Fantasy.
Fiction.
Science Fiction.
If you ask, she must answer. A steerswoman's knowledge is shared with any who request it; no steerswoman may refuse a question, and no steerswoman may answer with anything but the truth. And if she asks, you must answer. It is the other side of tradition's contract â?? and if you refuse the question, or lie, no steerswoman will ever again answer even your most casual question. And so, the steerswomen â?? always seeking, always investigating â?? have gathered more and more knowledge about the world they traveled, and they share that knowledge freely. Until the day that the steerswoman Rowan begins asking innocent questions about one small, lovely, inexplicable object... Her discoveries grow stranger and deeper, and more dangerous, until suddenly she finds she must flee or fight for her life. Or worse â?? lie. Because one kind of knowledge has always been denied the steersw… (más)
sandstone78: Like The Steerswoman, Jane Fletcher's Celaeno series is set in a fantasy world that is not quite what it seems, with truths that are gradually revealed. However, the Celaeno series is less rigorously scientific, including more science fantasy tropes like psychic powers, and the discovery is not the main point of the plot. Temple at Landfall centers around Lynn, who is isolated from the world by the priestesshood because of her particular rare powers, and what happens when she leaves the Temple and encounters a group of heretics who claim they know the truth about her world.… (más)
sandstone78: Both of these stories deal with a seemingly fantasy setting that turns out to be something else, and the tension between a small group that knows the secrets, a majority that doesn't, and a person from that majority that questions the order.
In The Steerswoman, the protagonist is a traveling scholar/scientist whose investigations draw the interest of the wizards who rule the known world; in Children of the Star, the protagonist questions the traditional religion and the priveleged class of scholars and technicians in society. Rowan's investigations are for her own curiosity and to record the truth for her Order, while Noren's story ends up on the other side of the divide, exploring the rationale, justifications, and rightness of the many keeping things from the few.
The Steerswoman series is ongoing, with the overall story unresolved and individual volumes reaching their own conclusions, but Children of the Star is a completed trilogy.… (más)
I've seen The Steerswoman recommended a number of times by people over the years, and finally got my hands on a copy of it. The basic premise of the book is interesting—Rowan, the Steerswoman of the title, is one of a number of such women (and the occasional man) whose task is to explore their world, preserving and transmitting knowledge—but I found it a work which I respected more than admired. I never clicked with the POV characters, or was that convinced/clear about some aspects of the world-building, and some of the characters' actions have dated very badly in the thirty or so years since this book was first published. There's an awful lot of "torture allows us to extract information effectively!" and "let's kill the redshirts indiscriminately!" from people who are clearly supposed to be the good guys. Solid for what it is, but I don't think I'll be continuing on with the series. ( )
This is a strange book. Simultaneously very speculative, and very uncaring of human life.
I started the book and wasn't very interested. I came back and found myself more compelled. I dropped it for a week, but then picked it up and desperately needed to know how it ended.
I still have very little idea of how the magic works. This is frustrating, considering it's core to much of the plot. Kirstein would explicitly point out dialogue with social issues, but magic is still very vague. ( )
The Steerswoman was not what I expected, from the old paperback cover, I thought it'd be a D&D type adventure. I also didn't expect a 1989 Fantasy to have such a capable cast of women, at a time when most D&D parties had at most one woman usually cast as a healer.
I love the relationship between Bel and Rowan, at first Rowan doesn't quite trust Bel but as the adventure continue she finds that she can and that she is just as capable as Rowan in her own way. Someone mentioned to me that this was SF so I wasn't that surprised when Will's magic turned out to be gunpowder.
The worldbuilding and the inclusion of a map really added to the overall reading experience.
I'm really glad that I joined the SciFi and Fantasy Book Club group as I'd never heard of this series before and now I can't wait to continue with the next book. ( )
Fantasy.
Fiction.
Science Fiction.
If you ask, she must answer. A steerswoman's knowledge is shared with any who request it; no steerswoman may refuse a question, and no steerswoman may answer with anything but the truth. And if she asks, you must answer. It is the other side of tradition's contract â?? and if you refuse the question, or lie, no steerswoman will ever again answer even your most casual question. And so, the steerswomen â?? always seeking, always investigating â?? have gathered more and more knowledge about the world they traveled, and they share that knowledge freely. Until the day that the steerswoman Rowan begins asking innocent questions about one small, lovely, inexplicable object... Her discoveries grow stranger and deeper, and more dangerous, until suddenly she finds she must flee or fight for her life. Or worse â?? lie. Because one kind of knowledge has always been denied the steersw
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