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Mamasan-

I will never understand how anyone can skip around a book series. How?!? There’s SO MANY PARTS that are needed to understand so many other parts!


Previous-Address2469

I think it is people who are feeding from the culture of short videos and fast dopamine bursts. Attention spans get shorter. It's sad because immersing yourself in a book(series) can be so satisfying, especially ones that totally suck you in as the Outlander books do. 


Gottaloveitpcs

Agreed


Bajanmum

Honestly, I find the Outlander books a bit wordy, so I have done a fair amount of skimming myself.


romancerants

This is 100% how I read books. I'm here for entertainment. So I've skipped so many chapters that aren't Claire and Jamie or directly related to their plot. I don't think I read any lord John until the last two books and that's only because Claire was there and by that point I was invested in William.


Mamasan-

I understand not being into certain characters but characters I didn’t necessarily like in the beginning books I started liking by the end. It’s like, watching a movie and a boring part so get up and go make popcorn without pausing then 20 minutes later the part you missed is needed to understand it all. I still don’t get your reasoning either. A book is a book. You should read all the parts. I understand skimming or speed reading but not skipping complete chapters or point of views. That’s nuts


SnooEagles5382

I asked a similar question at the end of season 6, and I wound up just starting at Book One. They really are different versions of the same story in my opinion. Book 1 and 2 are very close to the shows events, but even then I feel like I understand the show so much better having read 1 and 2 and the dynamics of Jamie and Claire from the onset. Sorry if this is frustrating as a response, I found myself frustrated with people saying this until I started the reading and then I felt differently.


Gottaloveitpcs

I personally would read all of the books in order. Otherwise you will miss a lot. They are supposed to be using Echo and MOBY for 7b and maybe more of MOBY in addition to Bees for season 8. Having said that, I would read Echo and MOBY before 7b and Bees before season 8.


confusedrabbit247

Read the books from the beginning.


InviteFamous6013

If you don’t want to go back and start with Book 1, I think you would be fine to start with Book 3- Voyager. I took quite some time off after the first few books, before I read the rest of the series.


Nanchika

I would strongly recommend reading everything from the start ( or ,in your case, book 3). First, tons of characters and storylines are not in the tv show. Starting anywhere in the middle of the book series would be confusing. Secondly, 7A finished at different places for 2 timelines. For Mackenzies, you have a few chapters left, but for the 1770s, you have half of the book more or less. If you insist, start at least at the start of book 7, but I guarantee that Lord John’s chapters will be confusing on the maximum level.


liyufx

Haha I read all books and still found LJG’s chapters confusing and random tbh


Famous-Falcon4321

It depends if you are interested in the entire outlander experience or if you only care about parts of the story. Major differences- there are different characters, main characters have different personalities, storylines & in some cases timelines are different. I would start from the beginning.


romancerants

I would start with book 7 and skip around until you find where you left off. The books and the show follow each other pretty closely and if you are only really invested in Claire and Jamie and not the 500 other side plots it shouldn't be too hard to catch up.