Dragonfly In Amber

While not as exciting as the first book (I don't care for France or French history, both of which is favoured heavily in this narrative), it was quite a page-turner and answered more than a few questions raised by the first novel in the series. I quite liked the shocking ending. The only main problems I had with this book is the weird Geillis Duncan sub-plot (Claire seems really obsessed by her and her death, though I can't imagine it's important except that it proved to Brianna that Claire was telling the truth?) that featured in the last part of the book, and Claire seemed a bit dull throughout the book - there were more than a few times I wanted to throw the book across the room because of something Claire said or did that was completely idiotic. Overall, a fun ride and I'll definitely be continuing on in the series, though it was hit or miss for a good chunk in the middle. Slug your way through that and the battle narrative back in Scotland for the last few parts of the book will key up your interest again.

I wanted to like this book, but expected not to due to previous experiences with sequences of great novels. It is clear the author tried, and some of the aspects I liked in the first book are here.

Two things I did not like and a third failed to impress me:
1) The book started with romance. It took about half the book or more in Outlander for the romance to begin to take place. This book feels like the author received the feedback that “sex sells” from her first book and went with it.

It felt forced, and I was willing to let this go as background noise for the rest of what could be a great plot, but...

2) The prose is too full of descriptions. The author takes too long to transmit an idea. She seems to master the written language very well, but I do not care if there is nothing interesting going on. First sell me on the plot and characters, the prose is a bonus. But hey, the amazing time-traveling, intricate plot was just about sweep me out of my feet, so I could bear this a little longer but...

3) The plot failed to impress me. Jamie and Claire had fled to France and are looking to make themselves useful. They set as their goal to prevent the Scottish rebellion led by the exiled Prince Charles to take place, because it would fail miserably, and lead to the massacred of thousands of Scots and keep the clans under a brutal oppression for two hundred years.

So far so good. But this is developed too slowly. Jamie is trying to get close to Prince Charles and have secured a job as a wine merchant. Claire so far has only managed to make a mortal enemy because of some careless thing she said out loud.

In the midst of some dinners where Claire job is to play the part of a charming hostess, I stopped reading. The first book managed to create an intriguing mystery when she traveled to the past and you were left to wonder what would happen to her. On this one, you already know what happens, because she is telling the story from memory, as she sits safe and sound by the side or her daughter.

The first book was full of characters with unknown motives, a protagonist that doesn't quite know how to behave at that time period, living in an open doors prison where the distance from civilization was her only cell.

In short, the first book captivated me from the start. This one has managed to do little for me in the 6 hours I spent listening to it.

Read 6:15/77:49 8%