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A review by dee2799d
A Death at the Dionysus Club by Amy Griswold, Melissa Scott
3.0
The second novel in the Lynes and Mathey series, A Death at the Dionysus Club takes us away from Lynes and Mathey's childhood memories (seriously there were so many flashbacks in the first book) and into the Dionysus Club--where Lynes is a member, amongst other gay people in London.
The mystery itself is great--I'm taking away one star because there's a part that was surprisingly 'how is this related to the murders?', and it was but at the same time I was expecting something bigger you know? There's a magical showdown at the end and that was plenty satisfying. As expected from Melissa Scott, who also wrote The Armor of Light.
The magic system is very good and one of my favourite things in the series. The novels don't really take us into a step by step, but gives us enough to understand the rules and the limitations for ourselves. The exploration of non-conforming magic in this novel was also pretty good. I'm a sucker for magic systems that rely on language and words, and this is one of those.
Another good thing is the development of Lynes and Mathey's relationship. Very good friends at their public school, the two drifted apart once in Oxford due largely to the different company they keep. Mathey found Lynes's artistic set to be unwelcoming (and tbh pretentious) and started hanging out with a sporting set. Lynes for his part cares not one pin for sports. Having them together again and more or less in a committed relationship means navigating the different company they keep, as well as their different tastes. I like that we don't get to have these two just falling into a comfortable relationship with no problems--they are comfortable with each other, but there's a lot of time passed since Oxford and they also have to learn new things about each other all the time.
Not to speak of how homosexuality was viewed during those times and we get a novel with interesting murders but also one that talks about the problems (personal and societal) two men have to face while maintaining their relationship.
The mystery itself is great--I'm taking away one star because there's a part that was surprisingly 'how is this related to the murders?', and it was but at the same time I was expecting something bigger you know? There's a magical showdown at the end and that was plenty satisfying. As expected from Melissa Scott, who also wrote The Armor of Light.
The magic system is very good and one of my favourite things in the series. The novels don't really take us into a step by step, but gives us enough to understand the rules and the limitations for ourselves. The exploration of non-conforming magic in this novel was also pretty good. I'm a sucker for magic systems that rely on language and words, and this is one of those.
Another good thing is the development of Lynes and Mathey's relationship. Very good friends at their public school, the two drifted apart once in Oxford due largely to the different company they keep. Mathey found Lynes's artistic set to be unwelcoming (and tbh pretentious) and started hanging out with a sporting set. Lynes for his part cares not one pin for sports. Having them together again and more or less in a committed relationship means navigating the different company they keep, as well as their different tastes. I like that we don't get to have these two just falling into a comfortable relationship with no problems--they are comfortable with each other, but there's a lot of time passed since Oxford and they also have to learn new things about each other all the time.
Not to speak of how homosexuality was viewed during those times and we get a novel with interesting murders but also one that talks about the problems (personal and societal) two men have to face while maintaining their relationship.