Audiobook Review: Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon

Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon
Book 2 in the Outlander Series

Unabridged, 38 hr. 58 min.

Recorded Books

Davina Porter (Narrator)

October 26, 2006

★★★★ ½☆

Heat Rating:

Genre: Historical Fiction; Time-Slip; Romance

Source: Downloaded the audiobook from Audible

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...

When I finished reading Outlander, I wanted to both immediately pick up Dragonfly in Amber as well as hold off for a while so that I could just absorb and enjoy my experience with it. In the end, I waited almost a year before having the chance to pick up book two, but not for a second had I forgotten the events of Outlander and felt totally ready to dive into what this next volume would bring. And then I was brought up short and taken aback. You see, Dragonfly in Amber does not pick back up where Outlander left off, it’s set back in modern time with Claire in her fifties and her daughter Brianna well grown. Wait, what? How did this happen? What did I miss? Where is Jamie? These questions and more streamed through my head as I panicked at the start of this novel. And for quite a bit of time we don’t have many answers. I struggled to push myself through these modern day chapters. While I was intrigued at how we got there, I didn’t enjoy them nearly enough for the amount of time that we are in the present with everyone just brooding and not telling each other the whole truth.

When we finally get back to Jamie and Claire, we are now in France, where they were absconding to at the end of Outlander. Here my interest picked up again because we were back in familiar territory and for the most part I enjoyed this part. In typical Gabaldon style, France came to life under her pen as she had previously treated Scotland. I enjoyed, as always, Murtaugh was a favorite comedic break and then there was the addition of a young boy, Fergus, whom Jamie takes under his wing who had some great moments too. Jamie and Claire love each other, betray each other, and hurt each other over and over, as seems to be their typical bent, but I longed for it over and over again.  Also typical Gabaldon style, the sex scenes are hot, hot, hot and plentiful.

Ultimately, the two very disparate parts seemed to come together and you are left with a cliffhanger into Voyager. Again, it left me wanting to pick it up right away, but choosing again to hold out for a bit. I did like this book very much, but not nearly as much as the first book overall.

★★★★★+

I've said it before, and I will say it again, Davina Porter does an excellent job narrating this book with its even wider array of accents, characters, and personalities. She is one of those narrators that I would enjoy listening to over and over again, which is excellent as she narrates much of the Outlander series. Her pacing was perfect and she puts real emotion behind her narration and truly contributed to the feel of this book and bringing the characters to vivid life. Seeing as she is narrating a nearly 40 hour long book it is beneficial that she is enjoyable to listen to.

You can listen to an audio sample below (play symbol) to get a taste of Porter's narration or read these two excerpts of the text for Gabaldon's style: Excerpt 1 | Excerpt 2.

Reviews of this book by other bloggers:

• Red Hot Books 
• The Hope Chest Reviews

Buy the Book: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | RJ Julia

Also by Diana Gabaldon:

Virgins (Book 0.5)

Outlander (Book 1)
[My Review]

Voyager (Book 3)

Drums of Autumn (Book 4)

The Fiery Cross (Book 5)

A Breath of Snow and Ashes (Book 6)

An Echo in the Bone (Book 7)

The Space Between (Book 7.5)

Written in My Own Heart’s Blood (Book 8)

A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows (Book 8.5)

Diana Gabaldon has also written the Lord John Grey series which is a spinoff of the Outlander series and takes place during the events of Voyager.

Find Diana Gabaldon: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Find Davina Porter: AudioFile Magazine |

 

If you have read the book and are watching Season 2 of the Outlander TV series - how do you think they line up?  I've been hoarding my episodes so I can binge watch them.




Copyright © 2016 by The Maiden’s Court

TV Show Review: Outlander (Season 1)

Outlander (Season 1)

Tall Ship Productions

16 Episodes, 60 Minutes Each

2014

Rated: TV-MA

It took me quite a while to get around to reading Outlander, but finding out that it was coming out as a television series kicked that into high gear. I loved the novel and ate up every word, so how would the show fare in my eyes? I’m happy to say it blew me away! Excellent casting decisions, gorgeous everything (setting, costumes, people…just everything), and a brilliant interpretation of the novel to the screen!

When you read Outlander you create a very definite image in your mind of Jamie, Claire, and Jack Randal, among others. To take these characters that are well-loved and find actors to portray them was a monumental challenge. But they did it! Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan fully embodied Claire and Jamie. They not only met my expectations for how they should look, but the way they spoke and carried themselves brought those characters to life.

The show takes a roughly 900 page book and recreates all the important events in the 16 episodes: from the first time Claire travels through the standing stones to the beautiful wedding scene to the finale episode at the prison. They didn’t pull any punches – there is beauty, sex, violence, and some of it is rather explicit – this is your warning. Some people might find it too graphic (particularly the prison episode), and I can understand that, but it was SO well done – every cringe-worthy moment and it evoked the same emotions from me as the novel did, and maybe even more. They include all of these big moments but also pick up on a lot of the smaller, detail oriented moments. With so much of the book present in the show, you really don’t miss anything that might have been skipped.

Oh, and can we talk about the theme song? Now that is beautiful, haunting, and will get stuck in your head for days!

This show was everything that I hoped it would be and more! Onward to Season 2!

And a little bit of a side note – you HAVE to check out the Outlander Yule Log video during the holidays – that replaces any other yule log you watch. Scottish music, a roaring fire in a huge stone hearth, a couple of hounds – highly recommend.

Here is a trailer of this show for your enjoyment.

If you have seen the show, what did you think of the first season?




Copyright © 2016 by The Maiden’s Court

Weekend Cooking: Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Cider Sauce with Neeps & Tatties

 

I found this great blog that focuses on recipes for foods mentioned in the Outlander novels and TV series – it is called Outlander Kitchen.  I encourage you to check out her website for many other great recipes, I know I will. 

Title from Outlander Kitchen blog

 

The recipe I chose to start with this week is inspired by the TV show, 4^th episode where everyone is coming to swear allegiance to Colm as laird.  Pork tenderloin, roasted in an oven, is certainly something that could have been made in the 18^th century. And neeps, or rutabaga, would have been a regular part of any meal. Tatties, or potatoes, are certainly Scottish fare, however they may or may not have been available to the Mackenzie clan at that time as potatoes were newly come to Scotland. You can find more history of neeps and tatties on the Outlander Kitchen site.

Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Cider Sauce and Neeps & Tatties
Serves 3-4

As I don’t want to steal the thunder from Outlander Kitchen, you can find the ingredient list and directions for these 3 recipes at their website.

However I will discuss my experience with these recipes. The pork tenderloin and the companion sauce were AMAZING!!! We chose to use regular apple cider, because that is what we had on hand, but I think that the slightly thicker nature of regular cider contributed to the texture of the sauce, more so than a hard cider would. The spice mixture that was rubbed into the pork was so fragrant and tasted great on the pork. We would make this pork recipe again and again.

The tatties (the more yellow lump in the photo above) – I just made my standard mashed potatoes because we love how they come out and my recipe is fairly similar to the one from Outlander Kitchen. I always add paprika to my mashed potatoes as well as salt and pepper and use a hefty amount of butter (we only eat them occasionally, so it is fine.

The neeps, (the more white lump in the photo above) I made according to the recipe – well, none of us liked them. I tried, I really did. But just couldn’t get past 2 bites. The taste of the rutabaga was SO strong and we associate the taste with dirt. I like regular yellow turnips, have them every year at Thanksgiving, but these rutabagas will likely not see a return to my table.

Well, 2 out of 3 isn’t bad, right?

 

Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads. Any post remotely related to cooking can participate.

 

Copyright © 2014 by The Maiden’s Court

Book Review: Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
Book 1 in the Outlander series
Unabridged, 33 hr. 8 min.
Recorded Books
Davina Porter (Narrator)
July 13, 2006
★★★★★+

Genre: Historical Fiction; Time-Slip

Source: Downloaded the audiobook from Audible
Heat Level: '''''

“The year is 1945. Claire Randall, a former combat nurse, is back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon--when she walks through a standing stone in one of the ancient stone circles that dot the British Isles. Suddenly she is a Sassenach--an "outlander"--in a Scotland torn by war and raiding Highland clans in the year of Our Lord...1743.

Hurled back in time by forces she cannot understand, Claire is catapulted into intrigues and dangers that may threaten her life...and shatter her heart. For here she meets James Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior, and becomes a woman torn between fidelity and desire...and between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives.”

I put off reading this book for quite some time. I had the print version on my shelf for a couple years and didn’t get any closer to reading it the more time went on. I had heard from so many people, whose reading tastes are similar to mine, that the book was amazing and I need to read it, but for some reason I never picked it up. The impetus to finally deciding to read the book, and on audiobook instead of print, was the excitement within the historical fiction community leading up to the show. I just HAD to read the book before watching the show!

I haven’t read a book this good in a little while! It has everything you could want in a novel – no wonder it is hard to classify in terms of genre! There are battle scenes, blood, and brutality. There are sensual love scenes and scintillating sexual tension. And historical nature of the period just oozing from every page. Elements of this novel could certainly appeal to both genders.

There were moments that made me cry. There were two moments where I wanted to put the book down and not pick it back up because I just didn’t want to know what happened next (although my curiosity quickly got the best of me)! There were brutal scenes of pain and despair that you could feel deep in your bones. Your emotions are wrenched every way throughout this novel. I loved and hated characters in this book at different times. That all of these emotions were possible in one book goes to show how real these characters and how true their stories felt.

The audiobook ended with a preview of book two and it was extremely hard for me not to immediately pick up book two to figure out how exactly we are where the book begins [alas I had other reading commitments first]. This will be a series that I will eagerly return to time and again.

★★★★★+

In my relatively extensive audiobook listening experience I have only found 3 narrators who were truly perfect for their role and who I would come back and listen to again and again. Davina Porter is one of those narrators! She had the perfect voice for our Scottish and English characters; for me her accents were spot on. Her pacing was perfect – even if 33 hours is a long time to listen to one narrator! She put real emotion behind her narration and truly contributed to the feel of this book and bringing the characters to vivid life. I am thrilled to see that she is narrating all the novels in the Outlander series.

Buy the Book: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | RJ Julia

Reviews of this book by other bloggers:

• Confessions of a Book Addict
• SFF Book Reviews

If you would like a sample of the audio narration of Davina Porter try this excerpt or for the print version, try one of these: Excerpt 1 | Excerpt 2 | Excerpt 3 | Excerpt 4

You can also watch the trailer below to get an idea of this book:

This video is a trailer for the STARZ TV show, but season 1 will be based on the first book in the series, Outlander.

Also by Diana Gabaldon:

Virgins (Book 0.5)

Dragonfly in Amber (Book 2)

Voyager (Book 3)

Drums of Autumn (Book 4)

The Fiery Cross (Book 5)

A Breath of Snow and Ashes (Book 6)

An Echo in the Bone (Book 7)

The Space Between (Book 7.5)

Written in My Own Heart’s Blood (Book 8)

A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows (Book 8.5)


Diana Gabaldon has also written the Lord John Grey series which is a spinoff of the Outlander series and takes place during the events of Voyager.

Find Diana Gabaldon: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads



Copyright © 2014 by The Maiden’s Court

Outlander: The TV Series

The TV series based on Diana Gabaldon's novel of the same name, Outlander, officially premieres this coming Saturday.  I'm racing to finish the book before Saturday - I'm listening to the audiobook production as I write this post.  The book is great, but the audio production is amazing!  I'm a recent convert to the book series.  I have had Outlander on my book shelf for probably 2 years now.  I had heard over and over again from fellow bloggers about how great the book was and how I needed to read it - but I just never got around to it.  When I heard the show was coming out, I now had the impetus to get the book read - because I'm one of those who can't watch a show or movie without having read the book first. 

Starz has already posted the premiere episode on their website - available to all, not just subscribers.  I will be waiting for Saturday (so I can finish the book).  Here is the link to watch the premiere if you want to see it.   I have read mixed reviews of the show thus far.  I have enjoyed the historical productions that Starz has put on thus far, so I am interested in this one.  You can check out the Outlander Starz website for information on the casting etc.

Have you watched the premiere already?  What did you think?  Are you excited to watch the series? 

 

Copyright © 2014 by The Maiden’s Court