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Sunday 28 February 2016

Book Review: Dragonfly in Amber, Outlander #2 by Diana Gabaldon


Pages :  369

Read on : Kindle


Review:  I'm weak when it comes to really juicy synopses. Those couple of lines are good enough to get me hooked and before I know it, I have my nose buried deep into a fantasy novel. Seduced by the prospects of a faraway, nonexistent parallel universe that I so desperately desire to seek. After my lukewarm fling with Outlander, much to the shock of a lot of fans, I still remained curios to know how Diana Gabaldon managed to stretch this highland fairytale into 6 backbreaking books.

 Lo and behold, before I know it, I'm devouring the the second book 'Dragonfly in Amber' and I daresay, I quite enjoyed it much much more than Outlander. Of course, Jaime still hold mine ( and everyone else's) heart. That could be the major contributing factor. THE major contributing factor, I'll admit. Aside from this, of course, I will give Gabaldon her due credit for her impeccable research of the era, the politics of the region and cleverly manipulating them to fit the title. The language is brilliant and Claire's wit shines through.

There are more dimensions to otherwise pointless characters or so I had  deemed earlier, All of the surrounding people like Fergus, Murtagh and everyone else seemed to boast more persona that most of the people in Outlander #1. The romance was kept well muted, thankfully. The lack of love in my life is kind of making me scoff at anything remotely romantic I suppose. War, issues at war, injuries, the spirit of belonging to a clan etc were well coloured with just the right amount of emotion and technical detailing to avoid constant yawning. Jamie as sweet natured as he seems, does act daft at times. As expected to be honest.

The 'villain' was way underplayed for the heinous crimes that he had committed in the past. For such a dastardly character, I was surprised the author went soft on him.There were new challenges for Claire and Jaime, if those were topped with a haunt of the past, I think the story would have been able to better trace the state of helplessness. 

Most definitely a progress from Outlander (Review here!) considering how I felt about that.

Final Rating : 3.5/5
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