Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
Phew, that was a monster read. It seemed to take forever but I enjoyed every minute of it. I particularly liked the last 20% when our MCs were finally in the all the same scenes. Up to this point they spent more time apart than together. That said, although there appears to be the start of an attraction, there is no hint of a romance in this book. I'm hoping in book two they have more on page time together and this blossoms into a relationship of sorts.
That said as a work of fantasy this was amazing. The world building was quite excellent, the story superb and it work its way to a climax that went off with a bang.
Loved it.
NB My only real issue was the editing. There were occasions of no full stops, double commas, missing speech marks, two different characters speaking in the same paragraph, and 1st person internal thoughts stuck into the middle of paragraphs with no italics or other indicators.
That said as a work of fantasy this was amazing. The world building was quite excellent, the story superb and it work its way to a climax that went off with a bang.
Loved it.
NB My only real issue was the editing. There were occasions of no full stops, double commas, missing speech marks, two different characters speaking in the same paragraph, and 1st person internal thoughts stuck into the middle of paragraphs with no italics or other indicators.
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I didn't realise before going into this that this is more of a crime novel/police procedural than a fantasy novel, or even a romance novel. (It's not a romance novel at all. The marketing department owes me answers. <.< )
ANYWAY, I enjoyed it a lot! It's been a long time since I've read a fantasy novel with such a steep learning curve (e.g. none of the magic or terminology is explained, the only exposition is <i>historical</i> stuff) but it was great, actually. Sometimes I don't want to be spoonfed stuff, sometimes I actually want to work it out myself. As a result the world felt expansive and rich and complex and like this book was only scratching the surface. I liked the characters and how obvious it was that Philip and Nico were starting to fall for each other, and I liked the plot. I'm glad it's the first in a series, because now I just want to stay in this world for a while and see what else they get up to.
Also, and this deserves a whole paragraph of its own, this feels like the queerest novel I've ever read, in the sense that....it's just queer through and through. it's baked into the world building. It feels real. There aren't any token queer side characters (often I feel like even if the protagonist is queer there'll only be their queer love interest and possibly one other queer friend.), this is more of an, everyone is queer until proven otherwise kind of situation. it feels safe. I don't know how else to explain it. it's just. this is what I want books to be like, this is how I want to see myself reflected: as an intrinsic part of the world.
ANYWAY, I enjoyed it a lot! It's been a long time since I've read a fantasy novel with such a steep learning curve (e.g. none of the magic or terminology is explained, the only exposition is <i>historical</i> stuff) but it was great, actually. Sometimes I don't want to be spoonfed stuff, sometimes I actually want to work it out myself. As a result the world felt expansive and rich and complex and like this book was only scratching the surface. I liked the characters and how obvious it was that Philip and Nico were starting to fall for each other, and I liked the plot. I'm glad it's the first in a series, because now I just want to stay in this world for a while and see what else they get up to.
Also, and this deserves a whole paragraph of its own, this feels like the queerest novel I've ever read, in the sense that....it's just queer through and through. it's baked into the world building. It feels real. There aren't any token queer side characters (often I feel like even if the protagonist is queer there'll only be their queer love interest and possibly one other queer friend.), this is more of an, everyone is queer until proven otherwise kind of situation. it feels safe. I don't know how else to explain it. it's just. this is what I want books to be like, this is how I want to see myself reflected: as an intrinsic part of the world.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping
The mass abduction/kidnapping of children is a central part of the plot. No children are harmed or murdered and they are all safely recovered.
I’m sorry to be petty but pretty tho the book is, it’s at least a hundred pages too long and then after waiting all that time for things to happen, the denouement is rushed and we don’t have enough stake in either victims or villains for a real pay off.
this book has been on my radar for a while, as someone who loves queer fantasy, and with a particular interest in early queer fantasy, but the summaries i'd heard of it always sounded a little lackluster, so it took me a while to pick it up. i couldn't even say why i finally did, but can i tell you, it was an excellent decision. because friends - THIS BOOK IS DELIGHTFUL.
it delighted me in every way! i loved it! i don't know if i could even articulate why i liked it so much - i just fell into it from the beginning, i could tell it was a good match for me from the first few chapters. it was just so much fun, and it felt so cozy and comfortable! i absolutely love the world - the astrology! the necromancy! how utterly and fully realized astreiant felt as a city! - and it's conveyed so well to the reader, through the plot and the mystery instead of via info-dump, that ever-present danger of fantasy.
and i ADORED the characters, they're all charming. rathe was great and insanely likeable, eslingen took a little longer to worm his way into my heart but he certainly got there by the end, and istre! what a great necromancer! monteia! caiazzo! denizard! they were all SO much fun and even the minor characters, of whom there are many, felt fleshed out and real.
it's weird because this book felt really, really fresh to me, everything about it, and yet it still seemed classic at the same time? and how great is it that this world has social equality between men and women, and politically/economically the structure is matriarchal? ultimately people's destinies in this world are ruled by their stars, not their gender or their sex. and the world is queer-positive. and it's all done so effortlessly!!! sometimes, face it, fantasy can feel like a slog, almost like a chore, but there was none of that here at all. it was all exciting, and fun, and immersive, and i really enjoyed it so much.
i will say, and i've seen a few other reviewers mention this as well, i did notice quite a few copy-editing errors - unclosed dialogue tags, missing commas or periods, missing italics, that sort of thing - but i loved this book so much that it didn't detract from my experience at all. i can't wait to read the rest of this series, and i'm so glad i finally decided to pick it up! it's going to be a pleasure spending more time in this charming, interesting world with these wonderful characters.
it delighted me in every way! i loved it! i don't know if i could even articulate why i liked it so much - i just fell into it from the beginning, i could tell it was a good match for me from the first few chapters. it was just so much fun, and it felt so cozy and comfortable! i absolutely love the world - the astrology! the necromancy! how utterly and fully realized astreiant felt as a city! - and it's conveyed so well to the reader, through the plot and the mystery instead of via info-dump, that ever-present danger of fantasy.
and i ADORED the characters, they're all charming. rathe was great and insanely likeable, eslingen took a little longer to worm his way into my heart but he certainly got there by the end, and istre! what a great necromancer! monteia! caiazzo! denizard! they were all SO much fun and even the minor characters, of whom there are many, felt fleshed out and real.
it's weird because this book felt really, really fresh to me, everything about it, and yet it still seemed classic at the same time? and how great is it that this world has social equality between men and women, and politically/economically the structure is matriarchal? ultimately people's destinies in this world are ruled by their stars, not their gender or their sex. and the world is queer-positive. and it's all done so effortlessly!!! sometimes, face it, fantasy can feel like a slog, almost like a chore, but there was none of that here at all. it was all exciting, and fun, and immersive, and i really enjoyed it so much.
i will say, and i've seen a few other reviewers mention this as well, i did notice quite a few copy-editing errors - unclosed dialogue tags, missing commas or periods, missing italics, that sort of thing - but i loved this book so much that it didn't detract from my experience at all. i can't wait to read the rest of this series, and i'm so glad i finally decided to pick it up! it's going to be a pleasure spending more time in this charming, interesting world with these wonderful characters.
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Funny thing, despite being a fan of Ms Scott’s I’ve avoided reading this all these years because the cover made it look like a children’s book. Turns out both heroes are probably well in their 30s.
This was a tough time to read a first book in a series because real life’s being unusually distracting. I had a hard time keeping track of the many (so many) secondary and background characters along with all the world building nuances.
But one thing I adored - it’s a deeply feminist and LGBTQ friendly world. That’s world building we see so little of, and it was very welcome. Sometimes I think I’ll scream if yet another fantasy is set in a framework of sexism and misogyny. This wasn’t.
This was a tough time to read a first book in a series because real life’s being unusually distracting. I had a hard time keeping track of the many (so many) secondary and background characters along with all the world building nuances.
But one thing I adored - it’s a deeply feminist and LGBTQ friendly world. That’s world building we see so little of, and it was very welcome. Sometimes I think I’ll scream if yet another fantasy is set in a framework of sexism and misogyny. This wasn’t.
Liked this a lot; interesting world building, shades of grey for the characters, and an interesting core mystery.
some lovely odds-n-ends, but it was basically a feature length episode of Law & Order: Medieval Victims Unit, with next to no exciting progress in any direction until the last third.
most of it was interviews all over town, and a series of introductions to any one of a hundred characters who have nothing to do with anything—though each of them struck me as nicely done in themselves.
if you like your gumshoe detective stories romance-free, long as hell, and with a minumum of explosions, murder, or action that isn't a conversation over a kidney pie...
well then, this is your book.
it's not mine—the copy errors alone saw to that—but i'm told the MCs get together in a subsequent book.
the clues of that are already in this one, but they go nowhere, like some editor at tom doherty and associates was more concerned with deleting any homosexual subtext than with fixing all the goddamned unclosed quotations, missing italics, or random POV changes within paragraphs.
and the thought that might be true makes me really sad.
most of it was interviews all over town, and a series of introductions to any one of a hundred characters who have nothing to do with anything—though each of them struck me as nicely done in themselves.
if you like your gumshoe detective stories romance-free, long as hell, and with a minumum of explosions, murder, or action that isn't a conversation over a kidney pie...
well then, this is your book.
it's not mine—the copy errors alone saw to that—but i'm told the MCs get together in a subsequent book.
the clues of that are already in this one, but they go nowhere, like some editor at tom doherty and associates was more concerned with deleting any homosexual subtext than with fixing all the goddamned unclosed quotations, missing italics, or random POV changes within paragraphs.
and the thought that might be true makes me really sad.
A decent fantasy novel with some very good worldbuilding, marred by a wooden writing style and an anticlimactic ending. Despite these problems, I liked both of the main characters enough to read the (much more enjoyable) sequel.
An interestingly complex story, with lots of colorful world building.
However there didn't seem to be much of a character arc, and sometimes the point-of-view was disorientingly shared between characters. Much of the plot rested on unexplained relationships or motives.
The complexity of the world left a lot of details unexplained, it seemed to lack cohesion. My small understanding of astronomy buckled trying to understand how the binary star system as described would work, which is a big deal in a book immensely focused on positions of the stars.
There was a bit of fantasy world language disease - overuse of some words (how many concepts are covered by 'point'?) and a mass of unexplained gods/star signs.
Overall, meh. There is a good story here, but with so many tangles, loose ends, and extra color it is difficult to see.
However there didn't seem to be much of a character arc, and sometimes the point-of-view was disorientingly shared between characters. Much of the plot rested on unexplained relationships or motives.
The complexity of the world left a lot of details unexplained, it seemed to lack cohesion. My small understanding of astronomy buckled trying to understand how the binary star system as described would work, which is a big deal in a book immensely focused on positions of the stars.
There was a bit of fantasy world language disease - overuse of some words (how many concepts are covered by 'point'?) and a mass of unexplained gods/star signs.
Overall, meh. There is a good story here, but with so many tangles, loose ends, and extra color it is difficult to see.
I've read this ages ago but never actually got around to writing a review.
Anyway, Point of Hopes is the first book in the Astreiant series (Shelfari lists Armor of Light as part of the same series, but it's actually not), and I have to admit that Astreiant is not an easy place to understand. It probably has to do with the fact that I read book 2 before this one, but anyway:
The place feels medieval Europe, with a childless Queen (I'm guessing patterned after Queen Elizabeth I), and astrology actually works. There are also two suns (as far as I can understand, the winter-sun rises after the real sun sets, so kind of like the moon? I've never actually heard anyone talk about two moons, though, so maybe that's it?) and sometimes the movement of the stars can affect earthly politics.
Which is what happens in this novel. There is much pressure for the Queen to choose an heir and people are getting restless. Especially since children of apprentice age have all started vanishing without anyone knowing why or where to.
Enter Nicolas Rathe, adjunct point to Point of Hopes. The points are a newly established system (not quite a guild) who basically perform the functions of a modern day policeman. Rathe and his colleagues are tasked to investigate the disappearances, helped by his friends--Philip Eslingen in particular, who's just arrived in Astreiant after years of campaign all over the place. Probably not good timing to be a former soldier (waiting for employment) in a distressed city, especially since people are starting to suspect soldiers and pointsmen alike regarding the disappearances.
What I like about the book:
1, The world building. It takes getting used to, but I love the details and it works. I love how the guilds are set up: some jobs are probably more suited to a specific gender, but people don't usually care if your stars are right for it. Rathe's senior adjunct is a woman, and no one has ever questioned that. No talk about women being too soft to hold men's jobs. Or men being laughed at for being good at feminine jobs.
Also, there's this thing called a leman--a lover or sweetheart according to the dictionary--but in this case usually a lover of the same gender. No one cares. The Queen has one.
Do you see why this series is awesome?
2, Interesting characters. I might not have laughed out loud at the jokes, but they are witty and sometimes wry/sarcastic. Just the right kind of humour for me, actually.
The chemistry between Rathe and Eslingen (not immediately obvious: I was surprised in my first reading of PoH that they ended up as lovers, actually, because I thought there was nothing in the first book to show that they were interested in each other) might be a bit subtle, and the writers don't really spend that much time talking about physical attraction, but it's there.
Rathe getting jealous (which he wrote off to himself as envy) thinking of Eslingen with a woman. Eslingen reacting whenever Rathe's name is mentioned. They're kind of cute, actually. And they'd definitely be cute together.
3, EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS BOOK IS AWESOME. Okay, I think the climax happened too fast. But who cares. They've solved the case beforehand. I really can't be objective about this book at all.
Anyway, Point of Hopes is the first book in the Astreiant series (Shelfari lists Armor of Light as part of the same series, but it's actually not), and I have to admit that Astreiant is not an easy place to understand. It probably has to do with the fact that I read book 2 before this one, but anyway:
The place feels medieval Europe, with a childless Queen (I'm guessing patterned after Queen Elizabeth I), and astrology actually works. There are also two suns (as far as I can understand, the winter-sun rises after the real sun sets, so kind of like the moon? I've never actually heard anyone talk about two moons, though, so maybe that's it?) and sometimes the movement of the stars can affect earthly politics.
Which is what happens in this novel. There is much pressure for the Queen to choose an heir and people are getting restless. Especially since children of apprentice age have all started vanishing without anyone knowing why or where to.
Enter Nicolas Rathe, adjunct point to Point of Hopes. The points are a newly established system (not quite a guild) who basically perform the functions of a modern day policeman. Rathe and his colleagues are tasked to investigate the disappearances, helped by his friends--Philip Eslingen in particular, who's just arrived in Astreiant after years of campaign all over the place. Probably not good timing to be a former soldier (waiting for employment) in a distressed city, especially since people are starting to suspect soldiers and pointsmen alike regarding the disappearances.
What I like about the book:
1, The world building. It takes getting used to, but I love the details and it works. I love how the guilds are set up: some jobs are probably more suited to a specific gender, but people don't usually care if your stars are right for it. Rathe's senior adjunct is a woman, and no one has ever questioned that. No talk about women being too soft to hold men's jobs. Or men being laughed at for being good at feminine jobs.
Also, there's this thing called a leman--a lover or sweetheart according to the dictionary--but in this case usually a lover of the same gender. No one cares. The Queen has one.
Do you see why this series is awesome?
2, Interesting characters. I might not have laughed out loud at the jokes, but they are witty and sometimes wry/sarcastic. Just the right kind of humour for me, actually.
The chemistry between Rathe and Eslingen (not immediately obvious: I was surprised in my first reading of PoH that they ended up as lovers, actually, because I thought there was nothing in the first book to show that they were interested in each other) might be a bit subtle, and the writers don't really spend that much time talking about physical attraction, but it's there.
Rathe getting jealous (which he wrote off to himself as envy) thinking of Eslingen with a woman. Eslingen reacting whenever Rathe's name is mentioned. They're kind of cute, actually. And they'd definitely be cute together.
3, EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS BOOK IS AWESOME. Okay, I think the climax happened too fast. But who cares. They've solved the case beforehand. I really can't be objective about this book at all.