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Paula Volsky

Autor von Trugbilder.

14+ Werke 2,419 Mitglieder 50 Rezensionen Lieblingsautor von 16 Lesern

Über den Autor

Born & raised in Fanwood, New Jersey, Paula Volsky majored in English literature at Vassar, then traveled to England to complete an M.A. in Shakespearean studies at the University of Birmingham. She has returned to New Jersey with her collection of Victoriana. (Bowker Author Biography)

Beinhaltet die Namen: Volsky Paula, Paula Brandon

Reihen

Werke von Paula Volsky

Trugbilder. (1991) 665 Exemplare
Das grosse Rennen. (2000) 272 Exemplare
Thron der Wölfe. (1993) 268 Exemplare
Das weisse Tribunal. (1997) 192 Exemplare
Die Pforten der Dämmerung. (1996) 162 Exemplare
The Curse of the Witch-Queen (1982) 152 Exemplare
The Traitor's Daughter (2011) 116 Exemplare
Der Fluch des Zauberers (1989) 81 Exemplare
The Ruined City (2012) 28 Exemplare
The Wanderers (2012) 26 Exemplare

Zugehörige Werke

Songs of the dying earth: Stories in honor of Jack Vance (2009) — Mitwirkender — 629 Exemplare
Devils & Demons: A Treasury of Fiendish Tales Old & New (1991) — Mitwirkender — 258 Exemplare
Angels of Darkness: Tales of Troubled and Troubling Women (1995) — Einführung — 27 Exemplare
Sweet Revenge: 10 Plays of Bloody Murder (1992) — Mitwirkender — 23 Exemplare

Getagged

Wissenswertes

Gebräuchlichste Namensform
Volsky, Paula
Geburtstag
20th Century
Geschlecht
female
Nationalität
USA
Wohnorte
Fanwood, New Jersey, USA (born)
Ausbildung
Vassar College
University of Birmingham
Beziehungen
Myette-Volsky, Aline (mother)

Mitglieder

Diskussionen

Fantasy novel from pre-1994 in Name that Book (Februar 2017)

Rezensionen

This book started so well. It had a really engaging hook. The author gets the reader really invested in Eliste, her uncle, and Dref. Then I got past the beginning and the middle dragged, and kept dragging. Nothing interesting is actually happening in the Shereen court because Eliste is not interested in it, even when the revolution is happening. When it switches perspective to the revolutionaries, I had a difficult time caring about their plight. It was at this point that I wondered why this book is written as a fantasy because it is not as if the plot needs magic. This could easily have been historical fiction and it would have made more sense. The world building is confusing if you have any context for the French revolution, but maybe I was overthinking it. I ended up skipping 100 pages and it turns out I didn't miss much, when the author finally gets around to reuniting Eliste with Dref. But at that point, I was disinterested in finishing the book.… (mehr)
 
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kittyfoyle | 14 weitere Rezensionen | Mar 15, 2024 |
This was a much better read than Illusion, which I think suffered from the fact that it was just too damn long, and wading through the stuff about the French/Russian revolution was like slogging through Tom Hooper's Les Miserables with less singing. Volsky is a good writer, and clearly puts a lot of thought into her world building. Her weakness is storytelling. And I don't mean plotting. The plot is fine, even though it is a weird mish-mash of Julius Caesar and Beauty and the Beast. She is one of those writers that tells you things about the world that she finds interesting, but doesn't make an effort to make it interesting to the reader. That is probably the weakness of both the Sorcerer's Lady and Illusion; the author isn't very interested in interpersonal drama and character development, and struggles to make the reader care about the political strife that she clearly cares so much about. This book starts with Verran who runs away because she has to be married to a sorcerer, Fal Grizhni against her will, in a city that has canals. Lots of canals. What city in Europe has canals?(I know it is Venice).
Running away isn't something Verran does on the regular because she is characterized as being pretty obedient. So she gives in and gets married to this super powerful sorcerer, who she is more than a little afraid of. So, on paper this should be a pretty straight forward beauty and the beast story, where Verran learns more about her husband, becomes less afraid, and they eventually fall in love with each other. But no. That is not what happens.
What we get instead is the author tells us that this happens off screen somewhere. She tells us this when Verran gets into an argument with another character, that their marriage is not loveless, and that she is pregnant.
Like, why couldn't you show that? Why were there no scenes where there is at least an indication that they are trying to understand each other? You have 250 pages in which to do this. Why do we get chapters about what the villains are doing, whose names I can't for the life of me remember, when we know what they are doing because our protagonists are constantly talking/reacting to it.We know that Grizhni is being scapegoated by a corrupt government, but he is not really a character because we don't know his motivations or what he values with the exception of Verran. He is meant to be this larger than life figure in the politics of this world who is super OP and intimidating, but readers and Verran ( because it is her pov) rarely get glimpses of the man. It is like the romantic plot and the political overarching plot can't exist simultaneously in this book, so the subplot is hand waved away even though it is called the Sorcerer's Lady, so we are supposed to care about this relationship. We know Verran is trying to reach out to her husband. She is trying really hard. The most we get from Grizhni to indicate that he cares about her is that he glares less hard. Hell, I was more invested in the relationship she had with the mute servant, Nyd because it was more dynamic. So, when Fal Grizhni dies I kind of shrugged. He is one of the protagonists, there should be more of a reaction than this.
… (mehr)
 
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kittyfoyle | 8 weitere Rezensionen | Mar 15, 2024 |
Not bad for a first novel, and Volsky certainly ticks all the boxes with giants, sorcerers, and a prolonged quest as well as a few novel boxes of her own......homicidal squash?? But it drones on for about 100 pages too many leaving the final series of twists feeling rushed and incomplete.
 
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NurseBob | Aug 19, 2023 |
When I first read this novel, my knowledge of the French Revolution was scant. So, over the years, as I looked inot the French Revolution and The Terror, I have seen just how much Volsky drew from that history.
 
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JDRussell | 14 weitere Rezensionen | Aug 25, 2022 |

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Werke
14
Auch von
7
Mitglieder
2,419
Beliebtheit
#10,599
Bewertung
½ 3.7
Rezensionen
50
ISBNs
46
Sprachen
2
Favoriten
16

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