“For if you feel for me as I do for you - then I am asking you to tear out your heart and live without it.”

Twenty-odd years after Outlander, Claire Randall and her daughter, Brianna, return to the Scottish Highlands. Claire goes to a local historian, Roger, to find out what happened to the men she knew from her time in the 1740’s—and to learn what happened to beloved Jaime Frasier.

I just finished this audiobook, and I’m still scraping myself off the floor. This was a really good book—really long, but really good.

It’s funny; after finishing Outlander, I really had no desire to pursue the story. The book was good, no doubts (Claire was awesome, the chemistry between her and Jaime pretty good, the surroundings amazing), but I was a little disturbed about the focus on abuse and the disappearing plot. Imagine my surprise when, out of the blue, I was craving to read Diana Gabaldon! I have never experienced such a longing to read an author or to go back to a world before (I should probably even amend my Outlander review to include these thoughts!). So I hunted down an audiobook copy (because, damn, does Davina do a brilliant job with this audiobook!) and began.

Boy, was I surprised when the book opened with a third person point of view of a character we’d never seen before with Claire and her 20 year old daughter! I was asking my friends, who had read the books, “Am I reading the right one? What happened to Jaime and Claire?” They told me to hang in there, the book would get to them shortly. And they were right; after about three discs, the book went back to Jaime and Claire and the fun times began again.

Our characters return in all their brilliant glory. In fact, I may love them even more than in the first book, specifically Jaime, whom in Outlander I thought was a decent guy, but here, I really “fell in love” with him. Claire Frasier has got to be one of the best female characters I’ve read. She remains strong-willed, independent, but is still loving, caring, and kind. She doesn’t feel the need to act masculine, nor is she a wimp. With so many books (Breaking Dawn and Shatter Me both come to mind, as I have read both recently) focusing on women who need a man to swoop in a rescue them, it was so nice to see a positive female role model.

Jaime, as I said above, was deliciously charming. I loved his over-protectiveness, and yet he still gave Claire space and respected her, when it wasn’t uncommon for men of the time to treat their wives badly. Sure, there were times he crossed the line, but I think he, overall, was a good example of a man: strong, caring of his wife, but not dominating.

There were tons of other sidelong characters, from Jaime’s sister, Jenny, to Claire’s French friend, Louise, to the little boy that attends Jaime and Claire, Fergus. While I can’t remember all their names, and I often had trouble keeping them straight, they really brought life to the story. Fergus is so adorable; Louise, while “simple”, was a fairly good friend; the Mother from the hospital was another character I really liked. All of them were interesting and didn’t feel clichéd.

What I found remarkable about this book is how Jaime and Claire can be married and are even MORE interesting than when they are single. So many books/series/movies/TV shows base most of their plot on the “will they/won’t they?” but Diana Gabaldon proves that a book can survive without that old plotline. Jaime and Claire are an amazing couple; they have great chemistry, love each other unconditionally (even through a very challenging period, in which they hate each other and are apart for a while!), and work together as a team.

If there are any problems that I had with this installment, it would be with the plot. I didn’t like the opening in modern day; I didn’t like Brianna or Roger. Claire has always been grounded and realistic; she never whined about being ugly, but she never denied she was attractive. Brianna feels like a Mary Sue: she is gorgeous and lovely, intelligent and bewitching. Even given that these descriptions come from Roger’s point of view, it’s still too much. Roger himself is another boring character; he has none of the charm that Jaime has and feels more like a prop, something to hold up the plot.

Back to the plot itself: it was confusing for me (since I didn’t pay attention to the blurb) when I opened the book to be catapulted into “modern day” with a 40-something Claire and her 20 year old daughter. I kept wondering what happened and what I missed. Did I skip a book? If it hadn’t been for my friends, telling me that I was on the right path and would find out shortly, I might have given up reading this all together. The modern day story is boring, constructed only to make finding out what happened “in the past” more interesting and mysterious; only, I wish it had all been jettisoned. Outlander worked fine being all in the past; I’m not sure why the change was made (maybe the mystery thing as I said before?). Even finding out about Geelis at the end didn’t make the modern section any better (though, I did like learning more about her).

Once the plot returns to the 1740’s, it fares much better. It moves along quite nicely, for the most part. I was definitely happy to see the numerous conversations about Jaime’s beatings reduced, along with a few less sexy times (I think the amount here was PERFECT). However, there are parts where the story seems to grind to a halt or just doesn’t go anywhere; it also felt a little too much in places (all the traveling Claire and Jaime do, from Lallybroch to Edinburgh to the front lines, etc.).

Even with its faults, I still enjoyed myself as Davina took me through Scotland. The characters are brilliant, the setting told in amazingly careful detail, and the story was interesting and unique. I don’t know why, but I find myself liking Dragonfly in Amber even more than Outlander. I will definitely be hunting down an audiobook version of Voyager.

Después de haber sufrido y triunfado con la historia de Jamie y Claire en Forastera y de concluir la novela con un final bastante esperanzador para ellos, no quería seguir la saga porque sabía que tendrían que enfrentar situaciones probablemente más angustiosas que en el primer libro. Pero, simplemente no me he aguantado, a pesar de haber leído muchos comentarios de que esta entrega era más floja que la anterior.

Primero debo decir que estoy en pleno desacuerdo con lo anterior; este libro es precioso y no tiene nada que envidiarle al primero. Lo que pasa es que nos enfrentamos a una relación más madura, pero no por eso carente de la pasión que caracteriza a sus protagonistas. Además, la autora nos pasea por los hechos históricos y costumbres de la época con un nivel de descripción mágico y absorbente.

Me gustó mucho la estructura cronológica de la novela, que parte con los hechos que producirán el desenlace y el saber desde sus primeras páginas cómo concluirá, no disminuye en nada el interés.

While I liked the continuing saga of Claire and Jamie, I found this book to be a bit long winded. Granted they are an enchanting couple, but when we are listening to every thought that Claire has, it does get a bit boring. I still think the characters are fairly exciting, the story a good one, but the on and "onness" of this novel really made me look forward to the ending.

Again, we are flash backed to the time of Bonnie Prince Charlie and the goings on in his campaign to win the throne. Jamie, again the dashing, wonderful, handsome, virile, sexy hero is a delight with his cute witticisms and his repartee with Claire. (not to mention his sexual prowess!) Claire, is the same, cute, ever in love, but constantly harking back to the past and her first husband. I love, love the beautiful ways in which Jamie expresses his love for Claire. He sure is a woman's dream as far as romance and swashbuckling goes.

As the tale continues and we meander slowly to its conclusion, I was less in love with Claire. Her tasks seemed too cumbersome, her staunchness a bit too much (at least for me) Being from modern times, I would have expected a bit of complaining but no, our Claire continues onward without a thought of danger, unpleasantness, and downright awful living accommodations. :)

I do think I will eventually continue the series however. It will be interesting to see how the next five ( or is it six...yikes!) books proceed. I just need to devote six, seven, eight... months of my life to reading them.

La fel ca si primul volum, o carte foarte bine documentata. O acțiune alerta si plină de răsturnări de situație. Personaje pe care le iubești si le urăști cu pasiune, dar pe care nu poți sa le dai uitării!
O carte căreia as fi vrut sa ii dau 10 *

Fantastic!

n  "For I had come back, and I dreamed once more, in the cool air of the Highlands. And the choice of my dream still echoed through ears and heart, repeated with the sound of Brianna's sleeping breath."n

For those of you who haven't read Outlander, I'd think any reviews for books further in the series would be spoiler-ish...mine included.

I'm sitting here dumbfounded, having just finished Dragonfly in Amber. I'm thinking about what to say in a review and trying to think back to the beginning of the book and it seems like years ago. So much has happened in the last 900 pages. Certainly, Jamie and Claire are vastly different people but so am I. I never knew I could forgive like this. Both Jamie and Claire do things in this book that, had this been any other 300 page Historical Romance or Historical Fiction, I'd have closed the book feeling angry and confused as to why an author would do that to her readers...why make her hero/heroine do such awful things to each other? Why overshadow the rest of the book by throwing in that two or three scenes that makes me question my loyalty toward them?

n  "Aye," he whispered, as though to himself, "I'm a big chap. big and strong. I can stand a lot. Yes, I can stand it." He whirled on me, shouting. "I can stand a lot! But just because I can, does that mean I must? Do I have to bear everyone's weakness? Can I not have my own?"n

Why?

I know why, in this case. Because it made Jamie and Claire into such fallible humans, capable of such error and anger and stupidity...only to continue their lives and prove to also have such devotion, such dedication, loyalty, and this enormous love for each other. IT only truly becomes real to me when all aspects of their character are revealed, such as in this book. And this is only book two!

n   "Well, I'll tell ye, Sassenach, 'graceful' is possibly not the first word that springs to mind at thought of you." He slipped an arm behind me, on hand large and warm around my silk-clad shoulder.
"But I talk to you as I talk to my own soul," he said, turning me to face him. He reached up and cupped my cheek, fingers light on my temple.
"And, Sassenach," he whispered, "your face is my heart."n



From the 1960's to eighteenth century France, to Scotland and the battles of Falkirk and Culloden, Dragonfly in Amber just blew my mind.

n  I could not help remembering one historian's description of the Highlanders' fate at Culloden - "the dead lay four deep, soaking in rain and their own blood."
The Highlanders, mismanaged and starving, but ferocious to the end, would be wasted in one decisive half-hour. They would be left to lie in heaps, bleeding in a cold April rain, the cause they had cherished for a hundred years dead along with them."n

As I began reading, it was hard for me to admit what was plainly being told to me...Claire was no longer with Jamie in Scotland. No, for most of the book, she is relaying her tale of her adventures with Jamie during the Jacobite uprising over 200 years ago. These details are rich as ever, more political in the telling than Outlander was, and gives such insight into the way of life both for the aristocratic rich folks back then, but also the rabble, the workmen, the poor, the farmers, the normal people who only wanted to live their lives and raise their families and love their husbands and wives.

But men who grasp for more didn't much care for the lives of their peasants, and most everyone somehow became wrapped up in the games that kings played. Whether it was wives sending husbands and sons to war, the men themselves trotting off with pitchforks and rusty swords, the nurses and doctors and children and the list goes on. This nine hundred pages right here gives all of those details that you don't think about, and Gabaldon shoves them in your face until you can see nothing but.

And I can't help but feel such a sadness for the real men and women that this story shadows. It's such and intense feeling, to put the book down and research it on my own and realize that so much of this is true...minus the time travel, of course :D But it's hard to not dwell on the realities that are brought to light and the tragedies that played out, things that I'd never have thought of. And it is humbling...and it makes me feel guilty that I know so little of history. And I know, I know it's fiction. But what a remarkable talent to make me have all of these intense feelings, to cry for these people as if they were my own, if only for a little bit.


n  "I will find you," he whispered in my ear. "I promise. If I must endure two hundred years of purgatory, tow hundred years without you - then that is my punishment, which I have earned for my crimes. For I have lied, and killed, and stolen; betrayed and broken trust. But there is the one thing that shall lie in the balance. When I shall stand before God, I shall have one thing to say, to weigh against the rest."
His voice dropped, nearly to a whisper, and his arms tightened around me.
"Lord, ye have me a rare woman, and God! I loved her well."n

The beginning of this story was confusing and shocking and I didn't want to read it. It alludes to something that breaks my heart, and I just wanted to get to the good parts...forget about the current Claire and go back to eighteenth century Scotland. But if there is one thing that I can take from this book in particular, it is that the journey is what it's all about. I still have no idea how this will all turn out...I have no idea, in fact. The getting there is all the fun...and heartbreak...that I can take. Let the ratings speak for themselves and make your decision for you. To read or not to read? With millions upon millions of rave reviews, I think the decision is easy.

n   "D'ye think I don't know?" he asked softly. "It's me that has the easy part now. For if ye feel for me as I do for you - then I am asking you to tear out your heart and live without it."n

Buddy read with Raquel and Anna :D Ladies, I don't think I could have made it through without you!!

I have finally finished! and it was really, really good. I don't think I liked it as much as I did book one, but it was definitely worth the read, and I love Jamie and Claire ♥

This book was more graphic than book one......and probably a lot more heartbreaking. Lots of insanity, and lots of drama as well. I am definitely excited to see what book three holds :)

Only took me a year to finish this lmao

I don't know...but I think that I might like this more than the first. Which is slightly irritating after the multiple times I thought of picking this up but never doing so. I will need to read this as many times as the first one to be sure but this one might be better. I love all of the family, friends, and political scenes, I love how we got to see people from the first book that I never thought we would see again and I love how the ending of this one got me hyped for the next. Maybe I won't have to read this one four times before picking up book three.

Oh, wow! I can't get to put in words the way I feel about this series. I'm afraid I'm getting way too attached and used to the characters that I don't really know what to do once the story is over. Thank God I've still got a long way to go before it's over

LET THE KILT DROP #2




SERIES:
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This series is comprised of one epic story. Each book is like a chapter in that larger story. It is recommended that you read the books in the order they were published.
To find out when book 9 will be released click here.

Novellas:
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(#7.5)(#8.5)

Tears.