Dragonfly in Amber | Book Review aka My problem with very long books

Title: Dragonfly in Amber (Outlander #2)

Author: Diana Gabaldon

Description:

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….

RATING

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4 out of 5.

This was such a long and hefty book and it took me longer than a week to finish it. It tired me a lot and after reading it I will need a small break from reading but at least I got through it.

To be honest, I had forgotten all about how Outlander finished when I picked up this one so I was quite shocked to see how it began. Still, I really liked all the new characters, especially Brianna and Roger and I am excited to see how they will progress in further books.

But when we came back to 1744, it was as if I’ve only finished the first book yesterday and I quickly figured out the plot and all the characters. To be honest, this book series is very long and with quite a lot of plot and characters so you do forget some of them, especially, ones that are not as important.

My favorite thing about this might be the exploration of medicine and nursing that Claire did. It was so interesting to see how different it was from today and how much everything has progressed. I also liked how Mother Hildegard, a very famous historical figure, was helping Claire learn more about the nursing in those days.

I like how romance was not the center part of this book, even though there was quite a lot of it. I did listen to mostly audiobook of this (which was almost 40 freaking hours long…) but I had to skip through sex scenes since it was a bit weird from me hearing those scenes narrated by someone.

I liked the book and it was very interesting, however, it is just too damn long and full of plot and dialogues. There is always something happening and it could get too overwhelming. That’s why I kind of flew through the last fifth of it. I was reading this every day for a few hours for a whole week and I couldn’t wait to finally be done with it. I like long books but this was just too long and that is my biggest problem. You can quickly lose interest and I feel like it didn’t have to be almost a thousand page book, all of it could’ve been done in decent 650 pages.

The ending was much better, more interesting and fast-paced than the beginning and I really enjoyed it. It was heartbreaking and sad but very well written. The plot-twist at the end and the hope that it gave me was so amazing and I wish to pick up the second book at some point, however, not anytime soon.

Even though the length of it was quite a problem to me at some points, I can’t say this book wasn’t good. Diana Gabaldon has a great way of writing, where she makes everything she writes about super realistic. The gross stuff, the death and even immorality, she isn’t afraid to write about anything and I find it so refreshing and enjoyable.

Have you guys read this book? If you did please let me know what your opinions were!

Happy reading!

Want to support me?

– Check out my Book Depository wishlist

– Support me on Ko-fi