Dragonfly in Amber (Outlander #2) by Diana Gabaldon ~ 754 pages ~ published 7/1/92 by Dell

Goodreads Synopsis:

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…

What I Thought:

After absolutely loving the first book in the Outlander series (you can read my review of book one here), I was very excited to read Dragonfly in Amber. It was much to my dismay that I had such a hard time getting into this book. I have been trying to finish this book since April…which is unheard of for me.

I am generally able to get through a book this size within a few weeks, maybe a month tops. To this day, I’m still not exactly sure what it is about Dragonfly in Amber that didn’t capture me. It was incredibly well researched. Gabaldon, as always, writes absolutely beautifully. The characters are interesting and well-written. All in all, I should be jumping up and down for joy over this book. But, I had to actually schedule out chapters to motivate me to finish reading it.

By the last quarter of the book, I was really flying through it. The entire part of the book after Claire and Jamie return to Scotland was incredibly interesting to me. The beginning of the book, in the 1960’s, was slow for me. I felt the same way about the pre-time-travel section in the first book, so I was expecting it. However, the whole section of the book that took place in Paris (which was at least half, if not more) was just…meh.

I’m not sure if pacing was the issue, or if it was something else. Generally, if it takes me months to get through a book, I will just set it aside and move on. However, I have been told by other Outlander fans that book two is not as good as the others, and that I should push through. I’ve heard great things about book three, so I’m glad that I finished Dragonfly in Amber, if only so that I can move on to the rest of the series.

My Rating:

3.5/5.0

I gave this book 3.5 STARS. I originally gave it 4 Stars, if only because Gabaldon is such an amazing writer, who wrote captivating characters and did incredibly thorough research. But the immense effort that it took for me to get through this book docked it a bit more in the points for me.

Are you interested in learning more about this book/series? Check out the links below!

Diana Gabaldon’s Website

Diana Gabaldon’s Twitter

Dragonfly in Amber on Goodreads

Purchase Dragonfly in Amber on Amazon

Have you read Dragonfly in Amber? Are you a fan of the Outlander series? Do you watch the tv show? Let me know down in the comments! 

Love and happy reading,