The Steerswoman's Road

Rating:
Summary: Enthralling and inspiring
Review: The Steerswoman's Road is an omnibus edition of the Steerswoman series, including the first two volumes. Steerswomen, and a very few Steersmen, are members of an order dedicated to discovering and disseminating knowledge. Although they are foremost navigators of the high seas, Steerswomen are also explorers and cartographers upon land as well as sea. With one exception, they are pledged to always answer any question put to them with as truthful a response as is possible within their own limitations. However, they also require anyone of whom they ask questions to respond in the same manner, upon penalty of the Steerswomen's ban; those under the ban do not receive answers from the steerswomen.

In The Steerswoman, Rowan is interested in some strange jewels which have been found distributed in an unusual pattern. She meets Bel, an Outskirter warrior, in a frontier tavern, asks her about a collection of such jewels made into a belt, and agrees to allow her to come along on the journey back to the Steerswomen Archives. On the way, they are attacked and almost killed by one of five men who had been wearing a wizard's uniform in the tavern. After almost being killed later in a burning inn, Rowan begins to think that some wizard has ordered her death.

In The Outskirter's Secret, Rowan and Bel travel to the Outskirts, where green vegetation is seldom found, but red and black grass and other exotic plants abound. They travel with Outskirter tribes and Rowan learns much about the fringes of human society. Outskirter life is hard and various forms of alien death surround them, including goblins and demons.

These novels were written over a decade ago and the sequel, The Lost Steersman, has been long awaited. Re-reading these stories reminds me why. The world, cultures and characters seem to fit each other so well that the story seems inevitable. Moreover, the tone and mood closely resembles that of Kingsbury's Courtship Rite, one of the most unique examples of excellent SF worldbuilding.

Highly recommended to Kirstein fans and anyone else who enjoys tales of unusual cultures on alien planets with a touch of mystery.

Rating:
Summary: Something Strange In the Outskirts
Review: The Steerswoman's Road is an omnibus edition of the Steerswoman series, including the first two volumes. Steerswomen, and a very few Steersmen, are members of an order dedicated to discovering and disseminating knowledge. Although they are foremost navigators of the high seas, Steerswomen are also explorers and cartographers upon land as well as sea. With one exception, they are pledged to always answer any question put to them with as truthful a response as is possible within their own limitations. However, they also require anyone of whom they ask questions to respond in the same manner, upon penalty of the Steerswomen's ban; those under the ban do not receive answers from the steerswomen.

In The Steerswoman, Rowan is interested in some strange jewels which have been found distributed in an unusual pattern. She meets Bel, an Outskirter warrior, in a frontier tavern, asks her about a collection of such jewels made into a belt, and agrees to allow her to come along on the journey back to the Steerswomen Archives. On the way, they are attacked and almost killed by one of five men who had been wearing a wizard's uniform in the tavern. After almost being killed later in a burning inn, Rowan begins to think that some wizard has ordered her death.

In The Outskirter's Secret, Rowan and Bel travel to the Outskirts, where green vegetation is seldom found, but red and black grass and other exotic plants abound. They travel with Outskirter tribes and Rowan learns much about the fringes of human society. Outskirter life is hard and various forms of alien death surround them, including goblins and demons.

These novels were written over a decade ago and the sequel, The Lost Steersman, has been long awaited. Re-reading these stories reminds me why. The world, cultures and characters seem to fit each other so well that the story seems inevitable. Moreover, the tone and mood closely resembles that of Kingsbury's Courtship Rite, one of the most unique examples of excellent SF worldbuilding.

Highly recommended to Kirstein fans and anyone else who enjoys tales of unusual cultures on alien planets with a touch of mystery.

Rating:
Summary: Great start to a series, now reprinted!
Review: The writing quality is excellent, the premise is interesting,
unusual, and takes awhile to "get it" (it's a mystery to the
characters, which we discover with them.)

The world-crafting is top-notch, the pacing excellent.

The ending, however, is in a future book, hopefully the one
coming out in August. I've been waiting a couple of years to
see how this ends, and will buy the sequel as soon as it releases.