Dragonfly in Amber Mass Market Author: Visit Amazon's Diana Gabaldon Page | Language: English | ISBN:
0440215625 | Format: EPUB
Dragonfly in Amber Mass Market Description
From Library Journal
This time-traveling romantic adventure will please fans who have been waiting for the further adventures of Dr. Claire Beauchamp Randall, a 20th-century American who goes to Scotland in search of her 18th-century husband, virile Scot Jamie Fraser, whom she met and married in Outlander ( LJ 7/91). Book 2 of a planned trilogy takes readers along on Randall's quest, as she hopes to find a state or time (like that of the title's dragonfly suspended in a piece of amber) where Fraser still exists. This imaginative novel suffers somewhat from the author's overuse of personification ("spectacles gleaming with concern and curiosity") and her confusing switches between the two first-person narrations, which sometimes cloud an otherwise intriguing adventure. But Outlander 's readers will still devour this hefty volume without complaint.
-Marlene Lee, Drain Branch Lib., Ore.Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From Kirkus Reviews
An engaging time-travel romance, the second of a trilogy (after Outlander, 1991), that animates the people and politics of a pivotal period in history--while turning up the heat between an appealing modern heroine and a magnetic romantic hero. It's now 1968, and Claire Beauchamp Randall has returned to Inverness, Scotland, with her daughter, Brianna. This is Claire's first visit back since she and husband Frank visited 22 years before--when she walked through a Druid stone circle into the middle of the 18th century. Now, Frank is dead, and Claire hopes to learn what happened to the second great love of her life--gallant Jamie Fraser, laird of Lallybroch whom she married during her journey into the past. She's also looking for a way to tell Brianna who her real father is. Framed by these dilemmas, the bulk of the story consists of the second installment of Claire and Jamie's adventures. Escaping the English death sentence passed against Jamie, they flee to prerevolutionary Paris, where they secretly work at foiling Bonnie Prince Charlie's efforts to regain the Scottish throne. But this espionage is only the beginning...A most entertaining mix of history and fantasy whose author, like its heroine, exhibits a winning combination of vivid imagination and good common sense. --
Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
See all Editorial Reviews
- Series: Outlander
- Mass Market Paperback: 976 pages
- Publisher: Dell; Reprint edition (November 2, 1993)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0440215625
- ISBN-13: 978-0440215622
- Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1.7 inches
- Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
I usually do not care for sequels, whether in novels or films. After reading Diana Gabaldon's wonderful book, "Outlander," I was sure she could not come up with another book to match the first. I was wrong and "Dragonfly In Amber" is an exception to my rule and an exceptional book. Once you begin to read, you will find yourself absorbed immediately and probably forget the novel's length (900+ pages). In fact, you may find yourself wishing it were longer.
There are two major storylines here. One takes place in the 18th century. Claire Randall, who had traveled back in time from post WWII Scotland to a Scotland preparing for the restoration of Prince Charles Edward Stuart, (Bonnie Prince Charlie) to the throne, had married James Fraser and confided to him the truth of her time travels. She also told him of the coming disaster of the Battle of Culloden Moor, (1745), and its terrible aftermath for all of Scotland. Together they do everything in their power to halt the inevitable uprising, including move to Paris to become part of the Prince's entourage and perhaps effect a change in history through their relationship with the Jacobites living in France. The relationship developed between Claire and Jamie continues to grow in this book. Their intensely passionate love and close friendship is extremely moving. Although James is a very strong and competent person, Claire with her strength of character, independence, resourcefulness and nursing skills moves adeptly through another time period and is as indispensable to James as he is to her. We travel with both of them, from the Scottish highlands to the pomp of the French court, as they attempt to impact history and continue on together with a love that transcends the boundaries of time.
This is the second in a series of time travel, adventure/romance books by the author. There are four such novels published to date in what is hoped to be a series of six books. These novels have engaged readers everywhere, because of the author's masterful storytelling, as well as for the superlative use of historical detail which is woven into the tapestry in this most intriguing of stories.
While the core of the story is about a love that transcends time, it would be a disservice to label it a romance, as it is much more than that. It is a wonderful adventure story interspersed with actual historical events and authentic period detail. It is this attention to such matters by the skillful pen of the author that renders these books three dimensional and so enjoyable. They are positively addictive!
The love of the ages that binds these books is the love that twentieth century Claire Randall has for the eighteenth century Scottish highland warrior, James Fraser. Those of you who read the first book in the series, "Outlander", know that in 1945, Claire, an Englishwoman and combat nurse during World War II, is reunited with her husband, Frank, after the war. While on a second honeymoon in Scotland, she visits a strange, flat topped hill in the highlands of Scotland, where a forbidding stone circle draws her. Touching one of the stones, she is hurled through a vortex in time and finds herself in eighteenth century Scotland, where she meets a brave and brawny, red headed Scot, James Fraser, with whom she falls completely in love, body and soul. Finding herself thrust into the midst of clan warfare and intrigue, she and her beloved 'Jamie' have enough adventures to last a lifetime, which makes for a riveting story.
This book is a continuation of that story.
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