Best 1991 Adventures (10)
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May 30, 2020
One in a series of 10 posts identifying Josh Glenn’s favorite 1991 adventure novels.
Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander historical romance Cross Stitch (published in the Us as Outlander).
An exasperating, silly adventure in many ways — but a wildly popular one, which is not without its thrills. Vacationing in the Scottish highlands, Army nurse Claire Randall is transported from 1946 to 1743. She’s assaulted by Captain Jack Randall — agent provocateur for the English, sadistic sexual predator, and a doppelgänger for Claire’s husband, Frank, who is descended from Randall. Rescued by a band of highland Scots who whisk her away to Castle Leoch, the seat of the Clan Mackenzie, she falls in love with and marries handsome, kind, lusty, brave Jamie Fraser. The doomed Jacobite Rising is fast approaching, Claire knows; how can she warn her new kinsfolk to stay out of it? Especially when many of them think she’s a witch or a Sassenach spy? Like every adventure set in Scotland, there are some pretty fun chase scenes and skirmishes. Claire and Jamie’s sex life is a mutually rewarding one, which is nice for them; for us, it’s tedious. Bizarrely, although Claire tells Jamie she’s from the future, and although he believes her, they never talk about it. It’s also a rape-y story (though it’s not Claire who gets raped), and the last fifth of it rivals American Psycho in its description of torture and assault.
Fun facts: Outlander is one of the best-selling book series of all time. There are seven other installments, so far, including: Dragonfly in Amber (1992), Voyager (1993), and Drums of Autumn (1996). A TV series adaptation premiered in 2014, on Starz; starring Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan, it is now in its fifth season.
JOSH GLENN’S *BEST ADVENTURES* LISTS: BEST 250 ADVENTURES OF THE 20TH CENTURY | 100 BEST OUGHTS ADVENTURES | 100 BEST RADIUM AGE (PROTO-)SCI-FI ADVENTURES | 100 BEST TEENS ADVENTURES | 100 BEST TWENTIES ADVENTURES | 100 BEST THIRTIES ADVENTURES | 75 BEST GOLDEN AGE SCI-FI ADVENTURES | 100 BEST FORTIES ADVENTURES | 100 BEST FIFTIES ADVENTURES | 100 BEST SIXTIES ADVENTURES | 75 BEST NEW WAVE SCI FI ADVENTURES | 100 BEST SEVENTIES ADVENTURES | 100 BEST EIGHTIES ADVENTURES | 75 BEST DIAMOND AGE SCI-FI ADVENTURES | 100 BEST NINETIES ADVENTURES (in progress) | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | NOTES ON 21st-CENTURY ADVENTURES.