From the back of the book:

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 the desperate fight to save both the child and the man she loves ...

This is the second in the amazing "Outlander" series by Diana Gabaldon. This book is part of my PC, as it has an autographed bookplate by the author inside the front cover. (If you're curious - the inscription is partly in Gaelic - it means "Best Wishes")

I am registering this book so I can loan it to Sydney1, as she recently read "Outlander" from a bookring I have out circling the world, and she's eager to continue the saga of Jamie and Claire! She wrote a wonderful review for "Outlander", so I'm anxious to hear what she will say about this one! :)

Updated 02SEP08

This book is now a bookring, of sorts!
Others who have read my Outlander ring want to read the sequels, so here is the routing list for this book:
1. Sidney1 - Germany
2. iliotropio - Belgium
3. penelopewanders - Switzerland
4. surmisez - Massachusetts, US
5. Annadlx - Germany
then back to me! ---> BethanieKay - USA ---> Book is back home with me now!

RELEASE NOTES:

This book is on its way to Sidney1 in Germany ... I know she''s eagerly waiting to find out what happens to Jamie and Claire! :)

Well, of course it arrived safely a long time ago, at the end of August I believe. I have finally finished it and will give a detailed comment soon. I liked it very much - but not as much as Outlander, because for one thing, you know Jamie and Claire will part at the end - I could hardly bear that! Anyway, have pm'd iliotropio for her addess, which I didn't keep last time.
Thank you BethanieKay for your patience, and for sharing.

First of all: Gabaldon remains an amazing story teller, never a boring moment, really. BUT:
Claire’s character sometimes annoys me. She is so stubborn, and will deliberately misunderstand Jamie, or doubt him.

CAREFUL SPOILER, highlight to read: I think all the fuss she makes about him not being allowed to kill Jack Randall is all a lot of rot. Jamie needed revenge. This man tortured him and did such terrible things to him, particularly mentally, that he deserved to die through the hands of Jamie. In fact, it would probably have been extremely important as a therapy. Claire thought anyhow that Jack was dead, so why did it matter so much when she found out he wasn’t? Why would she feel bad about “killing” Frank Randall, her future husband, if he wasn’t even born? Are you killing somebody if he is only a concept of the future? I think she was much too hung up about it. It’s not like she would have made Frank suffer. I also thought she reacted strangely when she lost the child. Hardly something she could blame Jamie for. So these were parts I found hard to read through. Also, the whole war business is a little tedious, the battles, the names of all those historic Scotsmen. I always gave up in part II of Lord of the Rings because of the endless battle scenes. Well, here that was again a bit too long for my liking, if probably necessary.
Again, the story line reminded me of Angélique by Anne and Serge Golon. Angélique is also at the French court (some 100 years earlier), Louis XIV falls in love with her, she is called a witch, they try to murder her …
I didn’t see the end coming, though: it’s very clever of Gabaldon to make Jamie murder Dougal, thus putting everybody against him: clansmen, the English of course… a traitor to all sides..

Most of all I hated the idea that Jamie and Claire would part for 20 years. 20 years!!! She would have been 47 or 48 when she went back to him. So much time wasted without him. I really did not want to get to that point in the story, which is why I slowed down so much towards the end. Now that they are parted, though, I am racing through Voyager to get them together again.
Still,hugely enjoyable. :-)

Arrived safely in Brussels. Thank you Sidney1 for the lovely postcard; happy holidays to you too!
My best wishes for 2008 to BethanieKay as well!

The saga continues...
On its way to penelopewanders. Happy reading!

And to think I just posted something on the forum when I saw you were offering Outlander to continue, asking if the second wasn't available... seemed to me I'd signed up with you, but I wasn't sure anymore! So I'm happy - now just have to find time to read the books which arrived while I was away on holiday, not to mention the work which piled up! Thanks so much!

Well, sign me up for the next in line, please! I really do love this series, although I kept wondering how Brianna and Roger were going to fit into the whole thing - do they go back in time too? And I couldn't believe Claire and Jamie's story was ending and felt that was so unutterably sad... so the sneak preview of Voyager was both good and a bit of a shame too, as I wouldn't have minded a bit of suspense. I didn't mind reading about the battles - and the fine line between healing and witchcraft is an interesting one to tread. I'm very glad to have been able to read this - thanks so much for making it available. I've PMed the next in line and am waiting for an address.

RELEASE NOTES:

This enthralling book is now on its way from the Swiss alps to Massachusetts - slow post, I'm afraid... thanks so much for making this available! If anyone (Beth??) wants to continue this spiral, I'd be thrilled to be counted in! Although I suspect soon I'll have to have my own copies...

Received in mail yesterday.

I just finished reading a book, so I can start this one right away! Yippee!

Thank you, BethanieKay, for including me in your BookRing!

I'm sorry it's taken me so long to finish this. It's hard for me to read when it's nice out -- all I want to do is ride my bicycle. ;-)

I was very aggravated with Claire. I couldn't understand her obsession with making certain that Frank was born. Who the hell cares?! She couldn't have cared all that much about him since she chose Jamie over him. Then to put her unborn baby at risk was the dumbest of the dumb. That made no sense to me whatsoever. Jamie should have been allowed to kill Randall. Why make certain that a monster lives?

The ending left me wanting to know more though. I hope I'm on the list for the rest of the books. I can't wait to see what happens next.

Thank you, BethanieKay, for introducing me to this series, and for allowing me to be part of the Ring.

I have PM'd Annadlx for her address.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Mailing to Annadlx, next in line for the BookRing.

That's what I call perfect timing!
The 900 something pages of Claire's next adventure arrived here at my doorstep.
I'm just about finished with my current thriller, so this comes in perfect timing.
I've been looking forward to this, so I'm sure it won't take me too long to finish it.

Thanks surmizes for mailing the book my way.
And special thanks to Beth for making her signed copy available. :)

More later.
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edit[August 13 2008]:
I'm halfway done, but somehow have not been able to find much time to continue reading. I hope I can speed up a bit this week, cause I have some airtravel times ahead. That should get me a bit closer to finishing it.
The 900something pages always seem to slow my reading. Too much pressure... :)

Again: More later

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edit[August 20 2008]:
only 100 more pages to come. I can't wait for the circle to close. I always hate it when the story is mostly a flashback. That way I'm, alsways so eager to know how the mystery will be explained. Can't be long now...

Again: More later

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. I've finished reading "Dragonfly in Amber". yeah!

I found it a little less intense than "Outlander" and was sometimes really bored with the things happening or rather not happening. Too many pages about general life. I think I would've enjoyed a shorter, more intense story with not so many seemingly unnecessary sidelines.
As most of you girls I disliked Claire's trouble with killing Jack Randall. Who in her right mind wouldn't kill him even with the consequence of Frank not being born. This made me really mad cause it seemed so constructed just to keep the story tense and evolving into another unexpected twist.
I'm still a little confused about this timetravel thing. It really boggles my mind as to how something like that can be possible and how people can believe they can change times and what was fated to be.
I can't imagine how Voyager will continue this story and some part of me hopes never to read anything about Claire and Jamie other than in the sidelines. I'm done with their love and their fate. It was goog while it lasted but please lets get some freshness into this story.

As I said before, this book wasn't a quick read for me. Somehow so many pages slow me down. But in the end I'm glad I didn't skip pages to get to the end, cause I probably would have missed several hints and sidetracks that might gain importance in the next part.
Let the story continue!

Thanks Beth for making this book available to me. And thanks surmizes for sending this my way.
The book will travel home tomorrow.
Save journey book, and no timetravels!! Just so we're clear. *smile*

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

It's already started it's journey this morning, cause the mail truck was just there for pick up.
I mailed it snail mail and hope that's ok.

Thanks again!

Dragonfly has returned back home to me in Texas! I'll keep it on the edge of my bookshelf in case any of my other "Outlander" ring readers want to continue the Jamie and Claire story.

Thanks to all of you who read this autographed book and took care of it so that it could come home to me in perfect condition :)

I loaned Outlander to my friend Danielle, and my evil plan worked, as now she's hooked on Jamie and Claire ;) Have now loaned her this one, as she's anxious to read more!