About

The Steerswoman series is written by Rosemary Kirstein.

The Steerswoman book cover

Blurb

Fascinated by the opalescent and perfectly smooth jewels--clearly no natural product--Rowan pursues the secret of their origin, a quest that leads her to secretive wizards who kill without compunction

Steerswoman: If you ask, she will answer. If she asks, you must reply. A steerswoman will speak only the truth to you, as long as she knows it—and you must do the same for her. And so, across the centuries, the steerswomen—questioning, searching, investigating—have slowly learned more and more about the world through which they wander. All knowledge the steerswomen possess is given freely to those who ask. But there is one kind of knowledge that has always been denied them: Magic.

Review

This series has been on my TBR for a long time now. Before starting, I had the impression that this series was exploration heavy and vaguely remembered that there's some fantasy-scifi combination.

The Steerswoman

Coming from a deluge of progression fantasy books over the prior 6 weeks, it took me a while to adjust to a classical fantasy setting and the intensity of violence.

The central idea behind the Steerswoman group kept me interested. As mentioned in the blurb, Rowan (main character, Steerswoman from the Inner lands) was investigating curious jewels she'd come across in her travels. This led to a chance encounter with Bel (a barbarian from the Outskirter land), who had information to share and wants to accompany Rowan in her quest (as a chance to explore).

Rowan and Bel worked well as a team and I enjoyed getting to know them as the story moved forward. A sudden POV switch to a third main character Will (a teen with explosive magic tricks) had me wary, given the bad reputation of Wizards. But this turned out to be a good addition to the traveling party (though it came with increased violence). And Will's use of magical objects also fit neatly into Rowan's quest about the jewels and secretive nature of Wizards.

After the initial adjustment, I found the pacing to be good and you'd be hard pressed to stop reading towards the last quarter. Overall, this book established the nature of Steerswoman and Wizards and leaves you wanting to know more about the world. I read the remaining three books within a week.

🛈 Reviews for sequel books below contain spoilers.

The Outskirter's Secret

I went into this book eager for Rowan and Bel to reach the broken Guidestar and discover secrets. Instead, we got a rather detailed book about Outskirter territory and the tribes that call home in this hostile part of the world. I found it fascinating to read about the strange ecosystem, but not so much about the tribes (writing was good, just a case of having read similar ones in other series and I'd rather prefer peaceful nomads over warring tribes). And just when I was enjoying Fletcher's antics, turns out he was using tech, keeping secrets and died after helping save most of the tribe. It was also frustrating that Rowan didn't even get to eke out as many secrets as possible from him.

That said, the climax was amazing and impactful to read after all the set up. And we finally got a few more details about the world.

The Lost Steersman

I liked this book similar to the first two. The big reveal at the end was great. And now I feel like I know why the second book was more focused on the tribes as well as their warring nature. Plus, the wizard wars are also probably a means to keep the population in check in the Inner lands. Seems like things were set up to maximize the chances of survival and knowledge from those times have been lost or purposely suppressed.

I had plenty of questions after reaching the end. Will need to re-read the earlier books to catch things I missed. Also, if there's no moon, how's there a tide? Perhaps something else is at play?

Current guesses:

  • Humans came from Earth to this planet. Wonder if there is anyone alive who still knows this. And wonder if the first of Steerswomen/Wizards knew this. At the end of book one, I guessed the planet had advanced sci-fi tech and then regressed, but hadn't thought humans were from Earth or another planet.

  • Slado is an AI, probably in one of the Guidestars (Rowan briefly wonders if someone lives there). My previous guess while reading book two and knowing book three's title was Janus will turn out to be Slado.

The Language of Power

This was the best book in the series for me. The first half was almost cozy, with all the food scenes and how The Dolphin's staff treated Rowan.

My prediction for Slado turned out to be wrong yet again! Anyway, thanks to Will, Rowan finally got to learn basics of magic and see the tools used by Wizards.

It was also nice to see the trio from the first book teamed up again here as well as callbacks to events from earlier books. But, the ending means they'll separate yet again! I was a bit disappointed that there wasn't much discussion about Janus and Demons.

Here's to hoping that we'll get the concluding books.

My rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟☆

What others are saying

From Althea Ann's review on goodreads:

Kirstein's 'Steerswoman' series had been highly recommended to me - and did not disappoint in the slightest. It's fun, well-crafted, well-characterized adventure with an original set-up and believable culture(s).

From Rachel Neumeier's review on goodreads:

The characters: Well-drawn. Rowan, Bel, and Willam are all quite appealing in their different ways. Rowan’s observation skills and general perceptiveness are beautifully handled throughout, and believable, none of that too-good-to-be-true Sherlock Holmes magic. The whole concept of the steerswomen was delightful, and that, too, was handled in a believable way – pretty tricky for such an idealized lifestyle. I loved the bit where all the steerswomen (and steersmen) gave us some insight about how they look at the world while everyone worked on coming up with a disguise for Rowan. Look at this woman: what story would you believe about her?