Dragonfly in Amber
Dell, New York, 1993
ISBN 0-440-21562-5
Monika says:
At the beginning of Dragonfly in Amber, we meet Claire Randall
in 1968 – twenty years after the events of Outlander.
Her husband Frank being dead for two years now, she finally decides to
tell her daughter Brianna, who grew up as Frank's daughter, the truth
about her biological father. In a flashback taking up nine tenths of the
book, the reader learns what happened after Claire and Jamie escaped to
France and how Claire returned to the stone circle and to her own time.
The frame story is closed at the end of the book, but if you expect all
loose ends to be tied up, you will be disappointed. Dragonfly in Amber
doesn't have a real ending, the next volume, Voyager, will pick up
exactly where it ended.
If you hadn't noticed yet, you should know by now it's not a good idea
to read the Outlander series out of order, because the books aren't
self-contained. Gabaldon is telling an ongoing story that is now about
five thousand pages long. If the prospect of reading so many pages deters
you, you might want to stop now and find yourself another book. Or perhaps
you are as fascinated of this world as I am and you won't even think about
it.
After the exciting first part set in the 20th century, the book slows
down a bit, but just as in Outlander there are so many details and
so many things happening that it's hard to put it down. I especially liked
Claire and Jamie's attempts to change the future in order to save the
Highland clans from the fate described in 20th century history
books, and Claire's fear to change history and thus prevent Frank from
being born. In my eyes, the dragonfly in amber of the title is an allegory
for Claire's vague feeling of being trapped in time and watching destiny
take its course without being able to do something to change it, no matter
how hard she tries.
Just as the first book in the series, Dragonfly in Amber is both
exciting and intelligently written, each detail in this seemingly much too
fat volume has its place in the story, and some characters we already met
but didn't really notice, take their places in the plot and make us
curious of further events. |
Any comments? Write us:
Monika
|
