Outlander Book Club: Voyager Chapter 60 breakdown

Foreshadowing in the Outlander chapter

This chapter is full of content that pushes the plot forward. The downside is we don’t actually get to see that part. Jamie is the one who figures out where Young Ian is being kept, and he tells Claire about it. For Claire, the focus is on finding out how Geillis survived and figuring out how time travel works.

There isn’t much foreshadowing in the traditional sense that I could see. All I can see is the seeds sewn to make sure Claire and Jamie get Young Ian back, but that’s part of the plot and not clues of things to come.

The only foreshadowing is the missing photo. Jamie notes that Geillis has taken a photo of Brianna. What could she need it for? That’s all to come. It does foreshadow something that Claire does that she doesn’t really think she could ever do…kill Geillis.

Adapting the Voyager chapter

Some of this chapter was used for the Outlander Season 3 finale. Claire goes to Rose Hall alone, already knowing that Geillis is Mrs. Abernathy. She and Jamie know that Young Ian is being kept there, and she heads up there in search of him.

It’s then that she learns about how Geillis survived and a little about time travel. The show doesn’t go into the details of the gemstones and positioning them right, though. It works so much better for the show’s plot to keep the complicated explanation out. I do think the book could have done with uncomplicating that explanation too. Time travel is already a headache-inducing topic.

In the show, the gemstones are a requirement for time travel. Blood isn’t. In the book, the gemstones help to control things. Of course, in the show, Claire never tempted time travel without a gemstone, so we don’t actually know if a gemstone definitely is required—Claire just assumes it is and tells Donner that during Outlander Season 5.

There wasn’t all the back and forth to Rose Hall during the TV show. There wasn’t the time for all that at this point in the show, and it works better to keep it all contained on a TV show. The aim is to constantly build up the drama to the climax of saving Young Ian. Had the show followed the book’s route, there would have been some slower patches that would have felt anticlimactic, especially for show-first fans.

What did you spot while reading Voyager Chapter 60? Let us know in the comments below.

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