Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon

38 reviews

sytaylor's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Gore, Injury/injury detail, Medical trauma, Torture, Death, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Sexual violence

___tamara___'s review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

This book was torture, but also thoroughly addictive. It wasn't particularly dark, but so much stuff Happened all the time, and it's all so Dramatic, I had to take several breaks in reading else I would have probably screamed from frustration.

Spoiler

I lost count of the number of times someone tried to either murder Claire or rape her. This has been already asked, but seriously, why all the rape? Captain Randall seemed to always be there. But the cherry on top? Claire swooping in to save Jaime, them making a deal with Randall, and then Claire getting attacked by wolves? I just couldn't.

  But I did want to finish it. I'm not sure how to rate my enjoyment of it though - 3 stars seems respectable but insufficient, and 4 stars doesn't measure up to the rest of my 4-star reads. So... 3.5? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Murder, Injury/injury detail, Torture, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Sexual violence, Misogyny, and Kidnapping

elizlizabeth's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

3.0

I enjoyed the first half of the book but by the end it honestly felt like the plot was there only to justify the smut. Jamie was my favorite character but by the end he had lost all semblance of personality and coherency in favor of whatever the plot or Claire's own arch required. Claire herself was very annoying and unlikable to me, but her actions and personality made sense for the plot so it's not really a critique and more of a lack of affinity on my part.
Gabaldon is a very good writer and I truly enjoyed the historical fantasy part of this. Not sure if I'd read the rest of the series after that infamous dungeon scene tho. Definitely read and heed the warnings on this one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Infertility, Chronic illness, Injury/injury detail, Misogyny, Blood, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Child abuse, Medical trauma, Torture, Rape, Ableism, Animal death, Homophobia, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Abortion, Infidelity, and Xenophobia

eemadeeberry's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, Torture, Domestic abuse, Injury/injury detail, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Rape, and Sexism

Moderate: Pregnancy, Kidnapping, Alcohol, Blood, Cursing, and Death of parent

phleming's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Gore, Torture, Physical abuse, Murder, Medical content, Death, Body horror, Vomit, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Injury/injury detail, Blood, Medical trauma, and Alcohol

Moderate: Physical abuse, Misogyny, and Pregnancy

water_violin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Definitely an interesting story, but clearly had been published in the 90s, given the portrayal of the only gay characters as predatory and sadistic. The portrayal of Romani travelers was also somewhat problematic to a modern eye, but at least they were not shown to be monolithically negative. I was personally not a fan of how the main relationship developed, as both of the characters were in turns somewhat emotionally manipulative or abusive, but it does make sense with the setting and characterization. Overall, some very unpleasant themes, but an interesting storyline. I’m curious to see how the rest of the books progress and whether there are any more diverse portrayals of queer or non-white characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Medical content, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Rape, Gore, Sexism, Violence, Kidnapping, War, Torture, Injury/injury detail, Sexual assault, Blood, Medical trauma, and Mental illness

Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Infertility, Drug use, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Vomit, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Suicide, Xenophobia, and Racism

Minor: Child death, Chronic illness, and Classism

strawberrypinch's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Torture, Pregnancy, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Violence, Misogyny, Injury/injury detail, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Grief, Infertility, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Rape, Vomit, Cursing, Death, Gore, Child abuse, and Suicide

Minor: Abortion, Animal death, Car accident, Child death, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Homophobia, War, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Drug use, and Fatphobia

nutmegcollects's review against another edition

honestly disgusting. weak and flopsy female lead. had to stop after she was beaten by a husband she was forced to marry and forgave him after 1 day. i would never forgive a partner that type of abuse and had to stop reading before she slept with him again and became all he so amazing ( makes me feel physically sick) 
DID NOT FINISH - got 46% of the way through and it was awful

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Injury/injury detail, Misogyny, Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, War, Sexual assault, and Violence

donatio's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

The author's style was easy to read but I have a view critique points:
- Why so much sex? 
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Spoiler

The first point connects to the second: I had a problem with Jamie, he had a few good lines and while I understand that the time was different then, I just can't agree with some things he did, because he really doesn't give her a proper choice. And the beating, no, I could not really forgive him for that even though Claire did.

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Spoiler

Why did Claire have to cry so much and always had to be held in Jamie's arms to calm down?

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Spoiler

The ending. I knew she would have a baby but still. Maybe it's just personal preference but I don't like the Pregnancy trope.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Injury/injury detail, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Torture, Vomit, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Sexual assault, Murder, Cursing, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, and Sexism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug use, Infertility, Blood, Drug abuse, and Alcohol

Minor: Child abuse, Abortion, Addiction, Child death, and Animal death

rodes's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

The story itself is really good, well-written and narrated, and all the characters are well-developed. I did find the story a bit slow, but it fitted so well that anything else would've most likely made the book less good. Since I watched the TV Show first and it is an almost perfect adaptation of the book, I knew exactly what would happen, taking away some of the enjoyment.

Even though I liked the story, I couldn't get past the fact that Claire gets sexually assaulted basically in every other chapter. It looks like the only way to bring some action into the book was for her to be SA and then rescued before it goes too far (because she is always rescued). It happens 4 times in the book, then there is a sex scene between Claire & Jamie where consent is dubious especially because he forces her at first and then we have Jamie that is also SA in the book twice, once as a minor (but he tells the story like it was a big joke) and then at the end while being tortured.

Don't get me started on how Jamie beat Claire after rescuing her to teach her a lesson as if she was a child and then we have her going "oh well, maybe he has a point" after a while? Heum, HELL NO! She kept going on about how modern she was and "no man is going to tell me what to do", but she is OK with a beating? I know she comes from the 40s and it was sort of normal behaviour back then too, but still. It didn't work.

Having seen the TV Show, I know that the use of SA as a means to further the plot continues in the other books and for that reason, I can't read the other books nor recommend them to anyone. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Murder, Medical content, Injury/injury detail, Sexual content, Violence, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Misogyny, and Blood

Moderate: Colonisation, Torture, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Vomit, and Police brutality

Minor: Infertility and Miscarriage