Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon

Dragonfly in Amber


By Diana Gabaldon


Book Blurb:

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 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...

Dragonfly in Amber marks the last of the re-reads in the Outlander series for me. Yes, yes I know I did it all backwards but I did start off with The Scottish Prisoner ( a spin off Lord John Book) and not the first book Outlander. In actuality, if you are a new reader, Dragonfly in Amber should be your second book. It doesn't matter how many times I read this series, I fall in love with the characters all over again. 

Of all the books in the Outlander series, I refer to Dragonfly in Amber as the "meaty" book. Let me explain; in the first book Outlander, our beloved characters Jamie and Claire are really just getting to know each other until halfway through the book. For the second half of that book they are truly in love. Jamie knows Claire's secret and then a major climatic ending results in a lot of healing power between the pair. 

The meat of their loving relationship really flourishes in Dragonfly in Amber. These are extremely eventful times as Jamie and Claire seek out to change time and history by hopefully preventing the disastrous Rising of 1745. They are in a constant struggle to plot and ploy all over Paris and Scotland to thrawt the efforts of Bonnie Prince Charles. It is a constant state of deception and Jamie and Claire only have each other to turn to. 

Ok short pause to insert this beautiful piece of art that was completed by a fan of Diana Gabaldon, Captivated2

Ok onward with the review..

This bond that Jamie and Claire had built between them was so strong that even after twenty years of separation, a day does not go by that Claire does not think about Jamie. Oh wait, I moved ahead a wee bit. 

You see, after a gratifying ending with Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber starts off with a beautiful but clearly aged Claire RANDALL knocking on the door of a historian, Roger Wakefield. With Claire's twenty year old, tall, ginger-haired daughter Brianna in tow, the reader is shocked out of the skin and hastily checks Amazon to make sure that Dragonfly in Amber is in fact, book 2. 

With squinty and challenging eyes, the reader moves forward wondering what the heck in going on and then it all falls together. After the initial shock of "Oh My God" wears off, the reader is lead through the life and times of Jamie and Claire Fraser right up to the day before the fateful and immensly disastrous battle of Culloden. Oh yes, I still get my kleenex ready for this part. 

What a journey! What love! What a freaking awesome story! The biggest warning I shall pass along to the good readers is to make sure you have book 3, Voyager handy right after Dragonfly in Amber is done. You are going to literally put down Dragonfly and pick up Voyager.