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In some sense, I'm with Tom here. I pretty much ignored any political overtones, because I was caught up on the science. For me, the highlight of the entire book was Rowan's working out how the Guidestars are falling but never reach the ground. The scientific method laid out in logical detail.
Other high points include the overall world building - the very concept of having a whole group of people whose job it is to walk around and learn while teaching. (Yes, there are other examples in history, but none with quite this flavour that I'm aware of.)
Also, the relationship between Bel and Rowan, and the development of both characters. As some here know, I'm strongly drawn to books that are character driven, and especially when there are strong female characters who are more than just "super-amazons". In The Steerswoman, we have two very different women protagonists who are both multi-faceted. (Both characters continue to grow in later books in the series, but I'm trying to avoid going into anything there.)
Finally, the one thing I really, really didn't like. I thought the scene with Bel extracting information was unnecessary, inappropriate, and detracted from both the story and the character. And I'd actually like to ask Rosemary to justify it, or explain why she thought it was necessary.
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