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millanxvii's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
phatlady's review against another edition
4.0
Not quite a five star from me, but extremely f***in cool, will be continuing the series. Can't believe I haven't heard of it before
kirilaw's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
archergal's review against another edition
3.0
I'm not quite sure I understand the love for this book. It was ok. I did like the characters, but that kinda was it. Don't feel any need to read the rest of the series. Hmm.
geekmom's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
I’m happy to say that after years of hunting for this book, it turned out to be worth the wait. An intriguing premise, and interesting characters - I’m looking forward to reading the other books in this series.
sophiereads21's review against another edition
5.0
The Steerswoman are an order dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge, ask them a question and they must answer to the best of their abilities. Rowan, following a random curiosity about some odd jewels catches the attention of wizards, this attention soon proves deadly. And she follows the thread of investigation, the very foundation of knowledge about the world will be upended!
I thought this was fantastic! Characyers are well written and while the ending is abrupt it clearly sets up for longer overarching plot. I loved the sub text commentary on access to knowledge. The story is revealed in a wonderfully logical way
I thought this was fantastic! Characyers are well written and while the ending is abrupt it clearly sets up for longer overarching plot. I loved the sub text commentary on access to knowledge. The story is revealed in a wonderfully logical way
synoptic_view's review against another edition
5.0
A fantastic, original book. I am shocked I had not heard of the series or author before this was recommended to me by Nick.
I am not going to review the book per se, but I will note the main elements that interested me while reading it. The story functions as a sort of counterfactual history. What if technological development was protected not by a patent system, but by a guild of "wizards" that collude to keep the mysteries of the technology out of the hands of the public? The steerswomen in the book draw a sharp contrast between this form of intellectual property protection and a more open access approach where all knowledge is readily shared.
The scene where Rowan, the primary steerswoman protagonist, is shocked by the detail and completeness of the wizard maps underscored the trade offs involved in these two different systems. As Grossman and Stiglitz (1980) point out, laissez faire markets will inefficiently *underproduce* knowledge as the return to exploiting new knowledge falls below the price of acquiring knowledge. Publicly minded steerswomen can try to offset this tendency through intrinsic preferences for knowledge that compensate for the costs of knowledge acquisition even in the face of low financial returns, but then society is relying on possessing a sufficiently large group of people with other-regarding preferences. The fact that the wizards have such greater knowledge suggests that there are not enough steerswomen in society to overcome the Grossman-Stiglitz result. I am curious if this is explore further in subsequent books. I suspect that the technology of the wizards might come from a previous high technology civilization that fell and led to the current state of the world, but it would be way cooler to me if the difference in knowledge was the result of endogenous processes flowing from the two, contrasting incentive schemes.
I am not going to review the book per se, but I will note the main elements that interested me while reading it. The story functions as a sort of counterfactual history. What if technological development was protected not by a patent system, but by a guild of "wizards" that collude to keep the mysteries of the technology out of the hands of the public? The steerswomen in the book draw a sharp contrast between this form of intellectual property protection and a more open access approach where all knowledge is readily shared.
The scene where Rowan, the primary steerswoman protagonist, is shocked by the detail and completeness of the wizard maps underscored the trade offs involved in these two different systems. As Grossman and Stiglitz (1980) point out, laissez faire markets will inefficiently *underproduce* knowledge as the return to exploiting new knowledge falls below the price of acquiring knowledge. Publicly minded steerswomen can try to offset this tendency through intrinsic preferences for knowledge that compensate for the costs of knowledge acquisition even in the face of low financial returns, but then society is relying on possessing a sufficiently large group of people with other-regarding preferences. The fact that the wizards have such greater knowledge suggests that there are not enough steerswomen in society to overcome the Grossman-Stiglitz result. I am curious if this is explore further in subsequent books. I suspect that the technology of the wizards might come from a previous high technology civilization that fell and led to the current state of the world, but it would be way cooler to me if the difference in knowledge was the result of endogenous processes flowing from the two, contrasting incentive schemes.
justiceofkalr's review against another edition
3.0
I feel like I'm missing something since everyone seems to love this one. The characters were fine, the plot kind of meandered, and the world building felt a little vague. I think it was the ending that particularly didn't work for me. We go through all of this and then don't really get much resolution about the objects that set the whole thing off in the first place. It was like the whole book was just prologue. I don't know. I'm undecided on whether I'll give the next one a try.