Rating: 
Summary: Well written! Can I have some more, please?
Review: On a world where man made satellites orbit the sky, humanity has developed to a medieval level. Steerswomen are taught how to gather knowledge and spread it to all that are interested. Rowan has discovered that the wizard Slado is using a magical spell known as the Routine Bioform clearance to rain down invisible heat on the Outskirts. If he continues to do so, the outskirters will spread into the Inner Lands and the two societies would then be at war.In hopes of stopping Slado, Rowan travels to the Annex in the town of Alemeth hoping to find a clue hat would help her locate the wizard. She discovers a disgraced steersman who explains why he quit the guild. Not long after that, Slado's minions from the Outskirters start appearing and kill anyone whom gets in their way. Only Janus has a magical talisman that can hold these creatures off but he is captured and taken away by boat to what Rowan believes is Slado's lair, in an unexplored part of the planet. Rowan follows Janus, using his notes and charts to guide her but when she arrives at her destination, she finds something truly terrifying being perpetrated that she must find a way to stop. THE LOST STEERSMAN, the sequel to THE STEERSWOMAN and THE OUTSKIRTER'S ESCORT raises more questions than it answers. There is bound to be at least one more book in this exciting series about a world where science is considered magic, yielded by wizards who are actually scientists. Rosemary Kirstein given the reader a colorful and detailed look at the protagonist's world, one filled with wonder and things waiting to be discovered. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Enthralling
Review: On a world where man made satellites orbit the sky, humanity has developed to a medieval level. Steerswomen are taught how to gather knowledge and spread it to all that are interested. Rowan has discovered that the wizard Slado is using a magical spell known as the Routine Bioform clearance to rain down invisible heat on the Outskirts. If he continues to do so, the outskirters will spread into the Inner Lands and the two societies would then be at war. In hopes of stopping Slado, Rowan travels to the Annex in the town of Alemeth hoping to find a clue hat would help her locate the wizard. She discovers a disgraced steersman who explains why he quit the guild. Not long after that, Slado's minions from the Outskirters start appearing and kill anyone whom gets in their way. Only Janus has a magical talisman that can hold these creatures off but he is captured and taken away by boat to what Rowan believes is Slado's lair, in an unexplored part of the planet. Rowan follows Janus, using his notes and charts to guide her but when she arrives at her destination, she finds something truly terrifying being perpetrated that she must find a way to stop. THE LOST STEERSMAN, the sequel to THE STEERSWOMAN and THE OUTSKIRTER'S ESCORT raises more questions than it answers. There is bound to be at least one more book in this exciting series about a world where science is considered magic, yielded by wizards who are actually scientists. Rosemary Kirstein given the reader a colorful and detailed look at the protagonist's world, one filled with wonder and things waiting to be discovered. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Demons in the Inner Lands
Review: The Lost Steersman is the third novel in the Steerswoman series, following The Outskirter's Secret. In the preceding volume, Rowan and Bel discover that the wizards are keeping the Outskirts under surveillance. One of the wizard's agents tells them everything he knows, including information on the upcoming Routine Bioform Clearance. Rowan and Bel lead the Outskirter tribes in a wild flight to safety. In this volume, Rowan has returned to the Inner Lands, staying at the Annex in Alemeth in hopes of discovering more information about Slado. She finds the resident Steerswoman, Mira, to be recently deceased and the Annex left in a confused mess. While Rowan starts organizing the books into some semblance of order and searching for magic events that are not connected to known wizards, she finds herself being unfavorably compared to Mira. To her surprise, Rowan also finds Janus, the lost Steersman, residing in Alemath. He stills insists that he has resigned and that he can't -- or won't -- talk about his experiences. Janus has been put under the Steerswomen's Ban by Ingrud, a former friend, because of his refusal to answer her questions about what happened to him, but Rowan thinks that she may be able to get him reinstated. Then the demons show up in Alemeth. This novel is a worthy successor to the first two tales. Rowan has to deal with an almost overwhelming string of new experiences that run counter to her own beliefs. We are kept in suspense to the end of the tale (which had better have a sequel) and are shown first hand why Rowan is a good Steerswoman. I have only one peeve about this story: the lack of romantic interest. Will Rowan ever find, and keep, a man or woman to become her partner? She finds plenty of people who could be close friends, but always falls for the wrong man, and she keeps being separated from Bel, who has rapidly become her closest friend. Recommended for Kirstein fans -- who have long awaited it -- and for anyone else who enjoys tales of exotic societies, alien plants and animals, and a restless urge to see the other side of the hill.
Rating:
Summary: Demons in the Inner Lands
Review: The Lost Steersman is the third novel in the Steerswoman series, following The Outskirter's Secret. In the preceding volume, Rowan and Bel discover that the wizards are keeping the Outskirts under surveillance. One of the wizard's agents tells them everything he knows, including information on the upcoming Routine Bioform Clearance. Rowan and Bel lead the Outskirter tribes in a wild flight to safety. In this volume, Rowan has returned to the Inner Lands, staying at the Annex in Alemeth in hopes of discovering more information about Slado. She finds the resident Steerswoman, Mira, to be recently deceased and the Annex left in a confused mess. While Rowan starts organizing the books into some semblance of order and searching for magic events that are not connected to known wizards, she finds herself being unfavorably compared to Mira. To her surprise, Rowan also finds Janus, the lost Steersman, residing in Alemath. He stills insists that he has resigned and that he can't -- or won't -- talk about his experiences. Janus has been put under the Steerswomen's Ban by Ingrud, a former friend, because of his refusal to answer her questions about what happened to him, but Rowan thinks that she may be able to get him reinstated. Then the demons show up in Alemeth. This novel is a worthy successor to the first two tales. Rowan has to deal with an almost overwhelming string of new experiences that run counter to her own beliefs. We are kept in suspense to the end of the tale (which had better have a sequel) and are shown first hand why Rowan is a good Steerswoman. I have only one peeve about this story: the lack of romantic interest. Will Rowan ever find, and keep, a man or woman to become her partner? She finds plenty of people who could be close friends, but always falls for the wrong man, and she keeps being separated from Bel, who has rapidly become her closest friend. Recommended for Kirstein fans -- who have long awaited it -- and for anyone else who enjoys tales of exotic societies, alien plants and animals, and a restless urge to see the other side of the hill.
Rating:
Summary: Well written! Can I have some more, please?
Review: This is a wonderful series! I read the three books all together; and, therefore, did not have to wait years and years in between like others did. Ms. Kirstein writes the Steerswoman into some great adventures, and those "one-liners" that she throws in had me laughing out loud and asking the closest family member to read that paragraph. Wasn't it fun to see Steffie start to think like a Steersman? I highly recommend these books and hope there are more to come. The situation with the demons left a bad taste in my mouth. And what about Slado?
Rating: 
Summary: Lyrical series
Review: This is the third in the Steerswoman series. As with the first two, the writing is beautiful and the story is both thoughtful and interesting. These are intelligent books, easy to read; the characters are funny, smart, and tough in their own ways.
Usually I have trouble with books based in the future that depict people's return to magical ways of thinking. This one, however, makes sense. Everything happens for a reason; there is a structure that functions very well. There is nothing gratuitous about the story, or the society; everything has it's reason. The conflict set up for the next book isn't a physical war, although that might happen as well; it's a conflict of morals and behavior.
Rowan the Steerswoman is come to the Archives, looking for a man whom she has never seen. She has only his name and ocupation: he is the head wizard, the commander of the magic that shapes their world. The Archives are a secondary repository for copies of all the collected knowledge of the Steerswomen and men. The old keeper has died. The archives are a complete mess. Rowan has spent too long on strange roads in strange places, and no longer understands how to deal well with the normal people of her world. And the lost Steersman, the lost friend, is found again; but he is already under ban for not answering a Steerswoman. His answers are strange and raise as many questions as they put to rest... Then things from the outer lands are seen in the inner lands.
Anything else I say will be a spoiler, and you don't want this lovely book spoiled.
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