Rating: 
Summary: A Different Perspective on the French Revolution
Review: This book is a work of historical fiction with a slight fantasy twist, following the lines of the French Revolution. The heroine Eliste is on the losing side of the revolution.Eliste travels to court to be a lady in waiting and seems to fall into one trap to another. The king's playboy brother tries to seduce her while she's in court. After she leaves the court, she stays in the city, despite the danger of the peasants revolt. You want to give her advice like "Get outta there, girl." The traps continue until you feel like she can never get out. This is a winding, weaving, long book and there's not much fantasy, but it keeps you hooked. The characters are well-developed and believable, and you find yourself liking the snooty, bigoted heroine.
Rating:
Summary: Uniquely and masterfully written.
Review: This book is amazing. The story is unique and mesmerizing. Pains are taken to create a main character who is both pitiable and admirable; as a reader I was extremely interested in knowing the outcome of her struggle. I am singularly impressed with the writing itself. Volsky demonstrates formidible control over language and vocabulary, and I appreciate the effort!
Rating:
Summary: wonderful
Review: This book is captivating even when the plot is slow. It tells the story of the French Revolution (not the Russian, as the back of the book would have you believe) through the eyes of Eliste vo Derivalle, a sympathetic and idealistic young noblewoman. There are many good parallels to be drawn, between Kokotte and the Guillatine, and between Whiss V'Aleur and Robespierre.
Rating:
Summary: One of My Favorites
Review: This book is definetly one of my all time favorites. I have always been fascinated by the workings of a revolution and it is even more fascinating when enhanced with magical twists and fantastical flavour. But I keep coming back to this book (I have read it at least five times) for the characters. There is no shortage of fascinating personalities in this book. There are some evil, some mysterious, some noble and some comic and I will always love Eliste and Dref. If you can get a hold of this book, do so, it is well worth it.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful
Review: This eloquently written masterpiece is captivating, beautiful, romantic, and heart wrenching. The characters are life like, well drawn, in short they are really human.
The Exalted are a nobel class who have achieved their gentility through magic, though the magic is long lost over the years; only a few people have it and those who do are not necessary Exalted. The main character is Eliste vo Derivaille who is a spoiled noblewoman, brought to the capital of Sherreen to serve as a queen's lady. But revolution of peasants sends the nation into revolt and the Exalted are soon a hunted class; no one is safe, everyone is a traitor, anyone can be killed.
The novel is romantic, as well as based loosely on France history. It is so well written it is as if you were watching a movie, not reading a book. The images are poignant and stick with the reader, the characters are unforgettable, and the plot is one worth reading.
Worth everything: the cost, the read, the tears.
Rating:
Summary: Deep, engrossing fantasy take on the French Revolution
Review: This is a book about metamorphasis and the change of a petty, spoiled "exaulted" (noble) girl named Eliste. Illusion is obviously a fantasy take on the French revolution, so it's fairly clear what is going to happen...but so what--that doesn't reduce the suspense any. A reader interested in history will easily be able to pick out the parallels of in characters, the guillotine, and the palace at Versailles. I couldn't put this book down. You will want to read Illusion in one sitting, partially because it's so gripping, partially because you can't bear to leave the character until the situation gets, at least, slightly better. The middle of the book reminded me of nothing so much as a nightmare, the kind where you are always afraid, always running, where all your family and the people around you are caught or killed. Thankfully, three-fourths of the way through, the books lightens a little, and the ending is somewhat optimistic. Volsky's world is richly textured and totally immersive. Illusion perfectly captures the terror of a revolution, the anger of the masses, the rioting, and the revolution's metamorphasis from idealistic to dictatorial. It is an engrossing fantasy take on the French revolution and well worth your time.
Rating:
Summary: Just read it!
Review: This is one of the most amazing works of fantasy I've ever read! Paula Volsky has an amazing talent, and she uses it to the fullest extent here. Whether you like the French Revolution or not (and I love it), this book will draw you in and will not let you go. The characters are wonderful, round, believable. The dialog is witty, the politics enthralling. The city of Vonhar springs to life! Forget the brainless fantasy that most people write now, this is a book you'll love to read again and again. I certainly have.
Rating:
Summary: Now this is what I call a wonderful historical fantasy!
Review: This novel, a fictionalization of the French Revolution set in the invented kingdom of "Vonahr" and laced with a little bit of magic, is a gem of historical fantasy and ought to be a classic. The author combines epic ideals, all-too-human characters, and lovely prose to create a book I couldn't put down and will never forget. The events of these turbulent times are seen through the eyes of a high-born young woman, Eliste vo Derrivalle. Eliste is at first a product of her society and upbringing--a spoiled brat who doesn't think to question her class's superiority over the serfs and working class. She is only willing to respect one serf--the brilliant Dref Zeenoson, whose talents belie everything Eliste has been taught about the inferiority of his kind. When Eliste's father shows himself as a cruel master, and Dref defies him, only Eliste can save Dref from a terrible fate. She frees him--and then tries to put this subversive incident out of her mind. For Eliste has been appointed as a maid of honor to the Queen herself. She travels to the capital and is trained in courtly ways. But the fairy-tale court is not long for this world; a revolution is beginning. When Eliste loses everything she had taken for granted, she will have to learn to survive just like everyone else. But she will not always be without help--for there is one person who has never forgotten Eliste's first act of heroism. This is an enthralling, heartbreaking, and suspenseful story, made all the better by its wonderfully drawn characters: the ingenious Dref, the stubbornly dignified grand dame Zeralenn, the incorrigibly shallow Aurelie, the so-sweet Kairthe, and even the terrifying Whiss v'Aleur, who lays waste to a nation to assuage his childhood feelings of inadequacy. But most of all, Eliste, who matures into a very different sort of woman than she had planned to become. This is not just a good fantasy; it also holds its own with the best sort of straight-up historical fiction, illuminating a place and time from its hovels to its palaces, as seen through the eyes of memorable characters. If you like fantasy, read this book. If you don't normally go for fantasy, but like a good romantic historical epic, suspend your disbelief about the magic and read it anyway. And if you're like me, and like both genres--don't hesitate another moment.
Rating: 
Summary: Illusion
Review: Worldbuilding is the strength in this novel, set in an 18th century-like world rather than the tired generic medieval of too many fantasy novels. Some nice touches of steampunk, though underutilized, liven things up. The world is detailed, believable and interesting. Illusion is the story of a revolution, and the ugliness and evils of revolution are clearly well known to the author. However, the stereotypical and somewhat one-dimensional characters (the heroine is spunky with a heart-shaped face, and so on) are a weakness. Though the plot moves along well, there are some holes in it (why do the nits of Nu-Nu only appear when it's convenient for the plot?). However, the author does show a pleasant willingness to be grim. The tone is a slightly distant third-person POV, which kept me from engaging as much as I would have liked to. I recommend this book as an example of strong worldbuilding, even though I would have preferred more individual characters.
| 
