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A welcome return to the vividly realized city of Asteiant with its intricate magics and deadly politics. Point of Knives takes place in the interval between the widely praised earlier novels Point of Hopes and Point of Dreams. A fantastical mystery and a rousing adventure, Point of Knives also reveals for the first time the beginning of the romance between Adjunct Point Nicolas Rathe and ex-soldier Philip Eslingen. The events of Midsummer have hardly been forgotten by the Fall Balance, and show more Nicolas Rathe can hardly complain that they've done any harm to his reputation, or to the reputation of the Points in general. However, it has meant that he's more in demand as an investigator, and the increased recognition and workload has made it hard to pursue friendship, or anything more, with Philip Eslingen, his comrade in the rescue of the stolen children. Eslingen is still Hanselin Caiazzo's bodyguard and Caiazzo is involved in any number of questionably legal ventures, and it does neither of them any good to be seen too often in each other's company. When a father and son who are both rumored to have been pirates are murdered on the same night, and Rathe finds Eslingen standing over the son's body, Eslingen proves his innocence easily enough, though he refuses to say exactly what errand he's running for Caiazzo at that hour of the morning. But when the old man's grandson and the son's self-proclaimed wife quarrel over the son's meager belongings, and Caiazzo dispatches Eslingen to represent his interests in the investigation, Rathe begins to wonder if their friendship is going to survive. Or whether they'll survive at all. show lessTags
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This novella felt very slight. The mystery is not that involving, and the relationship development is minor. Non-specific spoilers: I was expecting to either see Rathe and Eslingen get together for the first time, or define their relationship, and they really do neither. There are some mild developments, but nothing truly satisfying - and nothing racier on-screen than a kiss.
There was nothing particularly wrong with it, but it didn't tick the boxes I was looking for. Point of Dreams (the full novel this precedes) is much more satisfying in terms of relationship development and in terms of the mystery plot.
There was nothing particularly wrong with it, but it didn't tick the boxes I was looking for. Point of Dreams (the full novel this precedes) is much more satisfying in terms of relationship development and in terms of the mystery plot.
They're way too cute. It's not as polished as the other two books, kind of like really great fanfiction, but SO entertaining. I just love Nico and Philip so much! A cute short story that I think lives up to the other two quite well. Now I need to reread Point of Dreams. I'm excited about it!
Short but satisfying. I'm a fan of the Points books so I was looking forward to seeing more of the relationship between Nicolas and Philip. It was easy to slip back into the lives of these two characters and into the amazing world of Astreiant. Everything was familiar and satisfying despite the length of time between this and the previous books.
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LGBTQ+ Speculative Fiction
819 works; 51 members
Author Information
66+ Works 7,499 Members
Melissa Scott is a science fiction writer. She was born in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1961. Scott studied history at Harvard University before earning her Ph. D. in comparative history from Brandeis University. Scott's first science fiction book, The Game Beyond, was published in 1984. In 1986, she won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. show more Scott received the Lambda Literary Award for Gay/Lesbian Science Fiction in both 1995 and 1996 for the books Trouble and Her Friends and Shadow Man. She is a co-founder of WaveLengths, a journal of gay/lesbian/bisexual-interest science fiction and fantasy. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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- Canonical title
- Point of Knives
- Original title
- Point of Knives
- Dedication
- For Steve
Thanks for asking! - First words
- Nicolas Rathe dragged himself awake at the sound of fists on his door, groped for flint and steel and the candlestick beside the bed.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)“Until tonight,” Rathe answered. The promotion would be worth it after all.
- Original language
- English
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- 108
- Popularity
- 299,403
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (4.00)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 4
- ASINs
- 3
