Point of Hopes: A Novel of Astreiant - Softcover

Scott, Melissa; Barnett, Lisa A.

3.81

1,062 ratings by Goodreads

9781590213124: Point of Hopes: A Novel of Astreiant

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1590213122 ISBN 13: 9781590213124

Publisher: Lethe Pr, 2012

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Nicolas Rathe is a pointsman, a dedicated watchman in the great city of Astreiant. During the annual trade fair, with a city filled with travelers and merchants, someone is stealing children. The populace is getting angry and frightened and convinced that a foreigner must be to blame. Rathe calls on the aid of both an out-of-work soldier, the handsome Philip Eslingen, and the necromancer Istre b'Estorr. The art of astrology is a very real power in the kingdom and plays as much a role in politics as greed and intrigue. Rathe finds himself struggling to find the children before a major astrological event brings about catastrophe. The first in a series of fantasy novels filled with adventure, intrigue and gay romance.

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From Publishers Weekly:

This new collaborative effort by Scott and Barnett, like their first (The Armor of Light), is a well-researched medieval fantasy told in a literate and urbane mannerist style. Rathe-a handsome, young, incorruptible pointsman (basically, a police detective)-is given the nearly impossible task of trying to discover why the children of the town of Point of Hopes are being spirited away in droves, and where they are being taken. For assistance, he enlists the aid of both an out-of-work soldier, Phillip Eslinger, and the necromancer Istre b'Estorr. Astrology, necromancy, greed and power struggles all play major roles as Rathe attempts to find the children before a major astrological brings about a foretold catastrophe. Set in an alternative Middle Ages where the authors' intricate world-building only occasionally overshadows their plotting, this novel, though not fast-paced, offers intriguing looks at guild interrelationships, the uses of hand-cranked printing presses and medieval attitudes toward magic. It also offers considerable delight to those who enjoy intellectual puzzles of the fantastic kind.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist:

It is the time of the annual fair in the city of Astreion, and a major astrological conjunction is approaching and heralding the advent of a new monarch. At this time--of all times--children start disappearing. Where are they going? Is the new monarch connected with the disappearances? Can the police and assorted odd civilians find the children before the city explodes? Like Scott and Barnett's previous collaboration, The Armor of Light (1987), this book features good writing, good characterization, and exceedingly superior world building. Astreion has a marvelous lived-in quality, and most of the characters are ordinary middle-class citizens, not members of either the fantastic elite or the hyperrealistic underclass that are both so prevalent in fantasy these days. Place this one high in the just-plain-good-reading category. Roland Green

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