The Steerswoman: Difference between revisions
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==Plot== |
==Plot== |
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Steerswoman Rowan is investigating the origins of blue jewels that have been found scattered across the land. She meets Bel, a warrior from the Outskirts who knows where a large number of these jewels were found. They travel together to the Archives, the central repository of knowledge of Steerswomen, intending to investigate the Bel’s location in the Outskirts after Rowan has made her report. Along the way, they are attacked twice by wizards’ soldiers. At the Archives, the Steerswomen conclude that investigating the jewels risks attack from wizards, but that the Steerswomen’s calling is to pursue the information anyway. Rowan renounces her status as Steerswoman so she can travel undercover and lie if needed. |
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Steerswoman Rowan is investigating the origins of blue crystals that have been found in random locations throughout the land. During her investigation, she meets Bel, an Outskirter (those who live on the outskirts of civilization). Rowan is later attacked on the road and Bel comes to her rescue. The two women agree to travel together. |
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| ⚫ | The story switches perspective to a young runaway named Will, who has a talent for making things explode, much in the way wizards do sometimes. He encounters Rowan and Bel, traveling in disguise. Concluding that they are spies for a wizard, he travels with them in hopes they will help him become a wizard’s apprentice. |
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The pair make their way back to the Archives, the central repository of knowledge of Steerswomen. Rowan's fellow Steerswomen agree that she should continue her investigation, but in a different manner than before, as her current investigations are drawing notice and attempts on her life, and they suggest she go undercover. |
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Bel and Rowan investigate a town rumored to be a source of the blue gems and find a shopkeeper who claims to design and sell the gems himself. With Will’s help, the pair discover this to be a false trail left for them, and quickly leave town for the Outskirts. Will discovers Bel and Rowan’s true goal, and continues with them out of friendship, and the belief that wizards should not abuse their power. More wizards’ soldiers follow them, and after a fight, Rowan decides to face the wizards directly. |
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| ⚫ | The story switches perspective to a young runaway named Will, who has a talent for making things explode, much in the way wizards do sometimes. |
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Rowan and Bel infiltrate the fortress of two wizards. They investigate in disguise until Rowan is captured. As a prisoner, Rowan carefully converses with the wizards by giving them information freely and not asking any questions that they would refuse to answer, since any refusal to give information to a Steerswoman results in a ban on receiving information from Steerswomen. She gleans that they are following orders from another wizard, Slado. Bel and Will free her from her imprisonment, using Will’s exploding magic to destroy the wizards’ tower. |
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Bel and Rowan come to the town they intend to investigate as a rumored source of the stones and find a shopkeeper who claims to design and sell the stones himself. With Will’s help, the pair discover this to be a false trail left for them, and quickly leave town, pretending to believe the story. They are stalked by a group of soldiers who have orders to capture them and bring them to a pair of wizards, Dhree and Shammer, a brother and sister who Rowan eventually learns are under the control of a wizard named Slado. She and Bel slip into the stronghold of the wizards disguised as guards and then Rowan is captured. |
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The trio travel to a city where they will be under the military protection of a local Duke, who prepares for a conflict with the wizards. Rowan meets with another wizard, playing the same information game as before to learn about the wizards’ plans. She informs him that it is useless for Slado to try to prevent her investigation, as she has already solved the mystery of the blue gems, and the progress of information cannot be stopped. The gems are pieces of a fallen guidestar, brought down for some unknown reason by the wizards, who may have put them up there in the first place. |
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Rowan is surprised to discover that Dhree and Shammer are barely teenagers, and probably too young to actually be in control. She is able to converse with them by giving them information freely and not asking them any questions that they would refuse to answer, thereby earning them the ban. The siblings talk amongst themselves in her presence and she gleans valuable information from them for a time before they shut her up in a room to wait for Slado to arrive and take her. Bel and Will spring her from her prison through the distraction of Will’s exploding magic. |
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A demonstration of Will’s magic convinces this wizard to take Will on as an apprentice. Will departs with the promise that he will share the wizards’ secrets with the Steerswomen if he discovers that their secrecy is not motivated by good reasons. |
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Back at the Archives, the Steerswomen put together the clues they have gathered and conclude that the blue stones are pieces of a fallen guidestar, brought down for some unknown reason by the wizards, who may have put them up there in the first place. Rowan plays the same information game she did with Dhree and Shammer with another wizard who is not loyal to Slado. She convinces him to take Will on as an apprentice. Will promises to share information about wizard magic with the Steerswomen. |
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==Reception== |
==Reception== |
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Revision as of 01:42, 11 June 2024
 | It has been suggested that this article be merged with Draft:The Outskirter's Secret and Rosemary Kirstein to Steerswoman books. (Discuss) Proposed since June 2024. |
 Original UK Cover | |
| Author | Rosemary Kirstein |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Series | The Steerswoman |
| Genre | Science fantasy |
| Publisher | Del Rey |
Published in English | 13 August 1989 |
| Pages | 279 |
| ISBN | 0-345-35762-0 |
| Followed by | The Outskirter’s Secret |
The Steerswoman is a 1989 science fantasy novel by American writer Rosemary Kirstein. It follows the journey of Rowan, who is a Steerswoman in an age that is just beginning to gain technology and advancement. A Steerswoman or Steersman is a traveling scholar looking to supplement as well as share their knowledge. They are required to answer any question put to them by anyone and in turn, any question they ask must be answered truthfully, or the questioner will be placed under a ban where no Steerswoman will ever answer a question from them again.
The Steerswoman was followed by The Outskirter's Secret (1992), The Lost Steersman (2003), and The Language of Power (2004).
Plot
Steerswoman Rowan is investigating the origins of blue jewels that have been found scattered across the land. She meets Bel, a warrior from the Outskirts who knows where a large number of these jewels were found. They travel together to the Archives, the central repository of knowledge of Steerswomen, intending to investigate the Bel’s location in the Outskirts after Rowan has made her report. Along the way, they are attacked twice by wizards’ soldiers. At the Archives, the Steerswomen conclude that investigating the jewels risks attack from wizards, but that the Steerswomen’s calling is to pursue the information anyway. Rowan renounces her status as Steerswoman so she can travel undercover and lie if needed.
The story switches perspective to a young runaway named Will, who has a talent for making things explode, much in the way wizards do sometimes. He encounters Rowan and Bel, traveling in disguise. Concluding that they are spies for a wizard, he travels with them in hopes they will help him become a wizard’s apprentice.
Bel and Rowan investigate a town rumored to be a source of the blue gems and find a shopkeeper who claims to design and sell the gems himself. With Will’s help, the pair discover this to be a false trail left for them, and quickly leave town for the Outskirts. Will discovers Bel and Rowan’s true goal, and continues with them out of friendship, and the belief that wizards should not abuse their power. More wizards’ soldiers follow them, and after a fight, Rowan decides to face the wizards directly.
Rowan and Bel infiltrate the fortress of two wizards. They investigate in disguise until Rowan is captured. As a prisoner, Rowan carefully converses with the wizards by giving them information freely and not asking any questions that they would refuse to answer, since any refusal to give information to a Steerswoman results in a ban on receiving information from Steerswomen. She gleans that they are following orders from another wizard, Slado. Bel and Will free her from her imprisonment, using Will’s exploding magic to destroy the wizards’ tower.
The trio travel to a city where they will be under the military protection of a local Duke, who prepares for a conflict with the wizards. Rowan meets with another wizard, playing the same information game as before to learn about the wizards’ plans. She informs him that it is useless for Slado to try to prevent her investigation, as she has already solved the mystery of the blue gems, and the progress of information cannot be stopped. The gems are pieces of a fallen guidestar, brought down for some unknown reason by the wizards, who may have put them up there in the first place.
A demonstration of Will’s magic convinces this wizard to take Will on as an apprentice. Will departs with the promise that he will share the wizards’ secrets with the Steerswomen if he discovers that their secrecy is not motivated by good reasons.
Reception
Jo Walton has called the Steerswoman "terrific fun to read", with "really good prose",[1] while James Nicoll stated that it was "what SF should aspire to be".[2] Pornokitsch has described The Steerswoman as "a lovely example of an epic story driven by brains over brawn, and wit over magical destiny", noting that "unlike many of its contemporaries, [it] has not aged badly".[3]
References
- ^ Not only science fiction, but more science fictional than anything else: Rosemary Kirstein’s Steerswoman books, by Jo Walton, at Tor.com; published October 30, 2008; retrieved September 18, 2018
- ^ The Steerswoman, reviewed by James Nicoll, at James Nicoll Reviews; published April 22, 2014; retrieved September 18, 2018
- ^ I Read 14 Books - And You Won't Believe What Happened Next!, by Jared, at Pornokitsch; published April 28, 2017; retrieved September 18, 2018