• The Outlandish Companion (Revised and Updated)

  • Companion to Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber, Voyager, and Drums of Autumn
  • By: Diana Gabaldon
  • Narrated by: Davina Porter, Diana Gabaldon
  • Length: 13 hrs and 48 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (910 ratings)

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The Outlandish Companion (Revised and Updated)  By  cover art

The Outlandish Companion (Revised and Updated)

By: Diana Gabaldon
Narrated by: Davina Porter, Diana Gabaldon
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Publisher's summary

Number-one New York Times best-selling author Diana Gabaldon has captivated millions with her critically acclaimed Outlander novels, the inspiration for the Starz original series. From the moment Claire Randall stepped through a standing stone circle and was thrown back in time to the year 1743 - and into a world that threatens life, limb, loyalty, heart, soul, and everything else Claire has - fans have been hungry to know everything about this world and its inhabitants, particularly a Scottish soldier named Jamie Fraser.

In this beautifully written compendium of all things Outlandish, Gabaldon covers the first four novels of the main series.

Including:

  • Full synopses of Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber, Voyager, and Drums of Autumn
  • A complete listing of the characters (fictional and historical) in the first four novels in the series as well as family trees and genealogical notes
  • A comprehensive glossary and pronunciation guide to Gaelic terms and usage
  • The Gabaldon Theory of Time Travel, explained
  • Frequently asked questions to the author and her (sometimes surprising) answers
  • An annotated bibliography
  • Essays about medicine and magic in the 18th century, researching historical fiction, creating characters, and more
  • Professionally cast horoscopes for Jamie and Claire
  • The making of the TV series: how we got there from here and what happened next (including "My Brief Career as a TV Actor")
  • Behind-the-scenes stories from the Outlander TV series set.

For anyone who wants to spend more time with the Outlander characters and the world they inhabit, Diana Gabaldon here opens a door through the standing stones and offers a guided tour of what lies within.

©1999 Diana Gabaldon (P)2015 Recorded Books

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What listeners say about The Outlandish Companion (Revised and Updated)

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Listen to it for the "Butt Cooties" - GREAT!

Don't get this book if you're expecting another Claire and Jamie story. That's not what this is!

it's exactly what it says it's a "companion" to the first four books. In the beginning, you get a foreword from Diana Gabaldon herself. Then you get basically the "Cliff's Notes" for the first four books in the series Outlander, Dragonfly In Amber, Voyager, and Drums of Autumn.

This book is mostly narrated by Diana herself. I find this fascinating .... some listeners say they thought she was a terrible narrator and that parts of this companion are boring -REMEMBER this is NOT a story - this is more like an educational guide and a journey into the mind of Diana herself. We find out how she goes about creating the most wonderful book series in the world. It's like getting into the mind of a mad scientist. She has such a quirky way of reading - I find her narration wonderful.

Maybe some people don't like this companion book simply because there's not enough Jamie and Claire (and while I love Jamie and Claire) - this companion book is absolutely fascinating to learn a little bit of the magic behind all of the madness or the madness behind the magic whichever you want to say! She delves into all kinds of things that's readers may have questions about - not only in the story but in her personal life.

What I think is really great that and author would open up to her audience like this! She even includes a couple recipes! (she does read them out - it's an audio book if you don't want to hear her read out recipes - just FF through that part!)

Without a doubt, the best part of the entire companion is her letter to a friend about how one of her days went. I was rolling laughing! She truly is amazing - she just has such a gift and it's not just when she's writing Outlander books - she can write a plain ol' letter and have you riveted!

She's let her readers and fans in on a little piece of herself. I am so thrilled that she decided to narrate most of it herself. If you're a true Diana Gabaldon fan (not just a Jamie and Claire fan) you're going to love this!

I do recommend purchasing the hardcover book as well so that you can look at the pictures, the horoscope chart, and recipes.

Oh my goodness the "Butt Cooties" section is hilarious - I'm talking laugh out loud type stuff.

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86 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • K
  • 09-19-15

A *must listen* for Outlander fans

Oh, what a fun listen! The Outlandish Companion is a reference based on the first four books of the Outlander series. Ms. Gabaldon describes how she began writing novels, her research approach (fascinating), synopses of books one to four, questions she gets from fans, etc.

This audiobook is narrated by Davina Porter, as well as author Diana Gabaldon. Ms. Porter narrates most of the Outlander audiobooks (I believe the novellas have a different narrator) and is wonderfully talented. Ms. Gabaldon's narration is candid and refreshing... listening to her comments felt like listening to a friend and made me like the Outlander series even more. Highly recommended for Outlander fans -- the kindle version is very good but the unabridged audiobook is amazing!

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33 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

This is not a good Audible selection

To me, this book would have been much better purchased as a true book. It is a companion and therefore something that you can pick up when you need to remember something about the series. It is a great book, but I don't feel listening to it is the best way to read it.

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24 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars
  • HK
  • 10-05-15

I could'n wait for it to be over.....

In fact I had to shut it off before it WAS over because it was that horrendous.The author's portion of this was like one of those radio commercials where they speed up the legal information at the end of the ad for whatever they are selling so it sounds like it is on fast forward and you cant even keep up. With Davina Porter such an enormous voice to listen to both in character, tempo, talent, and pleasurable sound, this was the complete opposite..... and the Rambling about recipes and toilet seats? I bought this hoping to learn more about the history of the characters and plots etc as listed in the synopsis. What I got was a diatribe fit for a therapist's office rather than anything entertaining or informative. I have listened to all the books 3 times, and thought I would try another angle rather than starting over again (I listen while I paint) so bought this.....bad idea, Diana Gabaldon, is a fantastic entertaining writer, but should leave the narration to someone else, and the personal rambling for a private journal instead of a published book.....
the only reason why there is more than one star for 'overall' and 'performance', is because of Davina Porter's narration. However even her portion she was required to read was literally like an Outlander series cliffsnotes book, complete with recycled excerpts from previous performances, rather than a more in depth look beyond the main books, which is what I had expected and hoped for....an absolute disappointment.

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20 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Probably better in written form

Any additional comments?

The Davina Porter sections are good, She brings the Outlander series to life. The chapters read by Diana Gabaldon are hard to take.

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15 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful

I just don't have the words. I adore hearing Diana Gabaldon and laugh at her wonderful experience,. I absolutely love Davina Porter WOW! Thank you Diana for the other world!

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13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

very ineresting

Listening to this book was very interesting. I enjoyed getting to see a glimpse of the authors mind , which is a lot like my own. after listening to this companion book I almost wanna go back and read the book series again to find hidden gems. I recommend this book to anyone that Loves the Outlander Series.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

This Book is not a True Companion

Would you try another book from Diana Gabaldon and/or Davina Porter and Diana Gabaldon ?
Just like many of you I consider myself to be a true and faithful, Outlander fan. I am fascinated by the level of detailed thinking that went into creating and writing the Outlander multi-book series. Not a simple task indeed. To that end I was very impressed. We Outlander fans are very well educated, outspoken, passionate, and at times vocal in defending this or that aspect of the Outlander story line. Also as fans we know what it is at first, glance what it is that we have come to know and love about the story, the TV series and books. So, like many of you I rushed out to get my hands on an (electronic) listening copy of the Outlandish Companion. I raced to get my hands on a copy of this particular book - one in a pantheon of many Outlander books thinking, that I was going to get a very in depth analysis of EACH and EVERY chapter, character, and or story line in the book and or TV series; bare minimum. WRONG !!! Instead, what I got was a 'book' that ended up being a condensed summary / re-telling of the Outlander books. Not at all what I expected. That being said, Diana Gabaldon does start things off by giving a very insightful introduction as to how she created her characters and problem solved for their existence to take place. Then the 'read' transitions off to, narrator Davina Porter taking over. Next the reader will hear Diana Gabaldon, coming back on again. This time giving listeners some more interesting tidbits. Next, we hear Davina Porter read / narrate some more. Until finally, Diana Gabaldon rounds out the selection. By that time I was thoroughly exhausted. I found myself only silently asking, will it ever end?It all made me wonder what were the author and publisher thinking about when they named this book and it's 'sister' book, Outlandish Companion.Not a bad choice if you don't mind sitting through a long winded summary of this title.

Would you recommend The Outlandish Companion (Revised and Updated) to your friends? Why or why not?
Again, if you are looking for something Outlander related that thoroughly goes through each and every one of the plot lines and story arcs you will be mildly disappointed. In all fairness however, Ms. Gabaldon does intermittently go through various parts of her book carefully detailing the minutiae of how she arrived at certain story ideas or character development. However, the time she spends laying it all out for the listener falls far short (time wise) against the amount of time, Ms. Davina Porter spends reading out loud the rest of the book.

Do you think The Outlandish Companion (Revised and Updated) needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?
I would love for Ms. Gabaldon to simply create another book in and of itself that lives up to its (Outlandish Companion) namesake and just concentrates from cover to cover on how she arrived at her series of books; no co-narrator, no commentary from anyone else. In that regard Ms. Gabaldon's works deserves and cries out for it's own limelight.

Any additional comments?
Outside of that I would like to publicly thank and congratulate her for writing and creating such a wonderful body of work. The fact that she was able to continue and hold on to being a writer for 20+ years before seeing the fruits of her labor means we should all bow down to her feet. It can be said that not all flowers bloom during the day nor do all cease to grow at night. The fact that the world had to wait almost 2 decades before seeing her precious flower grow gives us all a reason to stand back and absorb the beauty of it all. Never have I as a reader been so moved and emotionally engaged in a written body of work. Before the television series I never knew anything about her books. However, from what I have seen and heard I can't wait to get my hands on my own copy of the main title series. To: Ms. Gabaldon: Never stop writing. The world is always in need of eloquent and emotive writers such as yourself. Should you ever be asked - Ms. Gabaldon - how does your garden grow make, sure you tell anyone who asks that you grow your garden one letter, one word and one chapter at a time.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Enjoyed a lot in the end

I love your books Diana but I'm glad you didn't read them yourself. We all have unique talents and yours is writing!

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

definitely not like the books themselves

disappointed in the narrative even though it was the author thought that the whole storyline kind of jumped back and forth and was not very organized.

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3 people found this helpful