Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon

22 reviews

loveisland's review against another edition

adventurous emotional slow-paced

3.75

Still in love with Jamie, for better or for worse 🤪

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual content, Infertility, Death, Rape, Miscarriage, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Gore, War, and Grief

hannahbailey's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

I enjoyed this a lot more than the first one; perhaps I was coming in with lower expectations. Rich in its historical setting, we travel from Scotland to Paris and back again. Really enjoyed learning more about the politics of the time and the Jacobite rebellion. Hated seeing the English win ofc, we're always the villains 😫

This was a comfort read as the story and characters were familiar. However I was kept engaged by the high stakes not only of Paris aristocracy but civil war too! There is something quite mesmerising about Gabaldon's writing, despite the smut scenes.

TW: r*pe, SA, misogyny, murder, death, PTSD, miscarriage, violence, kidnapping, torture

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Misogyny, Grief, Medical trauma, Medical content, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Torture, Sexual violence, Sexism, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, War, Violence, Sexual assault, Rape, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Colonisation and Classism

noctadea's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Violence, Pregnancy, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Blood, Miscarriage, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Grief, Infidelity, and Gore

Minor: Animal death, Classism, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcoholism

tiffanysmith's review

adventurous challenging emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I enjoy Gabaldon’s immersion into historical times and characters, but this did get quite slow for me toward the middle. To keep my momentum, I actually switched to audiobook to get through the middle and then went back to reading toward the end when the excitement redeveloped. The pacing of the first book was somewhat better, but it also had it’s moments of unhurried storytelling. 

Still, I love how she drew me in with details and emotion. Gabaldon is very skilled with gifting the reader with all their senses during the read. It’s as if you can taste, hear, and smell every moment for better or worse. This is a true reflection of the magic of being immersed in an amazing read. 

There were a few moments I had some conflicting thoughts about how the author approached rape and sex in this installment. Some of Jamie’s remarks/actions were probably in remarkably bad taste. Admittedly, the events of Claire and Jamie’s relationship take place in the 18th century, so relationships were quite different back then. I don’t believe Jamie is a bad man, only that there were some specific choices of words or actions he made that  made me cringe at the vulgarity. 

Overall, the book is well-written and I do feel like I am a part of the world woven by the author. It’s full of beautiful moments of love and heartbreak, as well as loyalty, betrayal, and a sincere fierceness to protect those that we hold most dear. And then the heartbreak! I look forward to the next book! I’ve realized by now that I’m committed and in it for the long-haul. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Chronic illness, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Pregnancy, Grief, Rape, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Death, Miscarriage, and Sexual content

Moderate: Vomit, Torture, Sexual harassment, and War

Minor: Alcohol, Classism, Drug use, and Murder

jillianseibert's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Hot, sexy, the slow burn is necessary.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, War, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Rape, Miscarriage, Classism, Cursing, Grief, Infertility, and Infidelity

Minor: Domestic abuse

linnylionheart's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, Medical content, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Vomit, and Cursing

Moderate: Addiction, Infertility, and Xenophobia

Minor: Animal death, Dementia, Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

suz_n_van's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

Moderate: Child death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship

toni7tess's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

3 stars for Gabaldon's beautiful writing style and description. But there are a few things that really annoy me. First of all, why does she have to keep using rape as a plot device? It takes away so much from the story and just feels super unrealistic and over the top. The other thing (and this felt genuinly ridiculous) is that for some reason Gabaldon has a tendency to make all the really evil people in her stories gay? I know this book was written a long time ago, but at this point it kind of feels like she is doing it on purpose. And if you're going to include LGBTQ+ characters in your book, why not also include some consensual sex?
The book (even more so than the last one) felt like it could have been a few hundred pages shorter, but that wasn't that big of a deal to me because I really like Gabaldon's writing style.
The love story between Roger and Brianna also really didn't feel believable and like it was just there to frame the rest of the story. It was very hard to get emotionally invested and I would have liked that part of the book to be a bit more focused.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, War, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Miscarriage, and Grief

meganpbennett's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Dragonfly in Amber starts off very differently than Outlander ends. In fact, it starts 22 years after Clair first goes through the stones and ends up back in time, and 20 years since she returned

pregnant with Jamie's child

. Clair calls on Roger, a historian, and asks him for information about some men who may or may not have died at Culloden, and eventually tells Roger and her daughter, Brianna, the story of Outlander and what happened between the end of Outlander and Culloden. I say that because Culloden is a fixed point in time - no matter what you try to do, a fixed point in time will happen as it is meant to happen. 

A good portion of Dragonfly in Amber is spent in Paris, where Jamie is trying to both support Bonnie Prince Charlie's uprising and keep it from ever happening. Lots of things happen in Paris, and it's fascinating. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Violence, Sexual violence, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Death, Grief, Physical abuse, Murder, Animal death, and Vomit

Moderate: Torture, Confinement, and Suicidal thoughts

infinitegoldenfloors's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Death, Fatphobia, Grief, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Murder

Moderate: Body shaming, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Torture, and Misogyny

Minor: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Suicidal thoughts, and Body shaming