📖 Novel of the Week: Voyager #1 by Diana Gabaldon

From "Dragonfly in Amber" on, Gabaldon's Italian editor decided to split the books in two, so I'll make 2 reviews of "Voyager": this one is from the first part of it and the Italian title is "The Stones Circle" and in the next months I'll be reading and reviewing the second part...
Enjoy!

Inverness, Scotland, 1968
Claire is now certain of two things: Jaime didn't die on the battlefield of Culloden in 1746 and it is possible for her to travel back in the past thanks the Craig na Duhn stones one more time...so, while struggling with her urge to be with him again and her responsibilities (in her present) as mother and surgeon, she conducts researches trying to understand what happened to Jaime the 20 years after their parting. Helping her in this task are her daughter Brianna and Roger Wakefield and, within a few months, Jaime's path is nearly pieced together...

Scotland, 18th century
After the battle of Culloden, Jaime lived for 7 years in a cave away enough from Lallybroch, in order to spare his family from the fury of the English army: they would have killed everyone if they knew he was hidden in the house. But still, close enough to know if they were safe and beeded him to take care of them. After all those years, situation in the Highlands is still critic and Jaime takes the risky decision to make himself betrayed so his family could have the money from the reward. By doing so he finds himself in the Ardsmuir jail, but that's just the first stop of his journey long 20 years...

What I liked 👍

The part where Claire, Brianna and Roger do their best to find out what happened to Jaime after Culloden, the descriptions of their emotions and feelings make the reader empathize with the story. And I was moved when Claire and Jaime reunite with each other. As always, the Highlands descriptions are suggestive as if I was seeing them for real.

What I did not like 👎

Too many secrets and things left unsaid led to awkward situations and to impulsive decisions (I'll just say one word: Laoghair). Probably half of the people and events will have a reason as I start the second part, but for now I think there have been a few events and characters who just brought away the attention from the main story.

I love this saga a bit more as I keep on reading, plus I can't wait to see how it will be transpose in the TV series!

My vote: 8/10

My reviews of: 

Outlander - HERE

Dragonfly in Amber #1 - HERE

Dragonfly in Amber #2 - HERE

Photo credits: goodreads.com