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A review by dee2799d
Fairs' Point by Melissa Scott
4.0
The Astreiant books were on sale at Smashwords so I finally bought this one (I wanted a physical copy to match the rest but such is life) and reread the whole series (so far) in order to remember who these people are and what Astreiant is about.
Fairs' Point gets more action as the dog races start, people start vanishing, the city is in chaos in the aftermath of a long and expensive feud between families over an heirless property, Eslingen gets a dog in payment for debts, and walls start bleeding silver coins. Life is as mysterious as usual.
After reading four books from this series along with the Lynes and Mathey ones, I think I've gotten used to Melissa Scott's modus operandi when it comes to mysteries: there's a lot going on and very seldom do we get red herrings. All of those things are connected somehow and the plot unfolds at a very good pace. Also being a pointsman is a hard and sometimes thankless job.
I do prefer this series over the Lynes and Mathey one, if only because it's such a treat to be in Astreiant with its lemanry and horoscopes. Everyone knows Eslingen and Rathe are together, hell that's even the reason why Coindarel wants Eslingen to become Captain in the newly made City Guard--it would be easier for the Guard to get accepted by the points and not seen as a rival corps when Rathe's famous black dog is part of it.
While Rathe and Eslingen are also dealing with the complications in their relationship, a lot of it has to do with personal matters (adjusting to living with another person, keeping secrets from and for each other etc) and nothing to do with 'But having a same gender partner is illegal'. A breath of fresh air when it comes to worldbuilding, tbh.
Fairs' Point gets more action as the dog races start, people start vanishing, the city is in chaos in the aftermath of a long and expensive feud between families over an heirless property, Eslingen gets a dog in payment for debts, and walls start bleeding silver coins. Life is as mysterious as usual.
After reading four books from this series along with the Lynes and Mathey ones, I think I've gotten used to Melissa Scott's modus operandi when it comes to mysteries: there's a lot going on and very seldom do we get red herrings. All of those things are connected somehow and the plot unfolds at a very good pace. Also being a pointsman is a hard and sometimes thankless job.
I do prefer this series over the Lynes and Mathey one, if only because it's such a treat to be in Astreiant with its lemanry and horoscopes. Everyone knows Eslingen and Rathe are together, hell that's even the reason why Coindarel wants Eslingen to become Captain in the newly made City Guard--it would be easier for the Guard to get accepted by the points and not seen as a rival corps when Rathe's famous black dog is part of it.
While Rathe and Eslingen are also dealing with the complications in their relationship, a lot of it has to do with personal matters (adjusting to living with another person, keeping secrets from and for each other etc) and nothing to do with 'But having a same gender partner is illegal'. A breath of fresh air when it comes to worldbuilding, tbh.