interesting. All of the main characters are relatable and fleshed-out. The history is meticulously researched. The conversations, love stories, intrigue, etc feel organic. The descriptions of Scotland - both modern and historical - are amazing and make me love the country even though I've never been. I really have almost no criticisms of the writing.

Meanwhile, Davina Porter is one of the best narrators I've encountered in an audiobook. (Thank you, thank you to the narrator and audiobook producers or whoever arranged for the same narrator to read the whole series so far.) She manages to have a completely different voice for each main character and to my untrained ear moves effortlessly from one accent to another as the story dictates. Her American accent is not perfect, but it's still very good. She has a great cadence, sounds like she's read the book 100 times prior to narrating, and never stumbles over what must be incredibly difficult Gaelic words... (in fact, a friend of mine who is reading the whole series on paper calls me occasionally to have me pronounce the Gaelic words for her).

Clearly, these are some of my favorite all time audiobooks. Despite their length, I'm on my third time through the series. Speaking of length, all the books in the series are pretty long, but still only one credit so if you have an Audible subscription, they are great deals. In short, buy the books, you won't regret it.

Engaging

Would you consider the audio edition of Outlander to be better than the print version?

No

What was one of the most memorable moments of Outlander?

When Jamie explained the proper way to lie with a woman

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

no

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

when Jamie rescued Claire when she was being tried as a witch

Wow

I didn't read this for so long cuz I thought it was something different. But wow I'm hooked even my husband loves it and he's only into scifi

Compelling! This is a great love story.

Compelling! This is a great love story. It is tragic and triumphant. The narration is outstanding and accentuates the experience of this great novel in an exquisite way. I highly recommend this book.

Amazing!

Fantastic story, heart wrenching and excellent narration! I cant wait for the next and dreading the end of this series of jewels!