Illusion

by George MacDonald

Like Eliste, your protagonist here is thrust into a glittering court they don't understand, but Addison takes the opposite approach—her hero is genuinely kind in a corrupt system, and watching him navigate court politics with decency rather than cunning creates a different kind of tension. You'll get that same claustrophobic feeling of being trapped in elaborate social rituals while danger closes in, but with a protagonist learning to survive through integrity rather than manipulation.

by John Nalbandian

Chakraborty builds her revolution from the ground up through multiple perspectives, much like Volsky does, but she weaves in djinn mythology and a magic system rooted in Islamic history. The way she shows how ideology corrupts institutions—and how individuals become caught between competing loyalties—echoes Eliste's journey, but with the added complexity of a protagonist who's complicit in the very system she's learning to question.

by Elizabeth Kostova

This is my surprise pick for you—it's literary historical fiction rather than fantasy, but Kostova constructs her narrative like a mystery box the way Volsky constructs her world, with each revelation about Dracula's history mirroring the protagonist's own discovery of dangerous truths. Both books share that quality of elegant prose wrapped around increasingly dark historical secrets, and both heroines find themselves in over their heads because of family connections they didn't choose.

by Brian David Bruns

Barker's fantasy is grittier and more working-class than Volsky's aristocratic setting, but he shares her gift for showing how ordinary people get crushed by forces larger than themselves. Where Eliste experiences revolution from the privileged side, Barker's protagonist experiences it from the bottom—and the emotional impact of watching someone stripped of everything they thought defined them is just as devastating, delivered through prose that's lean and unsentimental.

by Gerald Seymour

Published in 2010, this gives you a different era of fantasy writing—Kingfisher has Volsky's ability to blend genuine danger with character development, but she does it through a more intimate story. The way her protagonist must navigate both external threats and internal transformation, while trapped in circumstances beyond her control, mirrors Eliste's arc, though Kingfisher's approach is more introspective and her worldbuilding has a folkloric rather than historical-revolutionary feel.