The Scottish Prisoner

Let's get a few things out of the way first.

*There may be spoilers for you, so proceed with caution.

* I own all the Outlander books, in this matching style and size.

*While I discovered the Outlander series rather late, I am a huge fan!

* I have read them all twice, except for the last one, Echo in the Bone, which I've only read once.


*Once the readers are given a definitive date for the publication of Written in My Own Heart's Blood, I'll start re-reading the entire series with the goal of timing the ending of Echo and then jumping right into Written.


* I visit Diana Gabaldon's site regularly.

* I do not look forward to a movie of these books, despite whatever speculations have been appearing on FB regarding that.

* I do not read the Lord John books.  Chloe sums up why nicely in her Open Letter to Diana Galbaldon:

And while we’re on the topic of boyfriends. I can’t speak for the rest of your readers, who apparently are ponying up the bucks and buying Lord John books, but I don’t want to read gay romance.  Even if it is the saintly Lord John. I’m just not into that.

Yes, he’s a nice enough fellow; I don’t begrudge him his love life.  BUT I absolutely do not want to read about it. Haven’t you made enough amends now to all the homosexuals of the world when you created a nice gay character after that evil sadomasochistic pervert, Black Jack Randall? Can you please stop now and focus on the main thing–finishing this story right? Because even if all Lord John does is get a twinkle in his eye for the guy across the room, I’m not going to pay good money to read about it. I’m afraid that I’m just a simple straight woman who isn’t into gay sex. Sue me. That’s just the way it is.

And so, before I started reading The Scottish Prisoner,  I asked on a Facebook group I'm a member of if anyone had read it and whether I should or not.  I only got encouragement to read the book and since it was a library book, I was out nothing.  Like Chloe said, I would NOT be paying money to add this book to my Outlander collection, no matter how good it might turn out to be.

I proceeded with extreme caution.

I got to what I didn't want to read on page 112 and had to skim/skip until page 122, but that was the only episode, thank goodness.  Throughout the whole book, there is this constant undercurrent of  Lord John mooning over Jaime or some other man.  Puh-leeze. <gag>  Maybe Lord John is Diana's alter ego and really it's her mooning over Jaime.  But hey! if he was my creation, I'd certainly create someone I'd moon over.

But the bottom line for me is that this book is certainly not Diana's best.  Supposedly this book fits in the Voyager timeline.  So I got out my Voyager book to place it.  (I have done the same thing with other books.  Sick, I know.)  The Scottish Prisoner fits, not very neatly, between chapters 15 and 16 of Voyager.  The spark, the adventure, the things I love to read Outlander books for was certainly missing from this little tome.  Too much traveling, back and forth, and while the traveling had a point, it was tiresome.   Gabaldon is an awesome writer but somehow she didn't bring that awesomeness to this little volume; she didn't make me care about Jaime and Lord John like I care about Jaime and Claire. I did like it when Jaime would pray for "Claire and the child."  That would spark, but then flame out with whatever came next.  I think Jaime's missing Claire was carried off much better in Voyager.

All in all, I cannot recommend this book, and that disappoints me greatly.  If you want to explore it further, look here and here.