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For twenty years Claire Randall has kept her secrets. But now she is returning with her grown daughter to Scotland's majestic mist-shrouded hills. Here Claire plans to reveal a truth as stunning as the events that gave it birth: about the mystery of an ancient circle of standing stones ... about a love that transcends the boundaries of time ... and about James Fraser, a Scottish warrior whose gallantry once drew a young Claire from the security of her century to the dangers of his. Now a show more legacy of blood and desire will test her beautiful copper-haired daughter, Brianna, as Claire's spellbinding journey of self-discovery continues in the intrigue-ridden Paris court of Charles Stuart ... in a race to thwart a doomed Highlands uprising ... and in a desperate fight to save both the child and the man she loves. show lessTags
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80 points/100 (4.25 stars/5).
Warning: Cliffhanger (status: SOB NO, WAIT COME BACK)
Presented as a story of the past told te her now adult daughter, Claire and Jamie are doing everything they can to prevent the slaughter to come in Scotland.
A tale of life, this is an impressive story. While I'm still not certain how much I'm enjoying this series, it certain is a very, very impressive tale. This does not seem like it is a tale being told for the sake of telling a story, but because it happened as a part of history and is being catalogued here for us to enjoy. It is happy and it is sad and it is worrisome and it is hopeful, because life itself is. If nothing else, I can commend Gabaldon on making me feel like this is completely real.
I show more definitely enjoyed this book more than I enjoyed the first installment to this series. I was able to connect to the story more. The kinks have been worked out. I wasn't so concerned with the specifics of time travel except for the beginning and end of the book (more to come on that later). I really was able to just relax and enjoy the story. I was able to enjoy the company of both Claire and Jamie. I was able to grieve with them. I was able to bask in their joy. I was able to seep myself deep into the being Claire.
The opening to this book was weird, because you have no idea what is going on. Outlander ends with them deciding to go to Rome, and this book begins focused on someone you've utterly forgotten existed in book one in 1968, later than when Claire left to go to the past. It actually takes a very long time in book to even begin to understand what is going on in this story. The gist of it being that Claire traveled back to the future at some point for reasons that rapidly become obvious. Like, an hour of story, easily, is devoted to Roger and you don't even really understand that this book isn't going to all be about Roger because that is all it is for the first hour. I was so, so confused.
While I always hoped Claire would go back at some point, I'm not really keen in the manner Gabaldon chose to do it. I hope it gets better in later books, but for right now I'm very, very wary. I never trust time travel, ever (which is a wonder why I even started this series), but I really, really don't trust Gabaldon to mucking about in time. It is too easy to mess up. It is too easy to try to change the way you've set up the way time travel can work. It is too easy to fail. I really, really hope Gabaldon doesn't mess it up. However, the way it appears to be going right now. I hate the way my brain is thinking things are going based off the way the story is written thus. I am, however, glad that I was not left hanging at the end of the book. The first part of the book is all the 1960s, and then it jumps back into the meat of the story. I was afraid that the book would end without ever going back to the 1960s, but I'm really glad I was not left hanging in that way (though there was still the cliffhanger to consider - I'm actually really disappointed that this series contains cliffhangers at all).
On to the story: Claire and Jamie spend a lot of time in France (they never made it to Rome). This was definitely the slowest part to the book. I was really glad when they left France because the story picked up and became more interesting pretty much instantly. The story wasn't bad in France, it was just slow moving without a clear course of direction. It was all very vague: "Whatever we can do to prevent this madness." It felt like it was meandering about without any kind of goal in mind.
Once we got back to Scotland I seriously enjoyed it much more, even though the time was ticking down. It was infinitely more engrossing. I was basically hanging on every word in this part of the book. But, you could practically hear the ticking down of time to the end. Every page you turned got you closer and closer to the part where you feared because you knew what was happening. There is a lot of meandering about in this portion as well, but it was much more focused with a much clearer goal.
I think this story was really hurt by the fact that we know Claire is in 1968 with a child that is nearly 21. It basically spoils itself prematurely. I knew the the major emotional points of the book because they were already told in the first five chapters of the book. We just had to wait for the book to play out as expected. Which is a very special kind of hell I don't wish on many. It was still good, because the book is more about the ending, it is about the journey. There is way more that happens in this book than what is revealed in the first five chapters. It is just... it spoils itself, and I hate spoilers!
This book is still very emotionally heavy, despite the spoilers. There is the happiness. The happiness of their pregnancy, the happiness they gain in themselves, the happiness they experience on all of life's little pleasures one experiences. However, there is the fear of what is to come. There is the utter heartbreak that happens along the way. There is the pain of what has already happened. This is such a wonderfully emotionally charged book that I can't help but say that it is good. Few books can make you feel as many emotions as this book managed to make me feel over the course of the story.
In the beginning I was confused, by the middle I was engaged, by the end I was in tears desperate for it to not end but knowing it had to eventually. I'm going to continue on because I have to know the story, no matter how much I'm wary of time travel. show less
Warning: Cliffhanger (status: SOB NO, WAIT COME BACK)
Presented as a story of the past told te her now adult daughter, Claire and Jamie are doing everything they can to prevent the slaughter to come in Scotland.
A tale of life, this is an impressive story. While I'm still not certain how much I'm enjoying this series, it certain is a very, very impressive tale. This does not seem like it is a tale being told for the sake of telling a story, but because it happened as a part of history and is being catalogued here for us to enjoy. It is happy and it is sad and it is worrisome and it is hopeful, because life itself is. If nothing else, I can commend Gabaldon on making me feel like this is completely real.
I show more definitely enjoyed this book more than I enjoyed the first installment to this series. I was able to connect to the story more. The kinks have been worked out. I wasn't so concerned with the specifics of time travel except for the beginning and end of the book (more to come on that later). I really was able to just relax and enjoy the story. I was able to enjoy the company of both Claire and Jamie. I was able to grieve with them. I was able to bask in their joy. I was able to seep myself deep into the being Claire.
The opening to this book was weird, because you have no idea what is going on. Outlander ends with them deciding to go to Rome, and this book begins focused on someone you've utterly forgotten existed in book one in 1968, later than when Claire left to go to the past. It actually takes a very long time in book to even begin to understand what is going on in this story. The gist of it being that Claire traveled back to the future at some point for reasons that rapidly become obvious. Like, an hour of story, easily, is devoted to Roger and you don't even really understand that this book isn't going to all be about Roger because that is all it is for the first hour. I was so, so confused.
While I always hoped Claire would go back at some point, I'm not really keen in the manner Gabaldon chose to do it. I hope it gets better in later books, but for right now I'm very, very wary. I never trust time travel, ever (which is a wonder why I even started this series), but I really, really don't trust Gabaldon to mucking about in time. It is too easy to mess up. It is too easy to try to change the way you've set up the way time travel can work. It is too easy to fail. I really, really hope Gabaldon doesn't mess it up. However, the way it appears to be going right now. I hate the way my brain is thinking things are going based off the way the story is written thus. I am, however, glad that I was not left hanging at the end of the book. The first part of the book is all the 1960s, and then it jumps back into the meat of the story. I was afraid that the book would end without ever going back to the 1960s, but I'm really glad I was not left hanging in that way (though there was still the cliffhanger to consider - I'm actually really disappointed that this series contains cliffhangers at all).
On to the story: Claire and Jamie spend a lot of time in France (they never made it to Rome). This was definitely the slowest part to the book. I was really glad when they left France because the story picked up and became more interesting pretty much instantly. The story wasn't bad in France, it was just slow moving without a clear course of direction. It was all very vague: "Whatever we can do to prevent this madness." It felt like it was meandering about without any kind of goal in mind.
Once we got back to Scotland I seriously enjoyed it much more, even though the time was ticking down. It was infinitely more engrossing. I was basically hanging on every word in this part of the book. But, you could practically hear the ticking down of time to the end. Every page you turned got you closer and closer to the part where you feared because you knew what was happening. There is a lot of meandering about in this portion as well, but it was much more focused with a much clearer goal.
I think this story was really hurt by the fact that we know Claire is in 1968 with a child that is nearly 21. It basically spoils itself prematurely. I knew the the major emotional points of the book because they were already told in the first five chapters of the book. We just had to wait for the book to play out as expected. Which is a very special kind of hell I don't wish on many. It was still good, because the book is more about the ending, it is about the journey. There is way more that happens in this book than what is revealed in the first five chapters. It is just... it spoils itself, and I hate spoilers!
This book is still very emotionally heavy, despite the spoilers. There is the happiness. The happiness of their pregnancy, the happiness they gain in themselves, the happiness they experience on all of life's little pleasures one experiences. However, there is the fear of what is to come. There is the utter heartbreak that happens along the way. There is the pain of what has already happened. This is such a wonderfully emotionally charged book that I can't help but say that it is good. Few books can make you feel as many emotions as this book managed to make me feel over the course of the story.
In the beginning I was confused, by the middle I was engaged, by the end I was in tears desperate for it to not end but knowing it had to eventually. I'm going to continue on because I have to know the story, no matter how much I'm wary of time travel. show less
This book was that oddest of things: a boring page-turner. The pace was sort of hypnotic, in that it kept me going, but I didn't really care what happened to anyone. Certainly not the heroine, who has evolved from being a colorless cypher in the first book to being a colorless cypher who is an irritatingly obvious placeholder for the author/reader. If I wanted to believe that a hot Scotsman was obsessed with me, I would google-image Gerard Butler and use the power of my brain; when I read a book, I tend to be in search of, y'know, characters. And our heroine is nothing of the kind.
Almost a thousand pages of first-person narrative and all we learn about our narrator is: a) she gives off a major whiff of self-righteousness and show more self-satisfaction; b) every man she meets lusts after her; and c) the hero periodically needs to monologue for pages about how much he loves and desires and worships her, to which she tends to respond complacently with a bland, "I love you too," or some such. On no occasion, even when she has just almost gotten him killed, does she consider herself less than deserving of this worship, or even seem particularly grateful for it: she unthinkingly accepts it as the way things should be. We also never get any evidence of this amazingness our seven-foot-tall*-shoulders-wider-than-a-longbow-blindingly-handsome Scotsman sees in her. She just deserves his adoration! You'll have to take Gabaldon's word for it.
And it is still true in this book, as in its prequel, that if you meet a gay man you know he is all kinds of evil. The one flash of developed personality we see in our heroine is when she starts talking about "perverts". Thanks, Diana, for providing your readers with the perfect way to insert ourselves into a kilt-related fantasy, as long as we don't mind being a smug homophobe in said fantasy. Uh... I mind.
(And yet, believe it or not, I have already started the third book. Partially it's because I own it and the Because It Is There principle is strong with me, but partially because, well, sometimes I will eat an entire bag of Starbursts, and this is sort of the same idea.)
*Okay, fine, he's only six four. show less
Almost a thousand pages of first-person narrative and all we learn about our narrator is: a) she gives off a major whiff of self-righteousness and show more self-satisfaction; b) every man she meets lusts after her; and c) the hero periodically needs to monologue for pages about how much he loves and desires and worships her, to which she tends to respond complacently with a bland, "I love you too," or some such. On no occasion, even when she has just almost gotten him killed, does she consider herself less than deserving of this worship, or even seem particularly grateful for it: she unthinkingly accepts it as the way things should be. We also never get any evidence of this amazingness our seven-foot-tall*-shoulders-wider-than-a-longbow-blindingly-handsome Scotsman sees in her. She just deserves his adoration! You'll have to take Gabaldon's word for it.
And it is still true in this book, as in its prequel, that if you meet a gay man you know he is all kinds of evil. The one flash of developed personality we see in our heroine is when she starts talking about "perverts". Thanks, Diana, for providing your readers with the perfect way to insert ourselves into a kilt-related fantasy, as long as we don't mind being a smug homophobe in said fantasy. Uh... I mind.
(And yet, believe it or not, I have already started the third book. Partially it's because I own it and the Because It Is There principle is strong with me, but partially because, well, sometimes I will eat an entire bag of Starbursts, and this is sort of the same idea.)
*Okay, fine, he's only six four. show less
Once again I am blown away by Gabaldon's abilities as an author to take an unlikely premise with two strong characters and weave a story that is both believable and engaging. From France and the court of Louis XIV to the battlefields of Bonnie Prince Charlie, the depths of characterization and history are told with an eye to the telescope.
An aspect I liked is that Claire is realizing her need to not venture an opinion or act on her own behalf at all times. It's not just that Jamie will come looking for her as he does in Bk. 1, it's that speaking the word "plague" in the mid 1700's is a really, really bad idea. She is learning wisdom and how to make her point in a way that will gain her respect and admiration at the time in which she show more finds herself, not easy to do for a strong-willed woman from the field hospitals of WWII. Jamie, too, has had to learn to back down a bit, that his wife has a good mind and an opinion he needs to respect and he is doing so well.
And the life they are living! The times of the absolute monarchy, the absolute clan hierarchy, are told with great detail. The lead-up to events, where we join Claire in 1960's Scotland bring the life she has lived without Jamie to the forefront, and make the return to the 1740's almost a relief. These two lovers are a couple whom we want to see stay together and it is a relief to read most of the book as their time together.
There is a cliffhanger at the end - make sure you have Bk. 3 ready to start when you finish this one! show less
An aspect I liked is that Claire is realizing her need to not venture an opinion or act on her own behalf at all times. It's not just that Jamie will come looking for her as he does in Bk. 1, it's that speaking the word "plague" in the mid 1700's is a really, really bad idea. She is learning wisdom and how to make her point in a way that will gain her respect and admiration at the time in which she show more finds herself, not easy to do for a strong-willed woman from the field hospitals of WWII. Jamie, too, has had to learn to back down a bit, that his wife has a good mind and an opinion he needs to respect and he is doing so well.
And the life they are living! The times of the absolute monarchy, the absolute clan hierarchy, are told with great detail. The lead-up to events, where we join Claire in 1960's Scotland bring the life she has lived without Jamie to the forefront, and make the return to the 1740's almost a relief. These two lovers are a couple whom we want to see stay together and it is a relief to read most of the book as their time together.
There is a cliffhanger at the end - make sure you have Bk. 3 ready to start when you finish this one! show less
Note: Dragonfly in Amber is the second novel in the "Outlander Series." There will necessarily be spoilers for the first book in the series, Outlander.
In Outlander, Claire, a young married English nurse on vacation in Scotland after World War II, accidentally traveled back in time 200 years to 1743. There she took up with Highland Hottie Jamie, and developed her skills as a healer. As Outlander ended, Claire was pregnant, and Jamie insisted she go back to the future to save herself and her unborn child, since he thinks he is about to die in battle.
As Dragonfly in Amber begins, we meet Claire again, but now it is 1968. Claire has brought her 20-year-old daughter, Brianna - the spitting image of Jamie - with her to Scotland. They traveled show more from Boston, where Claire is a doctor, and they have come to see Roger Wakefield in Inverness, who is an historian. Claire’s husband Frank Randall has died, and so she plans to tell Brianna that her real father is Jamie. But first she wants to discover, if she can, what happened to Jamie after she left twenty years earlier. She knows that Roger's late father collected a great deal of materials from that time period.
For most of the book, Claire, in the process of telling Roger and Brianna the truth about who she is, takes us back to the 1700s to fill us in on what happened since the end of Outlander. As the book ends (some 743 pages later), Roger has discovered a clue to Jamie’s fate that changes everything Claire thought she knew.
Discussion: The author provides a more lucid account of the political issues behind the Jacobin rising in this book. She also has a bit of a “meta” reverie (played out between Claire and Roger) on the ways in which the historical record is mutable, depending on a complex web comprised of ideology, values, and political agendas. In the case of Scotland in the 1700's, Claire was there and knows things were not as they were later depicted. Claire explains to Roger that her bitterness is not against historians themselves:
"Not the historians… For the most part, they think what they were made to think, and it’s a rare one that sees what really happened, behind the smokescreen of artifacts and paper. … No, the fault lies with the artists…. The writers, the singers, the tellers of tales. It’s them that take the past and re-create it to their liking. Them that could take a fool and give you back a hero, take a sot and make him a king.”
This is only one of the instances in which Gabaldon takes a critical look at herself through the voice of her characters: about writing historical fiction, about writing very long books, about writing romance novels. It’s a nice touch.
One troubling aspect of the story is the fact that Claire waited all that time to check on whether Jamie was really dead. That seems hard to swallow, given Claire's character, and given her abiding love for Jamie.
Evaluation: You can’t help but get caught up with these characters, and want to know what happens to them. And indeed, you get a blow-by-blow account in these books of almost every minute in almost every day. But it’s not a bad vicarious life to be living. Claire may be over-confident for a woman of her generation, but one must grudgingly like her or at least admire her adaptability. Jamie is handsome and heroic and smitten with his woman - not bad traits about which to fantasize. And Jamie’s friends and family are all you could wish for in a loyal, loving, bonded group. Play on, Gabaldon! show less
In Outlander, Claire, a young married English nurse on vacation in Scotland after World War II, accidentally traveled back in time 200 years to 1743. There she took up with Highland Hottie Jamie, and developed her skills as a healer. As Outlander ended, Claire was pregnant, and Jamie insisted she go back to the future to save herself and her unborn child, since he thinks he is about to die in battle.
As Dragonfly in Amber begins, we meet Claire again, but now it is 1968. Claire has brought her 20-year-old daughter, Brianna - the spitting image of Jamie - with her to Scotland. They traveled show more from Boston, where Claire is a doctor, and they have come to see Roger Wakefield in Inverness, who is an historian. Claire’s husband Frank Randall has died, and so she plans to tell Brianna that her real father is Jamie. But first she wants to discover, if she can, what happened to Jamie after she left twenty years earlier. She knows that Roger's late father collected a great deal of materials from that time period.
For most of the book, Claire, in the process of telling Roger and Brianna the truth about who she is, takes us back to the 1700s to fill us in on what happened since the end of Outlander. As the book ends (some 743 pages later), Roger has discovered a clue to Jamie’s fate that changes everything Claire thought she knew.
Discussion: The author provides a more lucid account of the political issues behind the Jacobin rising in this book. She also has a bit of a “meta” reverie (played out between Claire and Roger) on the ways in which the historical record is mutable, depending on a complex web comprised of ideology, values, and political agendas. In the case of Scotland in the 1700's, Claire was there and knows things were not as they were later depicted. Claire explains to Roger that her bitterness is not against historians themselves:
"Not the historians… For the most part, they think what they were made to think, and it’s a rare one that sees what really happened, behind the smokescreen of artifacts and paper. … No, the fault lies with the artists…. The writers, the singers, the tellers of tales. It’s them that take the past and re-create it to their liking. Them that could take a fool and give you back a hero, take a sot and make him a king.”
This is only one of the instances in which Gabaldon takes a critical look at herself through the voice of her characters: about writing historical fiction, about writing very long books, about writing romance novels. It’s a nice touch.
One troubling aspect of the story is the fact that Claire waited all that time to check on whether Jamie was really dead. That seems hard to swallow, given Claire's character, and given her abiding love for Jamie.
Evaluation: You can’t help but get caught up with these characters, and want to know what happens to them. And indeed, you get a blow-by-blow account in these books of almost every minute in almost every day. But it’s not a bad vicarious life to be living. Claire may be over-confident for a woman of her generation, but one must grudgingly like her or at least admire her adaptability. Jamie is handsome and heroic and smitten with his woman - not bad traits about which to fantasize. And Jamie’s friends and family are all you could wish for in a loyal, loving, bonded group. Play on, Gabaldon! show less
Fantastic second book in the series. It starts with Claire back in the future, telling her daughter about what happened to her and the truth about her parentage. She has also come to Scotland to see if she can find out what happened to the people she knew, if they survived the Rising and its aftermath. In the process, Claire tells of what happened to her and Jamie after they left Scotland up until the beginning of the Battle of Culloden.
Jamie and Claire have settled into their marriage, with their love as strong as ever. Each of them has strengths and vulnerabilities that become part of their stories. Jamie has an honorable streak a mile wide that makes him want to save his family and countrymen from the looming disaster. It's hard for show more him to walk the fine line between honor and treason and it wears on him. Claire is deeply in love with Jamie, but still suffers from the guilt of feeling like she is betraying Frank. Trying to reconcile her love for Jamie with protecting Jack Randall so that it doesn't screw up her future with Frank is not easy.
With Claire's knowledge of the future, they go to France to try to stop Bonnie Prince Charlie from trying to take back the throne. The details of the political intrigue are fascinating and made me feel as if I was there. Claire also uses her healer abilities to work in a local charity hospital, giving more insight into the realities of life in the mid 1700s. I loved seeing Claire's strength of will and determination to make as much difference as she can. As they feel they are making progress and take a trip back to Scotland, fate intervenes and they end up on the wrong side after all. With Jamie's certainty that he won't survive Culloden, in order to protect Claire, he sends her back to Frank.
I love the rich historical details that are shown throughout the book. There are also some fun things that get worked into the story, such as Claire's explanation of what a "commando" is and what Jamie does with that knowledge. There is also a hilarious description of Jamie's venture into a brothel, a sausage, and a young French lad who becomes a big part of the story.
The depth of emotion throughout the book is amazing. Jamie's love for his family and his country is deep and his desire to save them influences everything he does. There is a feeling of fear throughout as he and Claire worry that they won't be able to stop the Rising. Claire's unhappiness and depression after the loss of her baby are deep, and the effect on her marriage was heartbreaking. But the deepest, most emotional event was as Jamie accepts what he sees as his fate, and begs Claire to return to the future so that he can be sure that she is safe.
I loved the sections in the present, as Claire tells her story. Her determination to discover the fates of her friends is intense. I loved Roger's fascination with her quest, and the lengths he goes to find out the answers. There is an intense twist to the story at the end that leads into the next book. show less
Jamie and Claire have settled into their marriage, with their love as strong as ever. Each of them has strengths and vulnerabilities that become part of their stories. Jamie has an honorable streak a mile wide that makes him want to save his family and countrymen from the looming disaster. It's hard for show more him to walk the fine line between honor and treason and it wears on him. Claire is deeply in love with Jamie, but still suffers from the guilt of feeling like she is betraying Frank. Trying to reconcile her love for Jamie with protecting Jack Randall so that it doesn't screw up her future with Frank is not easy.
With Claire's knowledge of the future, they go to France to try to stop Bonnie Prince Charlie from trying to take back the throne. The details of the political intrigue are fascinating and made me feel as if I was there. Claire also uses her healer abilities to work in a local charity hospital, giving more insight into the realities of life in the mid 1700s. I loved seeing Claire's strength of will and determination to make as much difference as she can. As they feel they are making progress and take a trip back to Scotland, fate intervenes and they end up on the wrong side after all. With Jamie's certainty that he won't survive Culloden, in order to protect Claire, he sends her back to Frank.
I love the rich historical details that are shown throughout the book. There are also some fun things that get worked into the story, such as Claire's explanation of what a "commando" is and what Jamie does with that knowledge. There is also a hilarious description of Jamie's venture into a brothel, a sausage, and a young French lad who becomes a big part of the story.
The depth of emotion throughout the book is amazing. Jamie's love for his family and his country is deep and his desire to save them influences everything he does. There is a feeling of fear throughout as he and Claire worry that they won't be able to stop the Rising. Claire's unhappiness and depression after the loss of her baby are deep, and the effect on her marriage was heartbreaking. But the deepest, most emotional event was as Jamie accepts what he sees as his fate, and begs Claire to return to the future so that he can be sure that she is safe.
I loved the sections in the present, as Claire tells her story. Her determination to discover the fates of her friends is intense. I loved Roger's fascination with her quest, and the lengths he goes to find out the answers. There is an intense twist to the story at the end that leads into the next book. show less
"Damn... it took me more than I was expecting to finish this book. Now that I finally have, I can say that I like it more than I had hoped I would. I have some problems with it, but they are nothing new; they are actually the same problems I have with every historical fiction book: the endless political drama that doesn't actually add anything significant to the story itself. For those who don't know, Dragonfly in Amber shows the story that happens around Claire and Jamie, mostly, while they are living in Paris as refugees, trying to find out how to stop the upcoming massacre of Culloden.
Well, let's start from the beginning. While it started off great - maybe because I was still impregnated with the good feelings coming from the first show more book, the story, more quickly than I would expect, turned into a mess of dull details and gut-wrenching political drama. The first time I got stuck was around 40%, I believe. The story was just dragging too much. For months I actually gave up the book; the idea was to never pick it up again. However, the first season of the adaptation to the TV got to an end and I was just too curious as to what would happen on the second season. The I managed, with great effort and commitment, to finish reading it. Man, that was painful. I simply didn't have it in me to read it anymore. I knew what was coming, so not only did I not want to get to that part that I knew would make me sad as hell, I also couldn't get past those gigantic barriers of sleepy, dragged out political melodrama and useless made-up battle details. Curiously enough, though, the repetitive tending to the sick and moving around with the army thing was entertaining, in my opinion. It didn't bore me at all. Some parts where Claire and Jamie were sleepless, tired, tending to the injured and joking around were actually really fun.
Regarding the characters themselves, I actually still like the old ones as much as I liked them on Outlander. Jamie is still stubborn, but on his funny way; his interactions with others, especially Claire, are always fun to read. The way Gabaldon displays Claire is still pretty much the same: a strong, independent woman. There are also some new characters that made the story more captivating. One of them is Fergus, a little orphan boy which Jamie rescues from the streets and hires as a servant (or spy?). The way his relationship with Fergus develops is totally sweet; little by little they become almost like father and son. Claire too becomes very found of the boy, gradually, which makes them kindda look like a family. The other character that immensely enriched the plot is Mother Hildegarde, a superior Mother responsible for the Hospital where Claire is voluntarily working during her free time. Yes, Hildegarde is impregnated with the feminist characteristics which Gabaldon apparently loves to put on all her female characters, but she is also sweet and highly educated and wise; as her relationship with Claire evolved I couldn't help the feeling that Claire was reporting to her, sometimes, as a daughter.
Anyway, thanks God and everything good that is on the Universe, the ending of the book was far better than any other part of it. I felt energized by the feeling that having let myself be dragged around all those political details for such a long time had finally paid off by some awesome, emotional climactic scenes. Overall, I actually liked this book. I think it would've been perfect if only some parts had been cut off on editing - mostly the unnecessary political details which did nothing to the plot but turn it massively boring, at some points. Despite that, I am glad I read it. However, I will not be reading the third one anytime soon. I figured that, since a big part of the reason that made me come back to this book was the TV show, I will read the third one only when the third season is about to air. That way I will feel more motivated to just read the book faster and will also have the story fresh in my mind while watching the episode that will be released every week.
The Last Passage
Well, let's start from the beginning. While it started off great - maybe because I was still impregnated with the good feelings coming from the first show more book, the story, more quickly than I would expect, turned into a mess of dull details and gut-wrenching political drama. The first time I got stuck was around 40%, I believe. The story was just dragging too much. For months I actually gave up the book; the idea was to never pick it up again. However, the first season of the adaptation to the TV got to an end and I was just too curious as to what would happen on the second season. The I managed, with great effort and commitment, to finish reading it. Man, that was painful. I simply didn't have it in me to read it anymore. I knew what was coming, so not only did I not want to get to that part that I knew would make me sad as hell, I also couldn't get past those gigantic barriers of sleepy, dragged out political melodrama and useless made-up battle details. Curiously enough, though, the repetitive tending to the sick and moving around with the army thing was entertaining, in my opinion. It didn't bore me at all. Some parts where Claire and Jamie were sleepless, tired, tending to the injured and joking around were actually really fun.
Regarding the characters themselves, I actually still like the old ones as much as I liked them on Outlander. Jamie is still stubborn, but on his funny way; his interactions with others, especially Claire, are always fun to read. The way Gabaldon displays Claire is still pretty much the same: a strong, independent woman. There are also some new characters that made the story more captivating. One of them is Fergus, a little orphan boy which Jamie rescues from the streets and hires as a servant (or spy?). The way his relationship with Fergus develops is totally sweet; little by little they become almost like father and son. Claire too becomes very found of the boy, gradually, which makes them kindda look like a family. The other character that immensely enriched the plot is Mother Hildegarde, a superior Mother responsible for the Hospital where Claire is voluntarily working during her free time. Yes, Hildegarde is impregnated with the feminist characteristics which Gabaldon apparently loves to put on all her female characters, but she is also sweet and highly educated and wise; as her relationship with Claire evolved I couldn't help the feeling that Claire was reporting to her, sometimes, as a daughter.
Anyway, thanks God and everything good that is on the Universe, the ending of the book was far better than any other part of it. I felt energized by the feeling that having let myself be dragged around all those political details for such a long time had finally paid off by some awesome, emotional climactic scenes. Overall, I actually liked this book. I think it would've been perfect if only some parts had been cut off on editing - mostly the unnecessary political details which did nothing to the plot but turn it massively boring, at some points. Despite that, I am glad I read it. However, I will not be reading the third one anytime soon. I figured that, since a big part of the reason that made me come back to this book was the TV show, I will read the third one only when the third season is about to air. That way I will feel more motivated to just read the book faster and will also have the story fresh in my mind while watching the episode that will be released every week.
The Last Passage
Her face paled suddenly, and she glanced wide-eyed at the book.
“His men? But I thought you found—”
“I did,” Roger interrupted. “No, I’m fairly sure he succeeded in that. He got the men of Lallybroch out; he saved them from Culloden, and set them on the road home.”
“But then…”
“He meant to turn back—back to the battle—and I think he did that, too.” He was increasingly reluctant, but it had to be said. Finding no words of his own, he flipped the book open, and read aloud:
“After the final battle at Culloden, eighteen Jacobite officers, all wounded, took refuge in the old house and for two days, their wounds untended, lay in pain; then they were taken out to be shot. One of them, a Fraser of the Master of Lovat’s regiment, escaped the slaughter; the others were buried at the edge of the domestic park.”
“One man, a Fraser of the Master of Lovat’s regiment, escaped.…” Roger repeated softly. He looked up from the stark page to see her eyes, wide and unseeing as a deer’s fixed in the headlights of an oncoming car.
“He meant to die on Culloden Field,” Roger whispered. “But he didn’t.”
The story begins disorientingly, the reader thrust twenty+ years into the future and convinced they must have skipped a book by mistake. Claire is suddenly back in the 1960s, visiting Scotland with daughter Brianna following her husband Frank's passing. Who is Brianna? 1960s? Husband Frank? What has happened? As mother and daughter spend time in Inverness in the company of scholar Roger Wakefield, Claire musters up the courage to tell Brianna the truth about her heritage, and the story suddenly pivots to 1744 France.
I first read this sequel to Outlander back in 2003, but I realize now while starting the series anew, preparing emotionally for the conclusions of both the book series and the TV adaptation, that I never wrote a proper show more review. While the first few chapters are at first confusing, leaving the reader reeling and feeling as though they have been cheated out of a good chunk of story, never fear! Ms. Gabaldon reveals all in good time. Her writing remains compelling and evocative, and the plot is emotional, action-packed and educational with respect to 18th-century historical events likely unfamiliar to most of us today. show less
I first read this sequel to Outlander back in 2003, but I realize now while starting the series anew, preparing emotionally for the conclusions of both the book series and the TV adaptation, that I never wrote a proper show more review. While the first few chapters are at first confusing, leaving the reader reeling and feeling as though they have been cheated out of a good chunk of story, never fear! Ms. Gabaldon reveals all in good time. Her writing remains compelling and evocative, and the plot is emotional, action-packed and educational with respect to 18th-century historical events likely unfamiliar to most of us today. show less
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Author Information
Diana Gabaldon was born in Flagstaff, Arizona on January 11, 1952. She has a B.S. in zoology, a M.S. in marine biology, and a Ph.D. in quantitative behavioral ecology. She has worked as a university professor and has written freelance for various magazines and companies such as Walt Disney. She writes the Outlander series, which was adapted into a show more television series. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Diana Gabaldon is a LibraryThing Author, an author who lists their personal library on LibraryThing.
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Dragonfly in Amber
- Original title
- Dragonfly in Amber
- Alternate titles
- Dragonfly in Amber: A Novel (cover title) (cover title)
- Original publication date
- 1992-07-01
- People/Characters
- Claire Beauchamp Randall Fraser; James "Jamie" Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser; Brianna Randall MacKenzie; Frank Randall; Roger MacKenzie Wakefield; Fiona Graham (show all 54); Fergus Claudel Fraser; Jonathan "Jack" Wolverton Randall; Murtagh Fraser; Alexander Randall; Mary Hawkins; Duke of Sandringham; Colum MacKenzie; Dougal MacKenzie; Alexander Fraser; Alexander Kincaid; Angus Mhor; Annalise de Marillac; Archie Cameron; Arthur Duncan; Brian Fraser; Johannes Gerstmann; Charles Edward Stuart, "Bonnie Prince Charlie"; Francis Townsend; Geillis Duncan; George Murray; Ian Murray; Jenny Cameron; Katherine Mary; Simon Fraser; Maggie Brown; Mary MacNab; Master Raymond; Monsieur Duverney; Monsieur Forez; Hildegarde de Gascogne; Reginald Wakefield; Quentin Labert Beauchamp; Ronald MacNab; Ross; Rupert MacKenzie; Sorley McClure; Thomas Sheridan; Walter O'Bannion Reilly; William Ransom, Earl of Ellesmere; Lord Melton; Louis XV, King of France; Jared Fraser; Paul Rakoczy, Comte St. Germain; Marie Louise de La Tour d'Auvergne; Madame de Ramage; Silas Hawkins; Sister Angelique; Rabbie MacNab
- Important places
- Inverness, Highland, Scotland, UK; Paris, Île-de-France, France; Lallybroch, Highland, Scotland, UK (fictional place); Château de Versailles, Versailles, Yvelines, Île-de-France, France; L'Hôpital des Anges, Paris, France (fictional place); Versailles, Yvelines, Île-de-France, France (show all 7); Scotland, UK
- Important events
- Battle of Culloden; Jacobite Rising of 1745
- Related movies
- Outlander (2016 | IMDb)
- Epigraph*
- Er verdwijnen altijd wel ergens mensen. De meeste vermisten worden uiteindelijk teruggevonden, dood of levend. Voor verdwijningen bestaan nu eenmaal verklaringen. Meestal.
- Dedication
- For my husband, Doug Watkins—
In thanks for the Raw Material - First words
- I woke three times in the dark predawn. (prologue)
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)"He meant to die on Culloden Field," Roger whispered. "But he didn't."
- Publisher's editor
- Cantor, Jackie
- Blurbers
- Roberts, Nora
- Original language*
- English
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
Classifications
- Genres
- Romance, Fiction and Literature, Science Fiction, Historical Fiction, Fantasy
- DDC/MDS
- 813.54 — Literature & rhetoric American literature in English American fiction in English 1900-1999 1945-1999
- LCC
- PS3557 .A22 .D7 — Language and Literature American literature American literature Individual authors 1961-
- BISAC
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- Reviews
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- 16 — Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Norwegian (Bokmål), Polish, Serbian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Portuguese (Portugal)
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 118
- UPCs
- 2
- ASINs
- 65