Dragonfly in Amber is the first sequel to  Outlander or Cross Stitch and is just as good as Outlander although in a different way.  While Outlander focuses on the romance of Claire and Jamie this book focuses heavily on the political aspects of the time Claire has travelled back to.

For those who may want to try to read this book first....DON'T!!!

I tried this when I bought this book off the shelf and had to wait for Cross Stitch on order.  Part 1 seemed straight forward enough but Part 2 confused me completely due to the fact that Cross Stitch had not yet arrived in my local book store.  I ended up putting this down until I had read the first book.

The book starts off in the 20th century and for those who have read Cross Stitch it may seem confusing to read that Claire had apparently left Jamie in the 18th century to return home to her husband to raise her redhaired daughter in the present.

The book reads at first like a mystery.  Why did Claire leave Jamie?  Why does their daughter Bianna not know that Jamie is her father?  and most importantly - what happened to Jamie Fraser?

This second book takes us to France and we meet some of the principle players of the Jacobite rebellion.  This book also introduces some characters who were mentioned in the previous book and helps to explain just how Frank could exist when Black Jack Randall, his ancestor, died before continuing his line.

Although this book does tend to go deeply into the fights of the rebellion it is worth sticking through these parts to discover with Claire just what happened to Jamie when she left him at the standing stones.

For those with good memories, of which I am afraid I am not one, you will remember the the year that Geillie Duncan travelled back in time from.  For those like me who didn't remember this little fact, then it was the same time as Claire is now in and she decides to search out her murderous friend.  The book tells just what lengths Geillie Duncan went to to travel through the stones and reveals that she was just as dangerous in the 20th century as in the 18th.

There are many new characters introduced in this sequel who are set to play parts in the telling of this story.  Fergus the French pickpocket and John William Grey, an English soldier who is set to change the course of Claire and Jamie's lives forever.

This book also reintroduces Roger Wakefield, who you may remember as the adopted son/nephew of Rev Wakefield, the historian friend of Frank Randalls.  Even at this early stage you can tell that he and Bianna are fated to be together just as Brianna's parents were.

As Roger delves into the past to search for Jamie, Claire recounts to both him and Brianna the truth of the years she was missing in the Scottish highlands.  This book ends on a climax that can lead to only one thing.

Claire returning to Jamie.  This is where  Voyager picks up the story.

RATING : 
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You can read more about all of this series at  Diana Gabaldon's Web Site.

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