2003 fantasy/SF, third of its series. Rowan the Steerswoman comes to
the seaside town of Alemeth, searching the Annex for evidence of a
wizard who doesn't seem to exist…
I read this book when it came out, and was very disappointed in
it for two reasons. First, the double act of Rowan and Bel the
barbarian Outskirter that was the core of the first two books is gone
here; second, because Rowan's quest is to track down the wizard Slado
and stop him from plunging the world into war. That seems like a very
urgent thing, but there's essentially no progress on that quest in
this book, which I found frustrating. Remembering that as I went into
this re-reading, I enjoyed it rather more.
What we do have is attacks by "demons", monstrous headless creatures
that spray acid – and the primary thrust of the book, I think, deals
with Rowan's attempts to understand them, to move them mentally from
"random monster that we kill when it attacks us" to "creature that
acts in comprehensible ways".
A secondary plot deals with Janus, the titular lost Steersman, who was
Rowan's friend when they trained together but abruptly left the Order
and wouldn't say why. Was it, as he claimed, the lingering horror of
his experiences? Or is he up to something even now?
It's particularly good to meet more Steerswomen at greater length than
we've seen before; Rowan remains Rowan, but her way of doing things
isn't the only way, and other Steerswomen handle problems by other
means.
The second half of the book drops the social aspects and focuses on
Rowan's solitary explorations; it's an odd pacing choice, but again it
works as long as one doesn't bring too many expectations from other
stories.
Certainly not a place to start the series, but a worthy continuation
of it.
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