Nowhere near as good as kidnapped, but still a good read

Now I know why Stevenson didn't write girls into his stories.

Alot less crazy Scottish hijinks and adventures. Alot more politics and speechifying :/

Less bromance in favor of het-romance :/

I was actually dissapointed at the end when David & Catriona got together because were so miserable living together that I can't see them overcoming their communication issues and being able to have a happy or healthy relationship.

I'm also sad that most of Catriona's badassness was relegated to the sidelines and subplots, and diminished by David perceiving her as so "naive" and "innocent."

3.5/5. The highlight of this for me was probably having a woman in a much more prominent role than Kidnapped. I was pleasantly surprised that I liked the love story and was genuinely rooting for David and Catriona by the end. I also liked that David explored more places like the Bass and Holland; it felt less focused on the political dangers than Kidnapped, but there were still some good action scenes. It was nice to see Alan again, even if his plot was mostly just him dodging exile to see his friends. Overall I think this was more of a love story than an action adventure like Kidnapped, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, and I did like the last section as a way to wrap it up.

This is the distant follow up to Kidnapped and finds Balfour travelling to Scotland where he meets and falls for the lovely Catriona while trying to free a man charged with murder. In doing so he manages to get himself kidnapped (again!) before heading off on more travels with plenty of misdeeds and betrayal. Stevenson shows not only his skill at weaving a good adventure tale but also his skills at developing a romantic angle that doesn't overtake or overwhelm the sense of adventure and carefree living that dominates his work. This is again a story for younger adults but taps into the changing views regarding love and romance. A great little read.