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So far, Rosemary Kirstein's Steerswoman books are some of the most amazingly refreshing fantasy/sci-fi novels I've ever read.
Steerswomen, in this book, are basically an Order of Traveling Research Fellows based in what looks like a vaguely medieval-ish society. They bop around, poking at things that interest them and until they've found out as much as they can before going back to home base to record their discoveries; they formulate hypotheses, and ask questions, and they answer them for themselves and for other people. If anybody else refuses to answer a Steerswoman's question, they don't get any more questions answered themselves.
There are also wizards. Steerswomen don't really like wizards, because wizards are notoriously secretive and keep all their methods very hush-hush, and Steerswomen are all "down with hegemony of knowledge! Everyone should have the chance to know all the things!" The feeling is presumably mutual.
Our heroine Rowan's particular research project is some weird blue stones. In the first book, The Steerswoman, she picks up a warrior woman named Bel who comes from a different culture and who happens to have a belt made out of those blue stones. Bel decides that if she's going to be wandering around Rowan's country she might as well do it with Rowan, and they have some clashes of cultural values and work through it because they like each other well enough to be willing to keep an open mind about stuff, and in general start to become awesome lady friends. Also it turns out wizards are trying to kill Rowan because her research is dangerous to them, so that's where the plot comes in. But mostly: realistic research methodology! Respectful cultural negotiation! Thoughtful worldbuilding! Ladyfriends!
And this was great in and of itself, but then I got to the second book, The Outskirter's Secret, which is TWICE AS GOOD. This is the one where in order to pursue her research about the weird blue stones, Rowan has to go with Bel back to her nomadic grasslands culture -- which is not in any way a monolith, which I love, especially when Bel gets really judgy about people who Don't Do Things The Way Bel Does Things -- and spends a lot of time earnestly asking people questions and experiencing culture shock and attempting to come up with theories about the grasslands ecosystem, and Bel meanwhile has been putting pieces together based on Rowan's research and has come up with a plan of her own, and then the stakes suddenly get a lot higher and the book decides to stab you in the heart a few times, because if you came for the research and the ladyfriendship you might as well stay for the impossible moral choices and impending doom I guess.
There are two more books in the series I think, and I'm incredibly excited to read them. It's just -- man, I wish I got to read books all the time where the central focus was a.) the friendship between two women and b.) people acting with intelligent, thoughtful respect towards each other, and their responsibilities, and the world around them. EVERYONE IN THESE BOOKS BEHAVES LIKE ADULTS. Why is this so rare?
This entry is cross-posted at Livejournal from http://skygiants.dreamwidth.org/293411.html. Please feel free to comment here or there! There are currently
comments on Dreamwidth.
Steerswomen, in this book, are basically an Order of Traveling Research Fellows based in what looks like a vaguely medieval-ish society. They bop around, poking at things that interest them and until they've found out as much as they can before going back to home base to record their discoveries; they formulate hypotheses, and ask questions, and they answer them for themselves and for other people. If anybody else refuses to answer a Steerswoman's question, they don't get any more questions answered themselves.
There are also wizards. Steerswomen don't really like wizards, because wizards are notoriously secretive and keep all their methods very hush-hush, and Steerswomen are all "down with hegemony of knowledge! Everyone should have the chance to know all the things!" The feeling is presumably mutual.
Our heroine Rowan's particular research project is some weird blue stones. In the first book, The Steerswoman, she picks up a warrior woman named Bel who comes from a different culture and who happens to have a belt made out of those blue stones. Bel decides that if she's going to be wandering around Rowan's country she might as well do it with Rowan, and they have some clashes of cultural values and work through it because they like each other well enough to be willing to keep an open mind about stuff, and in general start to become awesome lady friends. Also it turns out wizards are trying to kill Rowan because her research is dangerous to them, so that's where the plot comes in. But mostly: realistic research methodology! Respectful cultural negotiation! Thoughtful worldbuilding! Ladyfriends!
And this was great in and of itself, but then I got to the second book, The Outskirter's Secret, which is TWICE AS GOOD. This is the one where in order to pursue her research about the weird blue stones, Rowan has to go with Bel back to her nomadic grasslands culture -- which is not in any way a monolith, which I love, especially when Bel gets really judgy about people who Don't Do Things The Way Bel Does Things -- and spends a lot of time earnestly asking people questions and experiencing culture shock and attempting to come up with theories about the grasslands ecosystem, and Bel meanwhile has been putting pieces together based on Rowan's research and has come up with a plan of her own, and then the stakes suddenly get a lot higher and the book decides to stab you in the heart a few times, because if you came for the research and the ladyfriendship you might as well stay for the impossible moral choices and impending doom I guess.
There are two more books in the series I think, and I'm incredibly excited to read them. It's just -- man, I wish I got to read books all the time where the central focus was a.) the friendship between two women and b.) people acting with intelligent, thoughtful respect towards each other, and their responsibilities, and the world around them. EVERYONE IN THESE BOOKS BEHAVES LIKE ADULTS. Why is this so rare?
This entry is cross-posted at Livejournal from http://skygiants.dreamwidth.org/293411.html. Please feel free to comment here or there! There are currently
comments on Dreamwidth.