Outlander is intense. Really, really intense. Given to me as a gift, I was excited to have big historical/time travel book to sink my teeth into. Which I did. Outlander started a bit slow for me, but I think that's just because my level of investment did not increase until Claire did travel back in time. 
 One thing I will say, this book could certainly be triggering for those struggling with abuse, so I would make sure that people are aware. I don't wish to spoil, but there are indeed ways to find out. So just keep that in mind. 
 Otherwise, this book just really took over my life. While it was a bit long, I really felt like I was stuck in the middle of this world. It was good because I was actually invested in the main characters (for once) and was desperate to see how things played out. It's definitely good that I knew that this was a series, because I was good and stressed out. 
 I will say that for the first time, I really didn't care about secondary characters. I think that everyone else was just...terrible. Usually secondary characters are my favorites, so this was a nice change of pace for me. 
 In all, I really liked Outlander and can't wait to both watch the first season of the tv show. I also can't wait to jump into book #2.