Point of Dreams (Astreiant, #3) by Melissa Scott

Point of Dreams (Astreiant, #3) Reviews

• 
  K.J. Charles

  Loved this. Love the whole series. The writing is so smooth and assured, with so much left between the lines. The world is intricately constructed, the mystery elegantly developed, the romance beautifully understated. This is the kind of writing that feels effortless, which of course means it was anything but.
  
  This reminds me of how fantasy used to make me feel, which is to say, why I spent years reading very little else. I would rather be in these books than not, that's all.
  
  Edit: Yes I am rereading this entire series without stopping. This one may be my fave: depth of feeling lightly drawn and an absolutely terrific magical murder weapon.
• 
  Grace

  Very enjoyable update to the series!!
  
  I appreciated that there was more romance/relationship in this one than in the previous book, though it's still extremely understated. I don't mind, but I definitely generally prefer slightly more character-focused books, and this is much more centered on world and mystery. The mystery was super engaging, and I continue to enjoy the world created here, though I also continue to feel a bit lost at times. The world-building is done in a way that sort of assumes the reader knows/can intuit a bit more than is perhaps entirely comfortable, and while I appreciate the confidence, I do wish there was a bit more spelled out.
• 
  Stephanie

  Flower-arranging has never been so lethal.
• 
  charlotte,

  Rep: gay mc, bi mc, wlw side characters
  
  CWs: attempted sexual assault
• 
  heidi

  Chronologically, this is the third book in the series I think of as "CSI: Big Gay Fantasy". The mental name is probably an unfair depiction, since the book is much more about the teamwork between Rathe and Eslingen than about their growing intimacy.
  
  This mystery is set against the upcoming power changeover, a situation much like the tulip craze of Holland, and a magically important play. There is also a confluence of the stars that is causing everyone to see ghosts of their past, quite literally.
  
  I really enjoyed how tightly plotted the story was, and how I was almost surprised by the resolution of the mystery. Along the way, there was a ton of good character development, and both the boys learned a lot about each other and something about themselves.
  
  Eslingen is no longer working for the crime lord, which is good on one hand -- it makes his relationship with Rathe a lot more straightforward, but the relationship is also the crux of why he couldn't work there any more. I really enjoyed watching them try to talk out and work out what they mean to each other. As with the other books, there is nothing to shock the censors.
  
  Scott and Barnett's world is rich and realized, ghosts and bulbs and alternate relationships structures and all. Her characters, both men and women, are sympathetic and well-written.
  
  "“The look that says you’re going to track down a puzzle and strangle it.” “Must be why it’s like looking in a mirror,” b’Estorr answered, and turned away."
  
  Read if: You like a good police procedural. You'd like a fantasy world where gender roles are not boring. You long for less heteronormative romances.
  
  Skip if: You don't like solving mysteries. You are weirded out by astrology being treated as real.
  
  Also read:
  
  Midnight Riot for excellent unusual police procedural. Yes, I will keep recommending this book until you read it.
  
  Guards of Haven: The Adventures of Hawk and Fisher Because it's about a crimefighting team!
• 
  Jasmine

  Flower-arranging has never been so interesting.
• 
  Furio

  This second book in the late-Renaissance series centred on pointsman Rathe is similar at first sight to the first but subtly different nonetheless, as if the two plots belonged each to one of the two authors.
  
  The first was more focused on the mistery, on the action that brings to its solving and it was fleshed out with countless details about the lower-class characters' way of life.
  In this second one the mistery seems not to be the focus of the narrative: it rather seems an excuse to examine characters interaction and the ways of upper classes in the same society. This is true to the point that the identity of the murder is quite clear from the first pages, as are his/her (no spoilers from me) motives.
  
  In a way the novel suffers from this choice.
  It also suffers from the understated tone chosen by the authors to describe people's feelings. While it may be a good idea to represent the intimate relationship between the leads (two men) as already established this understatement runs so far and deep that characterization seems to be only superficially attended to, it lacks depth: one cannot really relate to any character.
  
  Nonetheless this novel deserves a good rating. The quality of the writing, the fastidious attention to details, the originality make this a worthwhile read.
  
  I feel like complaining about a detail: the authors, to make their point about a society ruled by women, use "her" and "she" when the sex of the person is not known. This feels quite unnecessary.
  Another problem, probably another deliberate choice, is that even after two novels the structure of the Astreiant's society and its basic geography are still unclear: the authors never take the trouble of making them clear. Outright explanations are bound to be clumsy, but some background information and a map would be useful.
• 
  Angela

  When I finished this book, I set it aside with a feeling of satisfaction, as if I'd had a good meal. The mystery was well-done, the fantastic elements of the story and the world well-conceived, the backstory well-integrated and relatively easy to pick up once I got into the rhythm of the plot.
  
  Scott and Barnett write with an attention to detail and a richness of atmosphere not often found in fantasy. The story moves along leisurely, over the course of a few days, and (forgive the clumsy metaphor) feels like dark chocolate syrup, rich, bittersweet, and luxurious. The Italian Renaissance feel (to me, the city seems like Venice) and the stylized social structure is fascinating. The behind-the-scenes theatre action seems true-to-life, at least so far as my theatre experience has been.
  
  It seems to me the society is matriarchal, as all the truly powerful positions were held by women, which is a refreshing change from most fantasy. And everyone seemed to have a mother, but I can't recall a mention of anyone's father.
  
  And I rather like the idea of the ghost-tide, in which our dead appear to us at a particular time of year. I wouldn't mind seeing my paternal grandparents again.
  
  I'll be keeping my eye out for the previous two novels set in this world.
• 
  Alison

  4.5 stars. So well done. This is a marvellous book in a marvellous fantasy mystery series and this is my favourite so far. The city of Astreiant and its residents continue to capture all my attention. There's so much depth and subtlety and complexity in this story and the characters continue to be totally compelling. The mystery is absolutely fascinating, as is the theatrical setting. It's a murder mystery story based around a big theatrical production. Also going on is a mad flower craze like the tulip mania that went on in 17th Century Holland, which complicates everything further. Impressive world-building, great writing, wonderful character development, political intrigues, bad magic, an engrossing mystery, and a lovely romantic subplot make for a extremely satisfying book. This is a big, rich, juicy story that takes its time and I enjoyed reading it so much. Definitely start at the beginning when reading this series (the first book is the wonderful
  Point of Hopes), as everything will make more sense. Looking forward to the next one.
• 
  Cat M

  In some ways the murders are the least interesting part of this book. They matter, and they drive the plot, but it's the thematic stuff going on around and in cause of the murders that I found most interesting.
  
  This is a book about relationships, and the ways they are seen and controlled by society and societal pressures.
  
  It's mostly about queer relationships. The growing intimacy between Philip and Nico and the ways in which they are both drawn to but also unsure if they're ready for that intimacy, is at the centre of the book. When Nico first, unthinkingly, referred to Philip as his leman I think I actually squeaked, because the build up to that point and then the unconscious step across the line was so well emotionally satisfying.
  
  But theirs is not the only queer relationship in the book - one of the things I love about this series is the normalized queerness - or the only one to be formalized as a lemancy. Which means in this book we finally get some understanding of what the term "leman" means in this world. It's not just a term for a lover of the same gender, it implies a long-term committed.
  
  And yet it is also not entirely equal to a marriage. The Avocat Holles, looking for answers in the death of his leman Leussi, is limited by not being his legal next-of-kin, despite the length of their relationship, because they were not and could not have been married.
  
  And then there's the issue of boundaries of class and family. Relationships made unequal by class differences, relationships forbidden by families because of class differences or family disagreements, Philip having chosen his relationship with Nico over his continued employment.
  
  There are no easy answers to any of it, and for that I'm very grateful, just like in real life, everyone is left to muddle through as best they can.
  
  I actually found the mystery somewhat frustrating. There were too many clues, too many reveals that I caught on to pages or even chapters before the characters came to them. Also, some of the plot threads got cut off or ended incompletely, going from great importance at the beginning to barely worthy a four-word denouement in the epilogue.
  
  Still, though, this is an excellent story in a universe I very much love.
  
  Also there's both ritualized public theatre and weaponized flower arranging, what's not to love about that?
• 
  Eva Müller

  I am not a big fan of mysteries where stubborn higher-ups want to stop the detective from investigating a murder because of reason/politics/whatever and they get into more and more trouble because they, of course, investigate anyway. And Point of Dreams started with exactly such a situation which is why I had a hard time getting into it at first. But Rathe got quickly distracted by other murders (lots of them) he was actually supposed to investigate and the first murder was pushed into the background.
  
  The plot about the theatre murders was then really intriguing (and of course since this is a mystery...are perhaps all murders connected? I couldn't possibly say). I also enjoyed how it got deeper into the magic of Astreiant and showed more of it since so far I had very little sense of how it works.
• 
  Georgie-who-is-Sarah-Drew

  Read the five books in the series in a weekend. Consummate world-building—I lived in Astreiant, knew the streets, feared the river, ducked into taverns out of the rain. Effortless layering of small details to create an immersive experience. The plots kept things rattling along, with a suitable blend of decent / amoral / villainous / stupid characters. Yes, the romance is just a bit too understated and yes, that was mildly disappointing. But I pulled myself out of Scott's world just long enough to subscribe to her Patreon and start to look forward to book 6.
• 
  Karen Rós

  I love this series. I love the strange world (now becoming very familiar), the characters, and the mystery plot. In this one I also liked how even when Philip and Nico were pretty established as a couple, there was still room for their relationship to grow.
  
  NGL, I love books that make me question things and notice things that prompt me to discuss them - I'm reading this series because it was recommended to me by my friend D (and because it's the sort of thing I'd like) and so I've been messaging them with all kinds of things about these books because I love being able to discuss what I'm reading with somebody who knows what I'm talking about. So that's definitely something that's been heightening my reading experience!
  
  And something I want to bring up in this review is one of the things I discussed with D. For context: In this universe, marriage is a contract that comes with legal benefits and rights. lemanship (lemanry, to be somebody's leman) is not. It comes across more as a solemn oath or a statement of intent than a legally binding relationship contract, and it's explicitly stated that it doesn't have the same rights as a marriage; if you're somebody's leman, your leman isn't your next of kin. Lemanship isn't only for same-sex couples and it seems to be more flexible than marriage in many regards: one man is stated to have a pair of lemen, two young girls about the age of 13 are each other lemen. Philip and Nico are starting to consider each other as their leman in this book.
  
  One of the cases in the mystery plot involves a murder in which the surviving leman is grieving, having problems having the case reopened as a murder investigation, and is explicitly stated as not treated correctly in the investigation procedures as well as not being the murder victim's next of kin, despite the fact they'd been lemen for 17 years. It's also stated that lemanship isn't as accepted in the real world as it is in plays and media, for the first time in the series hinting that lemanship isn't actually the standard form of relationship 'contract' in this universe.
  
  This stood out to me because up until that point, this world had been so effortlessly queer, where the queer experience felt baked in and lived in, where it felt normal and accepted and just the way things there. With two queer POVs who have queer friends and colleagues and notice that sort of thing more - that's no surprise. But it also got me wondering, why would the authors choose to include this difference in legal and relationship status in a fantasy series that otherwise felt like both wish fulfilment and a reflection of lived experience? I don't think any modern fantasy books written by my contemporaries would have done that, if they were explicitly and intentionally creating a world where queerness is normalised, because...well, I haven't come across it. So why did these authors include this particular kind of queer pain in a series that otherwise shows all kinds of relationships as equal and normal?
  
  It's not that the answer is some great big mystery. I'm just showing my age.
  
  This book, though published in 2012 or so, was plotted in the mid-nineties around the same time the first book was published, by Melissa Scott and Lisa A. Barnett, who were partners. They were queer women who lived through the AIDS crisis and would've experienced AIDS-related losses first hand. They were queer women who weren't able to have their own relationship recognised by marriage before Barnett passed away in the mid-00s.
  
  Those of us in our thirties and twenties are privileged to have grown up in a world where our people weren't dropping like flies from a disease nobody wanted to treat, and for many of us in the west we've been able to get civil partnerships and in this century, marriages. I think in most modern queer SFF novels authors deliberately include this equality. So, when it's not included it can feel conservative and bigoted.
  
  I don't think that's the case here. I think this was intentional. I think they were acknowledging their own reality and traumas. And I think it's something we can't ignore either - sometimes, the author is *not* dead (even when one of them in this case literally is), and their biographies and lived experience are actually important to the work.
  
  It hits differently when you know where it comes from. I can well imagine other readers reacting negatively to this part of the book, and I understand why. I just also think it would be reductive and in this case literal erasure to insist on it not being there because it's discrimination...yes, that is the point, because this is our history, and for many people in the world it is is still a reality, even today, even with legal protections.
  
  This got away from me a bit, but I just couldn't stop thinking about this, so here, have an essay I guess.
  
  (On a final note, and this is a problem across all three books I've read so far: the editing in these is actually really bad. Typos and poor formatting aside, there is an astounding amount of head hopping - I'm getting used to it by now, but it's confusing and often frustrating, especially when it happens in the same paragraph. I can sort of live with it when a scene transitions from one pov to another and then back again at the end, even if it's confusing and annoying, but in the same paragraph?? ugh.)
• 
  Vendela

  What a delightful series this is. And it’s such a good blend of my favorite genres - mysteries, fantasy, and queer romance.
• 
  Hannah

  when i say “fun matriarchal renaissance-fantasy police procedural with astrology magic, flower magic, tea, theatre, and low-key background romance” is your immediate response “yes, i want to read that right now”? GOOD. read this series!!!! the only word i can properly use for it is delightful. it just delights me! and this one was about the theatre and flowers, two of my favorite things, and what can i say when something just knows the way to my heart so precisely?? i’m defenseless, you know?
• 
  Shaz

  Much good, very enjoy
• 
  Abi Walton

  I think I preferred this book to the first one, which was brilliant don't get me wrong. I just love Nico and Philp being lemen together it makes me so happy. And I adore how Scott and Barnett write their relationship, it is there, but also so subtle making the moments of tenderness more heart moving and wonderful.
  I really want all my books to be set in this world, where everyone is bisexual and it doesn't matter. Nico and Philip are lemen and its just the perfect setting for a story that is driven my a crime and murder. Before finding Astreiant I read Scott's Julian Lynes and Ned Mathey series and adored the books but I think Point Of Dreams even tops those series I just loved the suspense and the angst that comes with loving someone. Nico is completely besotted and in love with Philip but finds it hard to admit it to himself which I find adorable!
  
  Point Of Drams starts quite soon after Points Of Knives, where Nico has been promoted to Adjasent Point of Dreams and Philip is working as Master of Swords in a play that is causing quite a few unusual deaths. This book still has the astrology aspect as the lives of these people run on the stars but now the language of flowers is bought in, as the murders seem to be linked to them. On of the things that I lobe about this series is that we get to explore the whole world not just the normal people. Rathe has some powerful friends and knows how to interact with people with money and people without.
  
  I almost forgot about the ghosts, a part of this tale I really enjoyed as we delved into the people that have stuck around our heroes the people who can't seem to let go and I wish we has seen more of Philip's ghosts because of war and the friends he must have lost. I want to know more about Philips past and how he feels now he is away from the regiment.
  This is a 5 star novel for me and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys mystery/ thriller/ fantasy. I mean really what more could you want?
• 
  Alarra

  it was diminishing returns with the second book, Point of Dreams, as Nico and Philip investigate strange murders at the playhouse. I felt there was too little time exploring how they felt about each other - even as past loves were thrown in to the mix, it felt like all the relationship stuff happened offstage (lol pun unintended), only so they could bring it to the fore to hammer home a pertinent point to the mystery.
  
  I also felt the crime was ridiculously easy to solve, and was really annoyed that all this detective work was happening while the VERY OBVIOUS culprit was basically waving this book's version of the Checkov's gun not just in the first act, but every single time they were on the page.
• 
  Kate

  Still hitting EVERYTHING I LOVE. Some of the theatre stuff got a bit impenetrable at times, but it didn't take away from the book.
• 
  Peter

  Enjoyable, but I didn't like it as much as the first book. Philip and Nico are entertaining characters and it's nice to see their relationship develop, plus I like the setting and world that the authors have constructed. On the down side, the mystery plot is very convoluted but never quite emotionally engaging to me, so I wasn't all that interested in its resolution. Also, and I'm kind of surprised to be saying this because I dislike clunky exposition, this series could use a lot more exposition. There are a ton of characters, a complicated political system that we're meant to follow because it's crucial to several plot points, a lot of made-up vocabulary to learn, plus a super complicated and again crucial astrological system. I like the idea that, for example, actors have a patron saint/god who they invoke when they curse whereas the university folk follow a different god, but a lot of the details are really hard to follow when they come at you without explanation. And, like much of the world-building here, when they are crucial to understanding a scene if not the whole plot! So if nothing else a couple of appendices with explanations of the politics, geography, and religion of the world would be very helpful.
• 
  VertexArray

  Having read two books in the Astreiant series, I want to describe them as balanced. Procedural cop drama with an exemplary treatment of magic (consistent logic balanced against breathless wonder). Characters that obey the same rhythm of everyday life that you and I are bound to, even as corpses pile up. Seasons change, stars align, the logic of mercantilism and social class rule all.
  
  This constraints of internal logic and societal organization ground the book in a way necessary to run a procedural mystery. Familiar story beats appear: the body, the autopsy, the report, digging through records, the supervisor with her hands tied, all the good stuff.
  
  Since I'm here and I'm me, I might as well talk about Ghost in the Shell SAC. The atmosphere is completely different, but the feeling of otherworldly cop drama ia comparable. The characters solve mysteries that rely on the logic of their world, so as they find the body and the killer, you learn about what's possible in it.
  
  My only real complaint is that the motives of the killer in the end don't fully make sense. The characters themselves admit it. Not that it really takes away from the book; Astreiant is journey, not destination.
• 
  Mary Soon Lee

  This is the second novel-length entry in the series that began with "Point of Hopes," set in a world where the stars do in fact steer one's fate. The perspective shifts between two very likable viewpoint characters: Rathe, who is roughly the equivalent of a city police officer, and Eslingen, a former soldier. There are murders, a behind-the-scenes look at a theater production, and ominous flower arrangements (yes, flower arrangements).
  
  The book was a pleasure, particularly the partnership between Rathe and Eslingen. Their care for each other gentles the murder mystery, though jeopardy and gruesome moments remain.
  
  Four out of five hedgebroom stars.
  
  About my reviews: I try to review every book I read, including those that I don't end up enjoying. The reviews are not scholarly, but just indicate my reaction as a reader, reading being my addiction. I am miserly with 5-star reviews; 4 stars means I liked a book very much; 3 stars means I liked it; 2 stars means I didn't like it (though often the 2-star books are very popular with other readers and/or are by authors whose other work I've loved).
• 
  Denise

  The second full length novel in Melissa Scott and Lisa A. Barnett's elaborately crafted Astreiant universe takes Nico and Philip into the world of the theater, where Philip has found new employment after losing his old job and Nico is called to investigate the mysterious murder of a nobleman on the stage who was rehearsing for the prestigious midwinter masque.
  
  Usually it takes me a while to find my way back into a world and reacquaint myself with its characters when so much time (in this case, four years) has passed since my last visit - not so with this series, which sucked me right back into its marvellously rich and immersive environment and proved to be extremely hard to put down.
• 
  Liz

  The main problem with this book is that, by virtue of the fact that it IS a book, the inevitable conclusion of the book is very obvious but there's no reason for the characters to know that they are, in fact, in a book and that disparate plot elements must come together a certain way.
  Which kind of got in the way of enjoying the progression because I kept thinking "did they notice the thing that the narrator is careful to point out to me?"
  But the world and characters were definitely worth spending time with and on and I was glad for having read it even if the plot is definitely the weakest part of the story.
• 
  Anne

  Love the world, the mystery is interesting but disappointed in the romance, which is a constant case of telling without showing. I like the two main characters but I don't get why the author keeps shying away from having them show any romantic or sexual expression toward each other. We keep being told they're in a relationship but they don't even touch each other or act romantically in any way. It's clear they have feelings toward each other but they don't express it AT ALL. It's incredibly frustrating.
• 
  Alicia

  
  https://wordnerdy.blogspot.com/2023/0...
  
  This volume in the Astreiant series finds our two dudes now formally a couple, working together to solve a bunch of murders at the theater! Solid mystery in this one, and I really enjoy this world (it is SO QUEER, which considering the first one came out in the mid-90s and this in 2001, is pretty cool. The authors were together for over 20 years until Barnett passed of cancer and I’m glad they could write a book like this together). A-.