I’ve had my fair share of obsessions from the typical "Harry Potter" and "Twilight," to the embarrassing Justin Bieber, all the way to the unexpected Elvis Presley. But in all my years of fangirling and fandoms, none has been quite so captivating and exciting as "Outlander".
Many of you are probably wondering, “What is 'Outlander'?” It’s not as well known or popular as, say, the "Hunger Games," "Harry Potter," or any of the other book series we teenagers fixate on. "Outlander" is a sci-fi/romance/historical fiction series that follows the adventures of Claire Randall, a former WWII combat nurse, who while on her honeymoon in the Scottish Highlands accidentally travels back in time 200 years to 1743. She meets many fascinating as well as threatening characters along the way. One rather important character is former-soldier-turned-outlaw Jamie Fraser. The two fall in love like you’d expect in any romance novel but the books are about so much more than their relationship. Together they fight to change history or the future depending on how you look at it, from attempting to thwart the Highland Jacobite Rising of 1745, to going to the colonies to fight in the American Revolution in 1776. I am a huge history nerd, as well as a bookworm, so I was attracted to the series mainly by its historical aspects. It also doesn’t hurt that Scottish actor, Sam Heughan, who portrays Jamie Fraser in the series, is possibly one of the most attractive people I have ever seen.
I found the "Outlander" TV/book series in a way that was both serendipitous but also stereotypical of a Millennial living in the age of ubiquitous social media. I saw a couple commercials for the series premiere, thought the show sounded interesting but never bothered to look into it further, letting it settle into the hidden recesses of my memory. Several months later a favorite actress of mine, Italia Ricci, started raving about the "Outlander" series on Instagram and Facebook. I figured if Italia likes it so much, why not check it out? So I went straight to the Internet like any teenager would and discovered I could watch the series pilot for free on STARZ.com. I watched the episode that night and was instantly hooked. I had to know more. I had to keep watching. You can imagine my utter disappointment in learning that I could not continue watching the series because my lovely parents had opted out of a STARZ subscription with our cable package.
As someone who can never just let things go, I went back to the Internet and searched for a solution. I soon discovered that the "Outlander" television series is actually based on a book series of the same name written by author Diana Gabaldon. I knew I couldn’t just forget about "Outlander." I had been looking for something new to read anyway, so I went online to Amazon and bought the first three books for about $15. I was surprised a week later when the books arrived in a box weighing far more than I expected. My surprise doubled when I opened the box and saw that each book was easily two to three inches thick. I had never read a book that long in my life! Even the longest "Harry Potter" book was shorter by almost 200 pages!
Despite my initial hesitation, I managed to finish the first book in about a month and was completely and totally obsessed. I finished the next book in three weeks, the third in about 13 days, and promptly ordered the remaining five books from Amazon and continued on through my literary marathon. With each book, the number of pages grew and grew, from about 850 to 1,000 to nearly 1,500 pages in the last couple of books. I was determined to finish them all, so I started reading whenever I could: on the bus to and from school (first time I ever appreciated the hour long commute each way), during my free periods, during class (oops) and even found myself staying up past 2 a.m. to finish a book or two.
My compulsive efforts did not go unrewarded; after a few months of reading, I’d finally saved up enough of my Starbucks barista tip money to buy the first season of "Outlander" on Amazon! I watched all 16 episodes in less than a week. Season Two of "Outlander" started airing back in April, and I managed to watch the first half of the season by using a STARZ free trial through Amazon. In a few weeks when the season ends in early July, I plan on “borrowing” the free trial on my mother’s Amazon account to watch the rest of the episodes. Payback for the deficient cable package, you could say.
My "Outlander" adventure started in January, and here I am almost seven months later, fresh off my completion of the seventh book, eager to get going on number eight before Diana Gabaldon publishes the ninth book. Yes, I said ninth book; apparently eight books, each with the same dimensions and weight of a large brick, is not enough to complete the "Outlander" story. I’ve devoted over half a year of my young life to reading, watching and fixating on the "Outlander" series, and I’ve absolutely loved every single second of it.
