The Scottish Prisoner (2011)

Over the past twenty years or so, Gabaldon has been writing a schlock-romance series about a time-traveling 20th century doctor named Claire and her 18th-century Scottish rebel husband, follower of Bonnie Prince Charlie and a veteran of the Jacobite Uprising of ‘45. Yes, I said schlock-romance, because that’s what the books are—albeit addictive, page-turner schlock. A librarian friend of mine refers to them as “crack in print.” Luckily, the romance (i.e. “my god are they doing it again!?”) quotient dropped sharply after the first volume, so it’s less tedious for those who, like me, prefer the historical aspects. Gabaldon isn’t really writing historical fiction so much as using history for window dressing, but her books are much easier reading than Dunnett and thus ideal for the beach or a lounge chair. G.S.

The Scottish Prisoner by Diana Gabaldon
"Master me, or let me your master be."

This short sideview of some of the characters from Gabaldon's marvelous Outlander series is a gentle, poignant tale of unrequited love between a captivating gay man and the straighter than straight Scottish warrior he loves.
Following, chronologically behind the first part of Voyager, The Scottish Prisoner is a "not to be missed' adjunct to an unforgettable multi-volume tale of mystery, science, fantasy and well researched Scottish/American history. ( )

This was absolutely my favorite of the Lord John books! And I am pretty sure that's because there was a lot of Jamie in it, and also because it really explains the real friendship between John and Jamie that we've seen in the later Outlander books. I really needed a fix from this world, it is one of my favorite historical / romance novels, and it was wonderful to enter it again, while I am (un)patiently waiting for Written in My Own Heart's Blood :D

This story exlained a lot about John and Jamie's relationship, and also how life was for Jamie while he was in Helwater. It also showed how much Jamie still missed Clare, even after so many years, and it was beautiful how he would always say a prayer for Clare and the baby's safety.

It also helped me actually like John a little more (not that I didn't like him before, but, still!) and to understand him better as well.

It was all written in the well-known Outlander style, and the descriptions of both people and places were well done. ( )

I'm torn on this rating. In actuality I would give it a 3.5.

The book is split between 2 narratives: Lord John Grey and Jamie Fraser. For John's portion of the book, I would rate it a 3, but for Jamie's I would rate it a 4. Reason being, I don't find Lord John an interesting character in the least. I know many do. But I don't. Jamie on the other hand.....well he's a scottish highlander. Need I say more?

The plot itself takes place during Jamie's time spent as a parolled prisoner at Helwater. There we are introduced to his son Willie and gained some insight as to what went on during this particular phase of Jamie's life. I didn't find the storyline overly exciting based on the previous books involving Jamie and was a tad disappointed.

Overall, it was still a good book and worth the read for any Diana Gabaldon fan :) ( )

Why this gets a two and I rate most of the series much higher? Jamie. I don't like the way the Outlander books are written. I tried to read two of them and fell asleep repeatedly.

I really hate authors who try to write in Dialect. I don't get the rhythm of the original language when I do, I get farce on what the language must sound like. It's something the person best leave alone unless they are that Nationality and grew up there and I'm sorry but Ms. Gabaldon isn't and she's annoying to my reading ear. This means I am missing all of Jamie's background. That has a huge impact on the book for me.

The other problem is, for some strange reason, the Jamie scenes tended to ramble. The Lord John series is nice tight and concise. This is not. It was like the author was hell bent and determined to cram an entire college lesson into a couple pages. Did it pertain? Sort of. Did it move the story along? Heaven's no. It dragged it to a stop and we had to wait until the author got over it and moved on. If it had been a verbal recitation, I would have found a cattle prod and used it on the author to get a move on.

After sleeping on this, I finally reached a conclusion that it was like she took two short stories and crammed them together to make the book. It never quite came together. We were either jaunting off on Jamie's point of view [annoying as all get out because that's when she started to ramble] or John's point of view [which got the story going again]. And I do have to note, if she would have rambled on well, I might have actually enjoyed it. Instead my eyes started to cross.

At the end like the beginning unless it had Lord John in it, I skipped the paragraphs with Jamie. One can only take so much emotional masturbation and Jamie's a regular god at it in this book. If I hadn't, I would not have finished it. I mean honestly by the end of the first 10 pages we KNOW he misses his wife. Then she spends the rest of the book telling us again and again he misses his wife. Almost like she had to prove it. Methinks the lad doth protest too much he loves and misses his wife. Makes me wonder if he's not in the closet.

The first half of the book, if I tossed out 90% of Jamie scenes, it would have got a 4.5. If it hadn't had the Lord John? It didn't deserve a full star.

I'm almost at the point where I think she's either a multiple personality one who writes Lord John and one who writes the other or she's got a ghost writer for Lord John. And if that was the case, the Ghost Writer is better.

De gustibus non disputandum est ( )