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.

The second and parallel plot takes place in 1968. Culloden is 200 years in the past. James had sent Claire back to the future to keep her and their unborn child safe from Scotland's fate right before the doomed battle and, they both believed, Jamie's inevitable death during the fight. Claire still feels the bitterness of the intrigues, betrayals, murders, treason and violence that were so much a part of her life with James as they fought together to spare Scotland from its future. Twenty years have passed and Claire, now a doctor, and her daughter Brianna, travel to Scotland from Boston. Brianna does not know the truth about her mother's history, before her birth, nor who her real father is. Claire's 20th-century husband is now dead and she is determined to discover what happened to James, their family and friends. He was her soulmate and the only man she ever loved. If there is a chance at all to find her Jamie, or at least discover what happened to him, she is will do it.

Once again Ms. Gabaldon deftly portrays 18th century Scotland and France and immerses the reader in another time with her superb historical research and writing style. Her characters, major and minor, complex and simple, grow and develop as you read. Many of them are introduced in "The Outlander," but some remarkable new figures emerge from this novel also. Many of them are bound to capture your heart.

I don't know if this book could stand alone without reading "Outlander" first. And since there is so much to gain by reading both books, and continuing on to number three, I don't know why anyone would wish to do so...unless this book is purchased without the knowledge of the prequel. Gabaldon's "Outlander" series is a major epic and this novel is one of the best in the series. It is jam-packed with adventure, accurate historic detail, romance, friendship, and more from a most unusual perspective. Highly recommended!
JANA


A LOVE THAT TRANSCENDS TIME CONTINUES TO RIVET THE READER...   May 5, 2001
 53 out of 55 found this review helpful

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. It is told from the perspective of the twentieth century where Claire, who is now a doctor, has lived for the past twenty years. Upon the death of her twentieth century husband, Frank, Claire returns to Scotland with her grown, red headed daughter, Brianna. There, she discloses to Brianna the events of her secret past, as well as the truth of whom Brianna's biological father actually is and of the love that Claire bore him.

While in Scotland, however, Claire discovers something that will forever change her future, as well as her past. You see, for the past twenty years, Claire has believed that her beloved 'Jamie' died in the historic battle of Culloden. It was there that the Scottish highlanders bravely fought the English in a misguided attempt to restore Charles Stuart, their bonny Prince Charlie, to the English throne, only to be decimated and branded as Jacobite traitors. It was this very event that she and James Fraser had conspired to change only to fail. It was this failure that brought Claire and 'Jamie' to a crossroad that would force them to part and have Brianna become a denizen of the twentieth century.

This book continues the saga so deftly begun in "Outlander". It tells the story of what happened in the eighteenth century that ultimately caused Claire to leave the love of her life and return to the twentieth century. It recounts the plight of two star crossed lovers who make a desperate and valiant attempt to change the course of history. It regales the reader with the adventures they encounter along the way. It is a story that transports the reader from the turmoil of the Scottish highlands to the intrigue of the French Court.

Readers will be captivated by this amazing and compelling time travel saga.


Unbeatable! The BEST Historical Romance Novel EVER!   March 17, 1999
 29 out of 31 found this review helpful

I started this series with Dragonfly In Amber, although it is the 2nd book of the series. I was at a library skimming through and i happened to open up the cover (of the paperback) and saw an artist's depiction of Jamie. WELL, I just had to read the book because Jamie (the drawing)looked so handsome. Anyways, I read the book, and could not believe how AWESOME it was, I actually had a dream about the characters (no lie) because Ms. Gabaldon made it so real . Needless to say, I bought Outlander the next day, and read the entire series back to back. This is the book that started me off though, and I have never felt so strongly attached or so emotional about Jamie and Claire (I can't tell you how many times I burst out laughing or bawled like a baby). It makes me feel like I have a special bond with them somehow, like no one else can intrude in our world. I am a hopeless romantic and have read countless novels, but I am happy to say that Jamie and Claire's stories are the only ones falling apart (from being re-re-re-read of course) BUY THIS BOOK & THE WHOLE SERIES....YOU WILL LOVE IT =)


DIA is DOA   September 7, 2005
 22 out of 59 found this review helpful

I felt I needed to read this book, as the intemperate words that I used in my review of Outlander were perhaps a bit too harsh for a novel I had read in the distant past, and that I was doing Gabaldon a disservice with my relatively hazy recollection of her first book. Well, after reading DIA, I'd consider my review of Outlander to be a generous tribute.

Outlander is a novel in which Gabaldon set herself a depressingly low standard that she failed to live up to with DIA. We start out in the year 1968, and surprise of all surprises to me, the story actually moves at a cracking pace for the first 70 pages or so as Claire decides to finally let the cat of the bag as to her daughter's true parentage. But as soon as the story takes us back to 1744, Gabaldon immediately stands on the brakes and the story comes to a crashing, smouldering stop. There were so many times I thought to myself "Is there any point to this?" whether I was reading about King Louis' morning toilet, Jamie's ability to spot a nag in heat, potato farming, Parisian social life, Fraser and Claire's tremendously dull and cringe-inducing bouts of walloping the mattress (One of which is actually longer than Jamie's description of his involvement in the battle of Prestonpans! If I need to read badly-written sex stories, I'll buy a copy of Penthouse Forum Letters. At least I'd be able to look at the clerk straight-faced when I bought it, instead of crimson and shuffling in embarrassment like I was when I bought Gabaldon's book), and countless other examples, all at the expense of driving the plot forward. After being led merrily up the primrose path of these pointless tangents (which covered page after infuriating page) the big questions of "Will Fraser and Claire live in peace? Will they stop the '45? Will they go back to Lallybroch?" were met with my own question. Who cares?

In Outlander, I found Jamie to be far and away the most contemptible character I had ever had the burning displeasure to lay eyes on, but in DIA I came to the conclusion that Jamie simply has an overabundance of gallantry. But having said that, I have to agree with the Iron Duke's assertion that "There is nothing so stupid as a gallant officer". Breathtakingly stupid. Mourn-for-the-state-of-mankind-stupid. A damning indictment of Darwin's Theory of Evolution stupid. Stratospherically stupid. I'd work the Himalayas in with my description, but I don't think that solid rock is a sufficiently dense enough material to rest between Jamie's ears (his lopping off of Randall's firing pin in a duel with all the portended disaster that would entail in the distant future, then acting nonchalantly afterwards because he didn't kill Randall being the most glaring example of his galling fatheadedness). Sure, he plays chess like a Grand Master, but I attribute it to the idea that he's likely an idiot savant. If Lovat had any sense about him, when he saw his nephew (who likely moonlighted as the Chief of the Guild of Village Idiots, as well as Broch Tuarach) come to charm the claymore from the thatch and dirk from the peat, he'd have plunged them right between Jamie's shoulder blades for wasting his time.

This purports to be historical fiction of some sort, but Gabaldon tends to miss the whole Protestant/Catholic current in the Jacobite Rebellion. Also, she calls Cumberland's Army an English army (I paid particular attention to this, as it is something that annoys me to no end with modern authors), instead of what it actually was. A British army. She completely omits that there were plenty of Scot loyalists in the ranks (The Royal Scots, and the Scots Fusiliers. However, to give her credit, she did mention Campbell's joining of Cumberland's army) that comprised a fair size of Cumberland's force. Oh well, I guess she didn't want to spoil the romantic air of heroic Scots against wicked Englishmen with cold, hard facts. Far more important to devote 15 rivetting pages to Jamie and Fergus's bout of the sniffles than to devote a paragraph to actual history in an ostensible historical fiction, I guess.

My opinion? This book is 743 pages of bound bumwad. If there is anything to commend for it, it is that my copy's pages were all printed in sequential order and that there were no spelling mistakes (apart from spelling the city of Carlisle as Carlyle). It is not enough to merely dismiss this book as awful. It's a farce, a jest, sublime in its utter ineptitude as a narrative. I couldn't bear to merely bin my copy, but neither could I return it to the bookstore for a refund as I'd have to have my jacket wrapped around my head in order to conceal my identity, like an accused suspect being confronted by the media. No, I'll give it one more due. It burned tremendously in the 55 gallon drum of the hobo who was roasting a chicken on a coathanger in the railyard. Avoid this fourth-rate "historical" fantasy that's a first-rate outrage to the sensibilities.



WARNING! Reading these books will cause a strong addiction!   November 24, 2002
 17 out of 19 found this review helpful

And I might add that no amount of therapy will cure you!
I had to go to a conference this past week--a four hour drive from my home. Since my husband drove, this gave me a glorious block of UNINTERUPPTED time to finish DRAGONFLY IN AMBER. I also brought almost a month's worth of unread newspapers and several unopened PEOPLE magazines. In addition, I brought along a newly published and highly acclaimed book of short stories written by one of my former students. My intentions were to finish my book and then catch up on the aforementioned readings. HA! Thankfully, I also packed Gabaldon's third book because no amount of self-control would allow me to read anything but VOYAGER! I have no idea when I'm going to clean my house or do my Christmas shopping (I do still go to work). The only reason I'm writing this review is that I don't want all the books to 'run together'.
DRAGONFLY IN AMBER is the second book of the highly acclaimed Outlander series. Jamie and Claire's adventures continue but the story actually begins at the end. It is 1968 and Claire has returned to Scotland with her 20-year-old daughter, Brianna. The next nearly 1000 pages involve Claire, Brianna, and a young historian named Roger and their attempts to find out what happened to Jamie, the love of Claire's life (and Brianna's father). Most of this novel is about what happens to the young lovers in the two years before Claire escapes back through the rocks in the year 1746.
Gabaldon is an extremely gifted writer. Her character development is so phenomenal that I too, have fallen in love with the red-headed Scottish Highlander. When he says things like: "Oh, Claire, ye do break my heart wi' loving you." or, "Dye think I don't know? It's me that has the easy part now. For if ye feel for me as I do for you--then I am asking you to tear out your heart and live without it." and, " I will find you, (he whispered in my ear). I promise. If I must endure two hundred years of purgatory, two hundred years without you--then that is my punishment, which I have earned for my crimes. For I have lied, and killed, and stolen; betrayed and broken trust. But there is the one thing that shall lie in the balance. When I shall stand before God, I shall have one thing to say, to weigh against the rest. Lord, ye gave me a rare woman, and God! I loved her well,"--it makes me wish I was Claire!
Well, there I go, I'm crying again! Let me go get my Kleenex and continue with VOYAGER. Thank Heaven for carryout!