The author takes way to long to set up the story which is all of Volume 1. The second half is where all the meat is. ( )

This first novel by Sir Walter Scott is often described as the first historical novel ever. While I have read and quite enjoyed three other Scott novels, Ivanhoe, Kenilworth, and Rob Roy, I could not get into this. It is over rich in cultural references and Scots dialect, almost like a brain dump, at the expense of any kind of plot. So I have given up around a quarter of the way through and I will not find out what happens to English officer Edward Waverley when he is posted north of the border at the time of the Young Pretender's uprising of 1745. No rating.

Here's what I wrote after reading in 1986: "Tale of a young Englishman involved in the 1745 Revolution of "The Pretender", Prince Charles Edward (Stuart). Excellent insights into Scottish ways and traditions of the time. Most memorable characters: Fergus Mac-Ivor, chieftan of a Highland clan." Interesting, today I have no memory of reading. ( )

This is my first Scott, and while I did not particularly care for the book/writing, I did like the story. I think my reading was somewhat enhanced by knowing the history of the Jacobite Rebellion and the Battle of Culloden. Had I not known something about the Highlanders and their rebellion(s), I would have been lost. I was not a fan of the romance part of the novel, it seemed obligatory or contrived. I started to read the introduction, but after 9 pages of self-absorbed drivel, I skipped it. 484 pages, just barely 3 stars. 3 stars for me is your average read--can be mediocre or enjoyable, this was not necessarily enjoyable and yet not mediocre. ( )

Hrdinou románu je mladý Angličan, přicházející do Skotska jako důstojník britské armády, který kolísá mezi věrností k hannoverské dynastii a romantickým obdivem pro skotské Stuartovce. Děj zachycuje významnou událost skotských dějin, jakobitské povstání roku 1745. ( )