OUTLANDER review

REVIEW: FORASTERA (OUTLANDER)

Forastera
Author: Diana Gabaldon
Forastera Series

*Synopsis*
1945. The war is over and a young couple finally meets to spend their holidays in Scotland. One afternoon, when she walks alone through the meadow, Claire approaches a circle of ancient stones and suddenly falls into a strange trance. When he regains consciousness he finds himself in a disconcerting panorama: the modern world has disappeared, now he is surrounded by the Scotland of 1734, with its belligerent and superstitious clans, rude men and women, sometimes violent, but with a capacity to live and love as Claire had never experienced in her previous life.

*Opinion*

Being this month of August of vacations I saw that a new series of television was released based on some books of romantic court and acclimated largely in Scotland, and I decided to see it. At that time I did not know what the story was going on or how it was developing, but soon after I started it I was captivated. Its setting, the soundtrack, the actors ... everything is to my taste very careful and is a series that without a doubt I will continue without fail.

Once inside the story, I investigated what books they were about and I decided to read the first one (all immersed in a spiral of living longing with my friends), and once started it was impossible for me to stop until the end.

It is a long book, of more than 600 pages, written in 1991 and that taking into account everything that happens in it seems to me to be a book very advanced to its time. Still, to this day, I think many authors have been inspired by this series of books for their Highlanders novels and time travel.


*About*

Claire Beauchamp is a nurse, she has spent the last few years healing soldiers in different enclaves of the Second World War, and now once concluded she reunites with her husband Frank Randall, with whom she could only live a short time before the painful war begin to. Together they undertake a trip through Scotland, in order to complete the history of the Randall family tree. Shortly after starting this trip, they go to a secret ritual in a magical enclave, the stone circle of Craihg na Dun, and the next day she returns with the idea of ​​picking up some medicinal herbs that she saw while observing the ancient ritual. What she did not expect is that when she touched one of the stones she was transported to the same place but 200 years before. She does not know what is going on and, embarrassed, a journey begins in which she is no more than a stranger, a Sassenach.

Once her new situation is respected, Claire struggles to survive in a time full of violence, but will have the help of Jamie, a young Scot with a hard past and who will be his greatest support. His main obsession will be to return to the stones to reverse the trip, but he did not expect to feel more and more comfortable next to that nice Scot. But not all will go in their favor and is that the famous English redcoats will chase them on more than one occasion, and especially Jamie's biggest enemy, Jack Randall, ancestor of Claire's husband, ruthless and with a dark obsession.

Everything that happens is tremendously hard, it is a time when courage was demonstrated with suffering and where everything is paid with blood and pain. When it was published it had to be a real bombshell, and it is clear that 20 years later it is still valid with the launch of the series. I liked the story a lot and it also helped me to visualize perfectly the characters and the environment, and if anything I can say the series is that to date has been terribly faithful to the book. Obviously, there are details of the book that are not transferred to the screen but it is a very good adaptation.


*Bad news*


The bad news is that the books are out of print, and unless a friend has them or you approach the library, there is no way to read them legally. This is a real shame, since at least keep them in ebook on some digital platform I think it would not cost much. Hopefully as in the United States reissue them for the series issued by Starz. The saga is now made up of 8 books, and the last one has just been published in 2014 in its original language, when I recover from reading the first one I intend to continue with the story of Claire.

Forastera is an intense story, of a love that transcends all barriers. It will make you suffer and die of love and it will keep you in suspense all its pages. No doubt a good book is the one that lasts over time, and this has been achieved.


#tammywhite