END OF AN ERA

The end of an era came about yesterday.  The STARZ app aired the final episode of season 8 of Outlander.  Wow, what a ride!!!

Sometime in the late 1990’s/early 2000’s a friend told me about a book titled Outlander by Diane Gabaldon.  I don’t read much fiction, but this book sounded interesting so I picked it up.  And then, I couldn’t put it down. 

The book was first published in 1991 and it was followed up by 8 additional books in the series.  Most of them were excellent.  The only one I didn’t think was up to par was the third book, Voyager.   It just wasn’t as engaging as all the others.

If you got hooked as I did, it was a nightmare to wait for the next book in the series, they went like this….

 Dragonfly in Amber (1992)

Voyager (1993)

Drums of Autumn (1996)

The Fiery Cross (2001)

A Breath of Snow and Ashes (2005)

An Echo in the Bone (2009)

Written in My Own Heart's Blood (2014)^[17]

Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone (2021)^[18]

There is a 10^th book due out sometime this year, which wraps up the story.  Not sure how the TV series was able to close out the story when the 10^th book hasn’t been released yet….but Diane has been closely involved with the series so I’m sure that helped. 

If you don’t know the story line, Claire is a WWII nurse starting immediately after the end of the war.  By accident she time travels back to 18^th century Scotland and meets Jamie, a Highland warrior, and that’s where you just cannot put the book down.  It ends in North America during the Revolutionary War.  There is so much intrigue and complexity to the story, you have to read it to get it.

When the news came out that it was going to come out as a TV series the wait was agonizing.  Ronald D. Moore picked it up as the developer and I have to say, I have been impressed with every episode following the books as well as they have. 

The first episode of season 1 aired 8/9/2014 and again, waiting for each new season was just impossible.  My opinion is that they picked exactly the right actors to play Claire and Jamie….their chemistry was amazing.  

       

There has been some speculation that the series will continue.  But in my opinion, I hope not.  I think it ended just as it needed to end. 

I am waiting for that 10^th book, as soon as it hits the shelves, I will have a copy.  Sure hope I love it as much as I have all the others!!!!