The Steerswoman Series

People need truth! They need it to be happy, to know what to do, to live!

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Rating: 4.5/5 – Could go higher if it’s ever finished.

You’ve probably never heard of The Steerswoman series, by Rosemary Kirstein. Best described as a “science fiction story, but all the characters think they’re in a fantasy novel”, it deserves to be mentioned with the great, enduring works of speculative fiction. The plotting is superb, the characters excellent, and the setting wholly original. I’m not going to get into the details, just want to say that if you like speculative fiction, you’ll probably enjoy this one.

What really makes this series stand out is the way Kirstein depicts the joy of being a scientist. The protagonist of the series embodies pure and honest love of learning and discovery that I haven’t ever seen before. There is a thrill that comes with discovering and understanding something new that is perfectly captured in these novels.

The “only” drawback is that the series is unfinished, with the last volume having been written almost 20 years ago. The author claims to be working on more, but well, we’ve all seen this before. There are currently 4 published novels (all of them excellent), with two more “in progress”. We’ll see. Still, it’s good enough that I can recommend it as it stands.

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