I’ve been working my way through Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series of books, along with a few from her Lord John spinoff series.
I can see why the books are so popular and have spawned an equally well-received TV series. The books are enjoyable and incredibly well researched with characters that really spring to life.
I’ve also watched quite a few episodes of the TV show, and wow – one of the best dramatic shows I’ve ever watched.
However, there’s so much in the Outlander series that it’s sometimes hard to wrap my head around it all. You definitely need to suspend reality when you read these books and treat them like you would a fantasy book or movie such as Star Wars. The male and female lead characters in the TV show actually remind me of Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford with the vibrant chemistry they have together.
Here are 10 things you’ll find out about the fictional world of Outlander once you start reading the books and/or watching the TV show. Some of these are only evident in the books since the TV show has only gotten to book 3 out of the series.
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- You can travel back in time if you find the right circle of rocks and, preferably, hold onto a gem while you’re doing it. You’re less likely to die in the process if you have a gem with you.
- Not everyone can travel through the stones to another century. It’s apparently a hereditary trait.
- There may be a guy who is worth traveling back 200 years so you can be with him. Amazingly, he looks nothing like George Clooney.
- You can survive almost any illness or injury if your doctor is skilled enough. Whether you’ve been hanged, shot, stabbed, tortured, severely beaten, or infected with a serious illness, a dedicated physician can get you back on your feet.
- A kid always looks so much like his or her father that it’s obvious who the daddy is.
- If you travel back in time a couple of centuries, you’ll easily find people you’re looking for, without phones, directories or the internet.
- Even if you travel back to the right time and place and meet the right people, you can’t change major historical events no matter what you do. Don’t worry about accidentally changing history. You can’t even manage it on purpose.
- If you can’t be with the one you love, don’t love the one you’re with. After being missing for three years, you return to your 20th-century husband pregnant with another man’s child. Though he raises the child as his own, don’t try to recapture the love you once had for him. He’s not The One.
- Someone in the 20th century can look exactly like his (evil) 18th-century ancestor despite the very small number of common genes passed down through that many generations.
- You can reasonably expect a small child to keep secrets that involve time travel or buried treasure. You want this child to continue to keep these secrets forever – a lot longer than 10 minutes or so that most young kids can actually keep any secret.
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