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Aug. 15th, 2016 09:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
A couple people had recced Melissa Scott and Lisa Barnett's Point of Hopes to me before I finally picked it up -- it's a mystery novel set in a Netherlands-inspired approximately Renaissance fantasy world built around a heavily astrological culture and featuring many, many queer people, including:
Protagonist #1: Nicholas Rathe, the World's Most Honest Renaissance Policeman, who is slooooooowly investigating the disappearance of an increasing number of apprentice children in town
Protagonist #2: Philip Eslingen, an extremely dashing out-of-luck mercenary who loses his job in a missing-children-related riot and is then semi-recruited to semi-help with Rathe's investigation
This is one of those mystery fantasy novels where the worldbuilding is fantastic and interesting and thorough, and the mystery is kind of .... there as an excuse to hang the worldbuilding on, mostly; there's some Obviously Sinister culprits, and our hero spends three-quarters of the book sort of vaguely side-eying them before being like "aha, yes! these potentially sinister individuals definitely ARE sinister!" several chapters before the end. It is not a particularly satisfying mystery.
I think the relationship between Nicholas and Philip is supposed to carry the emotional weight of the series, but there's not a lot of it in this book; by the time it ends, they're .... friendly acquaintances? I'm not sure at this point whether I'm going to read the sequels -- like I said, I thought the worldbuilding was great and super interesting, but I'm not yet feeling a plot/emotional heft. People who've read the rest, thoughts?
Protagonist #1: Nicholas Rathe, the World's Most Honest Renaissance Policeman, who is slooooooowly investigating the disappearance of an increasing number of apprentice children in town
Protagonist #2: Philip Eslingen, an extremely dashing out-of-luck mercenary who loses his job in a missing-children-related riot and is then semi-recruited to semi-help with Rathe's investigation
This is one of those mystery fantasy novels where the worldbuilding is fantastic and interesting and thorough, and the mystery is kind of .... there as an excuse to hang the worldbuilding on, mostly; there's some Obviously Sinister culprits, and our hero spends three-quarters of the book sort of vaguely side-eying them before being like "aha, yes! these potentially sinister individuals definitely ARE sinister!" several chapters before the end. It is not a particularly satisfying mystery.
I think the relationship between Nicholas and Philip is supposed to carry the emotional weight of the series, but there's not a lot of it in this book; by the time it ends, they're .... friendly acquaintances? I'm not sure at this point whether I'm going to read the sequels -- like I said, I thought the worldbuilding was great and super interesting, but I'm not yet feeling a plot/emotional heft. People who've read the rest, thoughts?
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Date: 2016-08-16 02:29 am (UTC)Ahem. I don't think it's the beeeest of Scott and Barnett's work, but I do kind of adore Point of Hopes a LOT, and I think the sequels are better. There's certainly a lot more exploration of Nico and Philip's relationship, especially in Point of Knives. I would look it up, definitely; Point of Knives is a novella so it won't take you quite so much time to read.
Also, if you're interested in Queer People Being Happy may I recommend Death By Silver by Melissa Scott and Amy Griswold.
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Date: 2016-08-16 11:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-08-16 02:38 am (UTC)(also seconding Death by Silver and its sequel, they are excellent, though not quite as dense on the worldbuilding as the Points books)
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Date: 2016-08-16 12:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-08-16 01:38 pm (UTC)That was my introduction to Scott & Barnett, and remains possibly the best alt-Elizabethan novel I've ever seen, complete with wizard-spies Kit Marlowe and Sir Philip Sidney. (If you don't believe me, ask Delia Sherman, Pamela Dean, the late David Hartwell, and hardcover-edition cover artist Margaret Organ-Kean, all of whom have reviewed/blurbed the novel at one time or another.)
FWIW, I also wanted to like Point of Hopes better than I did, if not perhaps for the same reasons, but it's been a very long time since I've read any of those books and they did not stick in my head the way Armor of Light has. (Also, it does not hurt my sense of recall that I am just back from a weekend of glorious theater including excellent Shakespeare, astonishingly good Dickens, and extremely silly but wonderful Gilbert & Sullivan.)
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Date: 2016-08-16 04:22 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2016-08-16 11:28 am (UTC)I'm glad the sequels are getting such positive comments here! I uh had heard mixed things? I think you should read them and report back so I can make an informed decision. :D
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Date: 2016-08-17 08:47 am (UTC)Can I give an umpteenth rec for the Death by Silver books? They're great, kind of Victorian era Harry Potter-esque organised magic system mysteries. With m/m sexy times with two great characters. Lots of fun. I hope we get a third in the series.
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