TC's kindle broke recently and he has been using mine. So, I've been reading a lot more of those ancient things that sit on shelves and smell musty and enticing. Yes, I have been reading actual, physical books. In some ways I miss them, but some ways I don't. At any given time, I have 50+ books on my kindle. It's a daunting task to read 50 books, especially when you keep adding to the list. When I read a physical book, it's the only book I have to be worried about. 

Okay, let's move on to Outlander. I have been told to read this book by several different people. Some of them were close friends, some of them were complete strangers, so I stopped by a Half Price Books. I went searching in the fiction section, then I went searching in the fantasy section, then I looked in the dreaded romance section. There it was. I can't, however, ignore so many recommendations, so I bought it. 

I think there is something wrong with the gravity in this house because I could not put that book down. 

Let's just do a brief synopsis:

This is the story of Claire Beauchamp, a 1940's woman visiting Scotland with her husband. On one of her outings, she is fantastically transported about 200 years in the past. She is briefly "taken into the custody" of the English, and then she is captured by Highlanders. This is the story of Claire Beauchamp and her time among the Highlanders. That's about as deep as I'm willing to go on this synopsis. This is currently a 7 book series with a whole lot more than just those 7 books in print, and more coming. 

Let's jump to the review:

There are several things about this book that I really enjoyed. Yes, this book has it's romantic elements, but I have problems with them. I'll get to that in a minute. The things that I really liked about this book were Gabaldon's details about the plants and herbs and herbal medicine. As a lover of most things plant, it spurred my interest even further, and it even inspired me a bit! Also, having lived in Scotland in the past, it really made me miss it. I can hear the accents in my head, and I can smell the heather in the mist. Speaking of accents, I think the accent was well written, but verra clear. It is how I would write an understandable Scottish accent. Writing a thicker accent would be a lot more difficult. Not to mention the use of idiom is almost absent. It does the job really well though. 

Okay, let's talk about the relationships. I'm not overly fond of the relationships in this book. I mean, there are a few that I really like, but for the most part, I feel like a little communication would go a long way. Also, there are several sex scenes in this book. Most are between the main character and her love interest. I'll not tip toe around anything. Most readers would read those scenes and not think much of it, but there are a few that would be considered rape. It's not as bad as I make it sound, but the awareness is the most important part. It may seem all romantic and all that nonsense, but no means no. All that aside, the way she writes the sex scenes is fairly modest. 

Different topic, the landscapes... oh the landscapes. I miss Scotland. I miss the Highlands. I would love to live in a world before electricity. Imagine the night sky... so bright. Imagine the smells, so pure and unpolluted. I wish I could experience it just once. I would love to see the sunset clearly without the haze of a dirty atmosphere. 


Overall, I would recommend this book. There is enough of a romance element that I could see that it could be a romance, but it's 850 pages, and maybe 2% of that is romance. I would like to read the other ones, but I'm afraid that some of them won't take place in Scotland. I could live without the characters, but I want more of the botany and the landscapes and the history and the architecture. I want more of this world.  

On a long road trip, it's easy to get a lot of reading done. We recently went from Mexico to Canada and back... or close enough to it. I had started this book, and finally broke down and finished it. Somebody had recommended a different book by this author, but this looked interesting too. 

Synopsis:
Since it takes forever to get to other planets, mankind has figured out how to grow humans in tubes and only release them when they have found a viable planet and the individuals have completed their training. While they grow in tubes, they get an education based on what is needed in the colony. I believe they are also genetically engineered for their jobs as well. A Farmer has more muscle and his training wouldn't include anything that a doctor would learn. The story follows Porter, the colony's psychologist. 

The humans in their tubes are rudely awakened 15 years earlier than they should have been (this never really made sense to me and I'll explain that later) and the ship, Colony, has decided to abort the program. Aborting the program would kill all the people in tubes. Halfway through the abort, it decides that a viable planet has been found and that the people who are still alive should get a chance at surviving. The tube folks wake up in a rain storm while the ship is crashing and everything is being engulfed by flames. They all seek shelter and try to figure out what to do next, seeing as they have no shelter, food, or clothes. What normally would have occurred is Colony would have landed and set up shop. Everybody would have a job, a place to stay, and food. Since the ship tried to destroy itself, most of that stuff was gone. 

So, these folks try to figure out how to do their jobs with only half the education they should have received. The management system has a few hiccups while this new society forms and a few people decide to leave the safety (and corruption) of their original home. Shenanigans ensue.

Review:
It took me a little while to get into it. I had a hard time with it. In the world of science fiction and fantasy, I always gravitate towards the fantasy, and I generally avoid the science fiction. There are a few exceptions, like "Ender's Game", but I definitely prefer dragons and magic to spaceships and technology. This book seemed pretty sci fi to me from the start, and my interest waned. Since I was stuck in a car, I figured, "I didn't dislike the book, I should keep reading to see if it's worth it." I'm glad I did, though I won't be putting it on my top 10 list any time soon. 

The writing was strange. I can't quite pinpoint it. Something was off... maybe the voice. Maybe not. I don't know for sure. I know I had a problem with the age of the folks. At one point in the book, they are called teenagers, but they weren't supposed to complete their education and find a viable planet for 15 more years. If that is the case, they would be in their 30's when they are finally "born". There is no way that the characters are younger than 15, and they sound like they are in their 20's. It just doesn't add up.  Also, these people eat the same fruit for over a month... there would be a lot more consequences to that than were covered in the book. 

Relationships. This is a tricky portion of the review because the relationship aspect of this book is pretty significant. I say that, but the book would have been fine without the relationship aspect. I don't know that I'm giving anything away by telling you this, but the main character is gay. I can see how that goes along with the story, but the relationships that are formed aren't as big a factor as they are made out to be. There is a lot of "pairing off" in this book that I find unnecessary, but who knows, maybe things would really be like that. I'd like to think that if people were barely surviving would consider their ability to care for a child before procreating. I will say that I like the way he created the relationships with Kelvin and Tarsi. I don't think that could work any other way without there being an imbalance of affection. For the most part, though, I felt like it was a little forced. 

The world was not thoroughly explored and I would have liked to learn more about it, but I don't necessarily want to read another book with these same characters. 

There is something decidedly familiar about this book, and I cannot place my finger on it. 

Overall, I found the book enjoyable, but nothing to write home about. Check it out if you're interested in a survival story with interpersonal drama, adventure, caterpillars, and a rocket. 

I'm not generally a fan of Christian fiction novels. There are a few that I really like, but a lot of them are very forced. That being said, I really like Frank Peretti. I like the Cooper kids series, I like the young adult series (that starts with The Hangman's Curse), and I really like "The Oath". Since he has a pretty good track record with me, I decided to give this 2005 book a chance. 

Here's the rundown for you: A guy and his wife (who has a stutter) go on a survival outing. They hike to their first location and camp out. While they are camping, something attacks. The man, Reed, manages to escape, and his wife, Beck falls down a waterfall and is carried away by a shadowy creature. The rest of the book is spent with Reed (with the help of friends and locals) trying to find Beck... living or dead. While the search is happening, Reed's friend, Cap, is doing some research into some strange tracks and hairs they find at the campsite. It leads down a twisty road of DNA that may or may not be a strange chimpanzee cocktail of base pairs and shenanigans. 

Review:


Sasquatches. 

There, I said it. It's not a spoiler because you find out about them early on in the book. Let me just be clear about this. The book is about Sasquatches. 

If you like Sasquatches, give this book a go. If you aren't even remotely interested in them, like me, then I wouldn't give this book the time of day. 

I remember reading "The Oath" and sitting up at night fully creeped out without being able to put the book down. "Monster" was nothing like that. The ambiguity of the evil and the suspense that was so wonderful in "The Oath" is totally lost in "Monster". I'm honestly surprised I finished this book. I guess I was just hoping that it would get better... and it never does. On top of that, Peretti has gotten a lot more political in his books. 

Let me compare this to something we are all familiar with: Steven Segal. 

Okay, okay, you may not have any idea who that is, but there will be another comparison further down. Steven Seagal is most known for his action films. He does some martial arts stuff and uses guns occasionally, but for the most part, he just kicks butt. After he became known for his action movies (Under Siege is really the turning point), he started making more. Eventually, they got pretty ridiculous. He started choosing hot topics that he wanted people to know about and incorporating them into movies. So, instead of non-stop ninja action, you get a whole movie (On Deadly Ground) of Steven Seagal saving the environment as well as the world. Side note: Michael Caine is the bad guy. This movie is so terrible it's worth watching. 

Here's another example: Michael Crichton. 
Once upon a time, Michael Crichton wrote entertaining stories with a message. Jurassic Park dealt with the God Complex in genetic manipulation and the consequences. They were extremely entertaining and well researched. Then they started getting less entertaining and more message driven. "State of Fear" is around the time that things started to go downhill, if not before then. After his death, a few books were published posthumously that he had started and never finished. They shouldn't have been published. 

Peretti is on this list of people. His books were so good... but they have lost that edge that they used to have. I don't know that I would recommend this book unless you are interested in Sasquatches. Meh.