Goodreads Review: "Dragonfly in Amber"

Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm really enjoying my slow but sure trek through the "Outlander" series. I read the first book last spring, and while I wasn't so enthralled that I had to read "Dragonfly in Amber" immediately, but when I was looking for a book to read, I decided I wanted to know what happened next to Claire & Jamie.

"Dragonfly in Amber" is a delightful, fun read. It, like "Outlander," is a guilty pleasure romance read for the historical fiction set or, alternately, an especially richly plotted, relatively historically accurate book that the historical romance set can feel all classy reading. Since I don't like to categorize my reads like that, though, I will just say this - it has a great story, good characters, stomach-fluttering romance, fun historical plotlines and a good dose of time-travel fun.

"Dragonfly in Amber" doesn't quite start where "Outlander" leaves off. Rather, it starts with our heroine, Claire, and her daughter, Brianna, in Scotland in 1968, shortly after the death of Claire's 20th-century husband, Frank, 20-some years after Claire returned to the 20th century disoriented and pregnant. While Frank was alive, Claire never told Brianna about her true parentage, or about Claire's adventure in the 18th century. But in "Dragonfly in Amber," Claire tells Brianna about her work with her 18th century husband, Jamie, to stop the Jacobite rebellion and save Jamie's clan from the bloody Battle of Culloden.

"Dragonfly in Amber" is a lot of fun to read, and I really loved revisiting the characters from "Outlander." I thought I would have trouble remembering the secondary characters and plot threads, since I finished "Outlander" nine months before I started "Dragonfly in Amber," but with a few exceptions, characters and plotlines were reintroduced in wonderful way that made it easy for me to recall what happened.

But more than that, I felt like "Dragonfly in Amber" gave me a chance to reconnect with some characters I really like, and deepen my love for them. Claire is a wonderful, strong heroine, and Jamie, while distinctly and sometimes annoyingly old-fashioned, is also sweet, tough and easy to love. With the addition of some strong new characters and more scenes with old favorites (and great old villains, too), "Dragonfly in Amber" is a blast to read. I'm looking forward to reading the next one sometime soon!

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