How could these blue jewels describe a straight line from one end of the world to the other? According to Rowan it's like a huge giant threw them in an arc that causing them to rain down on the earth as they lost momentum. But even that wouldn't be possible, even if there were giants in the world, there would be no place high enough where they could stand that their throw could describe that arc.
High above the world, seemingly affixed in the sky, hang the East and West Guidestars. For centuries everybody has used them as their means of direction finding. Only the Steerswomen believe that they may not have always hung in the sky, and so may not be there forever. Only the Steerswomen can navigate without them when necessary.
The Steerswomen novels by Rosemary Kirstein are elaborate anthropological and sociological studies on the clash of cultures and the impact of technology on a world when its secrets are held in the hands of only a few. It doesn't take us a great leap to figure out that the Guidestars are in fact types of Satellites and that they are connected to the jewels. But for the people of Rowan's world this is magic beyond their comprehension.
The people of the Inner Lands and the Outskirts live equivalent lives to what we would consider medieval peasantry. The majority are illiterate and depend on the Steerswomen for telling them their history and keeping them informed of events in the world outside of their own villages.
The Outskirters are nomadic tribesmen that follow grazing pastures for their goats. Never able to stay in one place for long as their herds devour grazing lands, their environment is so hostile and harsh that they consider themselves to be in a war for survival. They do their utmost to kill the land before it kills them.
Even the plant life of the Outskirts can be fatal to humans, never mind the packs of goblins who haunt the wastes, and the treacherous bogs waiting to swallow people whole. When Rowan accompanies Bel back to the Outskirts in The Outskirter's Secret in an attempt to find the fallen Guidestar she gets first hand experience of how difficult life is on the plains.
Although one of their reasons for the trip to the Outskirts was to alert the tribes to the fact that the wizards are a potential threat to all those who dwell in the inhabited lands, it's only while they are there that they learn the true significance of that threat. As they discover more about the true nature of the Guidestars, they begin to realize the enormity of the danger that their world faces.
Article comments
1 - Anna
Great review! I heard about these books from some folks over at sf-books.com earlier this year. I've only read these first two, but I look forward to the rest. Kirstein has a knack for storytelling with compelling characters and sufficiently obscured mysteries. Both of these books end with almost as many new questions raised as those that have been answered.