Hey all, Dani here.
Today was actually a pretty decent day, so that’s nice. I even managed to get a whole lot of reading done while at work, so that’s awesome, especially since I was reading an absolutely outstanding book. I cannot wait to write an absolute gush-fest of a review later this week. I’m halfway through my work week now, so I just need to hold on for a couple more days…and then I have to do a temporary shift adjustment, because they need me on the night shift next week. Good times. But I should be able to do some audiobook listening at work next week, so that’s pretty cool.
Anyway, today is a long overdue review, so let’s just go ahead and jump into it.
Book Details
Format: Paperback
Pages: 743
Publisher: Bantam
Publication Date: August 7, 2001
ISBN: 0385335970 (ISBN13: 9780385335973)
Summary
From the author of Outlander… a magnificent epic that once again sweeps us back in time to the drama and passion of 18th-century Scotland…
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….
My Thoughts
Rating: 4 stars
First of all, I reviewed the first book of this series, Outlander, a while back, and I’ll have a review for Voyager coming soon.
You guys…this book took me so. dang. long. to. read. I don’t know what it was, if I wasn’t in the right mood, or I just wasn’t feeling it or what. I can definitely say in a ranking of favorite to least favorite on the series so far I can say that Voyager is my current favorite, followed by Outlander, and then Dragonfly in Amber. I did enjoy watching this second season of the show though.
This was a good book, and there was some real interesting political maneuvering and such, which was fascinating to follow. I also still love the research and detail that Diana Gabaldon puts into her books. They are very nicely executed, which I greatly enjoy.
But I wasn’t as emotionally invested in this adventure as with books one or three. Book one was Claire and Jamie coming together, and book three was definitely them finding each other after so long apart, but book two was just them together struggling against Claire’s knowledge of events in her past/his future.
I read like a hundred pages, put the book down for a few weeks, read another hundred pages, set the book aside again but this time for a few months. I finally picked it up again because I was getting tired of staring at the unwatched DVDs of “Outlander” on the shelf.
I’m glad I finally made it through this book. To me it definitely fell into second book slump territory, but it’s still a well-crafted story.
Where to Get a Copy
You can pick up your own copy of this book from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-million, Book Depository, or from your local indie bookstore through IndieBound.
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