Customer Reviews

Sorcerer's Heir

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

...is that they're often a rather poor expositional bridge between the first and the third of the trilogy. Alas, "The Sorcerer's Heir" falls into this all-too-common mode. Continuing the story primarily through the eyes of Lady Verran fal Ghrizni, we are suffocated in the world of the utterly alien Vardruls upon whom the Duke of Lanthi Ume makes war bordering on genocide. Ms. Volsky is to be commended for her ability to create a race that is its own civilisation and not just humans with pointed ears - but the Vardruls are so convincingly foreign (an effect heightened by the narrator's horrified point of view) that reading about their civilisation for an entire novel is rather difficult. Like Verran, one longs for a breath of the sewer-canals of Lanthi Ume over the "harmonious" caverns. Some levity is added by the introduction of two bravos and their ineffectual attempts to off the odious Duke, and the explorer who woos Verran is a charming character, but this is balanced by the Duke's Amazonian-betrothed, who is rather flat-charactered. Some interesting questions are tentatively explored concerning humanity's propensity towards the violent, but are never satisfactorally concluded. Perhaps that is the main quibble with "The Sorcerer's Heir" - too much is unresolved by characters who do not significantly change. Die-hard fans of Paula Volsky will want to invest in every book of this trilogy, but for those seeking a good novel, keep to "The Sorcerer's Lady" which easily stands alone.