Diana Gabaldon: Dragonfly in Amber

• Mass Market Paperback: 976 pages
• Publisher: Dell; Reprint edition (November 2, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-13: 978-0440215622

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 flight to save both the child and the man she loves...

She even used the book title twice in the book (at least). Label me impressed.
 This book picks up right where the last one left off, once you get into the second part. First, though, you have to suffer through a few chapters of intense confusion. Claire is back in the present for some reason that we cannot at that point fathom, and she's looking for information on the men who died at Culloden, the very battle she was trying to prevent when last we left her. So immediately we know she failed. The question then becomes how and why.
 From there on it's a fairly romping adventure through France and back to Scotland with murder, scandal, and, of course, political intrigue. Jamie and Claire are trying to sabotage James and his Charles' attempt to initiate a revolution in England to gain the throne from George, but they have to appear to be Jacobites in order to farm their information without suspicion. This leads to some pretty uncomfortable circumstances as can be imagined.
 The one complaint I would have to lodge is a pacing issue. There are quite a few times when I was reading and I wondered why I was reading about some minute moment in Claire Randall's life. The book is already pretty massive and packed with action, so I could have done without some example of random domesticity. At the end, when you think it might be time to be close to over, you're wrong. The book continues far beyond what is reasonable. It seemed to be wondering in the last few chapters, skipping huge chunks of time. It was almost as if she was trying to cram everything into the last few sections and it came out kind of a trainwreck, I felt. Finally, the giant "plot twist" at the end seemed random and irrelevant when it came down to it. You didn't see it coming because a) it was almost forgotten and b) there was absolutely no hint of it. Rule #1 of writing a good mystery - don't pull your suspects or your motives completely out of your ass.
 SPOILER ALERT SPOILER SPOILER DO NOT READ IF YOU DON'T WANT A SPOILER
Aside from the pacing issues, the characterization was great. I especially enjoyed the development of Jack Randall (yes, he shows back up, are we really all surprised?). She did an excellent job of compromising what you thought of him and letting you see that maybe he had a softer side after all. And I thought Jamie learned a huge lesson in the last scene with Randall as well.
 Overall: B-
 The pacing issues really did bother me.

Philippa Gregory: The Other Queen

• ISBN-13: 9781416549147
• Publisher: Touchstone
• Publication date: 7/14/2009
• Pages: 464

This dazzling novel from bestselling author Philippa Gregory presents a new and unique view of one of history's most intriguing, romantic, and maddening heroines. Mary, Queen of Scots, trusts Queen Elizabeth's promise of sanctuary when she flees from rebels in Scotland and then finds herself imprisoned as the "guest" of George Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, and his indomitable wife, Bess of Hardwick. The newly married couple welcomes the doomed queen into their home, certain that serving as her hosts and jailers will bring them an advantage in the cutthroat world of the Elizabethan court. To their horror, they find that the task will bankrupt them, and as their home becomes the epicenter of intrigue and rebellion against Elizabeth, their loyalty to each other and to their sovereign comes into question. If Mary succeeds in seducing the earl into her own web of treachery and treason, or if the great spymaster William Cecil links them to the growing conspiracy to free Mary from her illegal imprisonment, they will all face the headsman.

 So here's a fun story for you - apparently my family is related to Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots. Yeah. I have a personal connection to this story.
 Gregory here tales the tale of one Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland and France, and perhaps rightful heir to the throne of England. But that's kind of up in the air, considering the fact that Elizabeth Tudor sits on the throne, the Protestant Queen. I believe that Gregory portrays both queens in lights uncommon to the usual history writings about them. Elizabeth is paranoid, easily led by her advisor William Cecil, a character who you would have met before had you read another of her works, The Virgin's Lover. He was quite a fixture at that time, and you can either consider him to have been a wise advisor or a grasping plotter, take your pick. This book chooses the latter view in contrast to her earlier version of him. Much more is made of Elizabeth's reliance on him and fear of rebellion. Mary is portrayed as a cunning, conniving woman, who was not only not silly or easily led by her emotions, but was rather more unfortunate in her allies and her lack of luck. That doesn't make her continued plotting in the face of consistent failure and her unfailing insistence on the divinity of her person any less annoying.
 We also have some side characters in the Earl of Shrewsbury and his wife, Bess, one of the few successful female businesswomen of  the time. While he is played for a fool, she is as grasping as the rest of the Protestant upstarts that have snatched wealth from the churches they have thrown down, and just as reluctant to let their stolen wealth go. The more amusing parts of the novel involve her musings on how God obviously favors the Protestants since they have so much wealth, and how she knows that the Protestants are just gold-mongers at heart that really wanted the Church's wealth more than divine approbation, but she doesn't seem to care much.
 The entire story consists of plot after plot after plot to free Mary and send her to Scotland, and all the political maneuverings that abounded in Tudor England. She managed to keep it from getting too tedious, though. The only other critique I really have is the writing style. For some reason, the first person writing seemed really stilted and too self-aware. Most of the time, Gregory doesn't make it feel like the character is aware of creating a story, but this one seemed like each character was writing a journal entry for posterity. At first it was sort of uncomfortable, but you got used to it after a bit.
 Overall: B
 This wasn't among Gregory's best. The writing was a little off in comparison to her previous works, and it was just more of the same going on, although, like I said, it didn't ever stray into boring territory.