Voyager (Outlander #3) by Diana Gabaldon
Synopsis
Their passionate encounter happened long ago by whatever measurement Claire Randall took. Two decades before, she had traveled back in time and into the arms of a gallant eighteenth-century Scot named Jamie Fraser.
Then she returned to her own century to bear his child, believing him dead in the tragic battle of Culloden. Yet his memory has never lessened its hold on her… and her body still cries out for him in her dreams.
Then Claire discovers that Jamie survived. Torn between returning to him and staying with their daughter in her own era, Claire must choose her destiny.
And as time and space come full circle, she must find the courage to face the passion and pain awaiting her…the deadly intrigues raging in a divided Scotland… and the daring voyage into the dark unknown that can reunite or forever doom her timeless love.
My Review
This is my second favorite book in the series, after Outlander. There is so much intense passion and drama. The book moves from Claire in the 1960s as she travels with her daughter, Bree, to Scotland, to learn more about what happened to Jamie during the battle at Culloden. When she discovers that Jamie miraculously survived, she has to decide between staying in present day with her daughter or returning to 18th century Scotland to reconnect with the man she loves.
Since this is the third book in a nine (possibly ten or more) book series, I’m not giving anything away by saying she obviously chooses to return to another time. And that’s when things really get interesting. While Claire knows Jamie survived, Jamie is not prepared for Claire’s return and all hell breaks loose.
Plot
The story starts off slower than I’d like, but when it finally picks up, it takes off and never looks back. There’s a lot of ground covered. We see flashbacks of the past twenty years through both the eyes of Claire and Jamie. We also get glimpses inside the heads of Bree and Roger, the nephew of the Reverend that Claire and Frank had met nearly 25 years earlier when Claire first went through the stones. I’ll admit that I didn’t think Roger’s point of view added much to the story, but it didn’t annoy me, either. At more than 1,000 pages, this is really an epic tale that covers several continents and two centuries.
Characters
The characters are as intense and passionate as ever. The addition of an adult Bree is a fresh breath of air as is Roger, although Roger is the character I like the least. The grown up character of Fergus is a delight as is Young Ian, Jamie’s nephew. The return of Laoghaire ignites fireworks along the lines of the Fourth of July debacle in San Diego in 2012 when they all went off at once. Several other interesting characters include Lord John Grey, Jamie’s fellow Jacobite survivors, and Jamie’s smuggling sidekick, Mr. Whiloughby.
Bottom Line
Voyager is a delightful, intense, and action-packed addition to the Outlander series.
Title: Dragonfly in Amber
Author: Diana Gabaldon
Publisher: Random House
Pages: 1072
Category: Historical, Science Fiction, Romance
Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars
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