Synopsis:
4.7 out of 5 stars
I've said it once and I'll say it again: Diana Gabaldon is the QUEEN of American-English prose. That fact is even more so apparent in Dragonfly in Amber than in its predecessor Outlander. And she really does her research on nearly every detail no matter how minuscule. While I was reading this book, I was listening to Revolutions, a podcast that expounds on numerous revolutions that have taken place over the course of history. The season of the show I happened to be listening to while reading the book is the season on the French revolution, which transpired during the late 1780s. The events of Dragonfly in Amber happen around three decades before then. It was interesting to piece together the events of the book and that of the podcast and it was also fun to read about the significant historical figures like Charlie The Pretender and King Louis XV (who, granted, was not as famous as his grandfather, The Sun King who commissioned the construction of Versailles, or his grandson, whose rule was put to end during the French revolution of 1789). Albeit fictional, Jamie and Claire were also fantastic characters that- if I hadn't known better- I would've believed they were real citizens of the time.
That said, I was very confused when I started reading only to find that Claire is (SPOILER ALERT) back in her own time...and she has a daughter(!?) We return to Claire twenty years after the events of the Battle of Culloden, which occur at the end of the book. She's desperate for news of Jamie and seeks out Roger Wakefield, Reginald Wakefield's adoptive son (the man we see Frank Randall took a liking to at the beginning of Outlander because they share a love of history) to dig up historical records of the events of the Battle of Culloden and those shortly thereafter.
The section of the book that took place in Paris, when Jamie and Claire were trying to thwart the attempts of the Jacobites to get Charles on the Scotish throne was my favorite. The political intrigue and drama are unmatched to anything I've ever read before. If you've read Outlander, are apprehensive about continuing the series, I encourage you to do so, it gets better!
That said, I was very confused when I started reading only to find that Claire is (SPOILER ALERT) back in her own time...and she has a daughter(!?) We return to Claire twenty years after the events of the Battle of Culloden, which occur at the end of the book. She's desperate for news of Jamie and seeks out Roger Wakefield, Reginald Wakefield's adoptive son (the man we see Frank Randall took a liking to at the beginning of Outlander because they share a love of history) to dig up historical records of the events of the Battle of Culloden and those shortly thereafter.
The section of the book that took place in Paris, when Jamie and Claire were trying to thwart the attempts of the Jacobites to get Charles on the Scotish throne was my favorite. The political intrigue and drama are unmatched to anything I've ever read before. If you've read Outlander, are apprehensive about continuing the series, I encourage you to do so, it gets better!
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