The Steerswoman
 | 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. |
| File:The Steerswoman Cover.jpg 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.
The Steerswoman was followed by The Outskirter's Secret (1992), The Lost Steersman (2003), and The Language of Power (2004).
Plot
A Steerswoman is a traveling scholar, required to answer any question put to them. In turn, any question they ask must be answered truthfully, or no Steerswoman will ever answer a question from them again. Only wizards do not respect and cooperate with the Steerswomen, preferring to maintain intense secrecy around their magic.
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. 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.
Meanwhile, teenaged Will has run away from his small town. He 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, to prevent them from incurring the Steerswomen’s ban. She gleans that they are following orders from another wizard, Slado. Bel and Will free her, 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