SET DURING WORLD WAR II, Volk is the story of friendship that transcends politics and war. Lane is an American fighter pilot; Quality, an American pacifist Quaker; and Ernst, a Nazi.
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About the Author
Piers Anthony is the acclaimed author of more than 100 novels and short story collections. His books include the Xanth series, the Mode series, Chthon and Total Recall.
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
Format:Hardcover
I found Volk very disappointing. The book is poorly written and full of trite cliches. Mr. Anthony is certainly capable of better. He seems to have an ideological axe to grind but should have checked his facts more closely. The historical 'facts' presented in his last chapter are untrue and have been negated by reputable historians including John Keegan and Steven Ambrose. Spend your money on a different book. I wish I had.
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By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
Volk is a historical novel set before and during World War II. It has three main characters. Through their eyes we see the development of the war. There is Quality, an American Quaker that will test her pacifism in the war zone; Lane, a pilot and Quality's fiance that joins the war early through the Royal Air Force(RAF); and Ernst, a German exchange student that befriend Lane before the war and later becomes a German SS officer.
This novel is incredible good. It is not the typical war novel with a lot of fighting and blood. It is more concerned about each characters and how the war affected them. Quality, as a Quaker, goes to Spain during the end of the Spanish Civil War and her life changes completely. Lane, is a member of a very special pilot group that promote a new way to do air war. And Ernst, after joining the SS, find his Nazi idealism testes to the limit as the horrible facts of the war unfold in front of his eyes.
This is a remarkable novel in the tradition of other historical novel of Piers Anthony like Tantham Mound. If you like well-written historical novel and want to learn new things about World War II this is the novel to read.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3.0 out of 5 stars
4 reviews
6 of 8 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars
Could have been a good book, but
Oct 20 1999
By A Customer
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
This book is written so poorly. Anthony should have spent a month or more actually reading through the book and questioning things, instead of writing it and leaving it at that. Is it even remotely believable that after Quality falls in love with Ernst that she tells his former fiance, "Oh, I know a perfect guy for you, (who just happens to be my former fiance) if only you could meet ..." And of course, they do meet, oh-so coincidently. That is just one example of things working out too neatly to be satisfying. Half the book reads like poor journalism, the other half like an adolescent attempt at literature. I hate to be harsh on Piers, but dang it, I want to see him go back to writing REAL novels, with real characters, real conflict, and a real plot.
5 of 7 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars
A decent, but forgettable novel of World War II
Jan 28 1999
By A Customer
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
Piers Anthony bills Volk as a politically incorrect novel of the forbidden love between a Nazi officer and the Quaker fiancee of his pre-war American friend. Volk nicely brings out some of the ironies of WWII: that not all Nazis subsribed to their party's ideology, and that the Allies also engaged in practices as barbarous as the Nazis did.
Unfortunately, the novel does little more than play around with some of these ideas or the characters themselves. The storyline covers a six- or seven-year period, but little in the novel reflects that. Nor is it particularly unsettling when the Quaker woman is captured by Nazis for smuggling Jews; nor can the reader really feel that woman's anguish at the compromises wartime forces on her.
Additionally, the book is rather poorly edited; while Xlibris allows authors to circumvent the big publishing houses to get their books into print, it apparently doesn't provide editing services. In the case of Volk, Piers Anthony would have been better off hiring a freelance editor or giving the book a closer second read himself.
Volk is readable, but disappointing. Unless you're a tremendous fan of Anthony's writing, you're unlikely to finish Volk after you put it down.
7 of 10 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Volk a great historical book
Dec 9 1998
By A Customer
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
Volk is a historical novel set before and during World War II. It has three main characters. Through their eyes we see the development of the war. There is Quality, an American Quaker that will test her pacifism in the war zone; Lane, a pilot and Quality's fiance that joins the war early through the Royal Air Force(RAF); and Ernst, a German exchange student that befriend Lane before the war and later becomes a German SS officer.
This novel is incredible good. It is not the typical war novel with a lot of fighting and blood. It is more concerned about each characters and how the war affected them. Quality, as a Quaker, goes to Spain during the end of the Spanish Civil War and her life changes completely. Lane, is a member of a very special pilot group that promote a new way to do air war. And Ernst, after joining the SS, find his Nazi idealism testes to the limit as the horrible facts of the war unfold in front of his eyes.
This is a remarkable novel in the tradition of other historical novel of Piers Anthony like Tantham Mound. If you like well-written historical novel and want to learn new things about World War II this is the novel to read.
›
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3.0 out of 5 stars
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