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thuismuis's review
adventurous
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Reading ‘A canticle for Liebowitz’ wasn’t enough for me apparently, so I read the sequel. Miller wrote the sequel 40 years after A canticle for Liebowitz, and it shows in his willingness to at least build more story in between his rapid fire introduction of characters with their multiple names and descriptions. The story follows monk Brother Blacktooth, a Nomad orphan raised by the Liebowitzen monks, who knows multiple languages and works transcribing old texts into different, more current languages. His life of holy service is thrown off course by the visit of a distant relative, Brownpony, who is also a cardinal in the Church at large. Brownpony’s visit and presence, catalyzes a series of events that take Blacktooth all across the land. Through following Blacktooth, we encounter the politics of and struggles between different Nomad tribes, the state of the universal Church, and the various factions within, jostling for power. Miller learned a few things about Story in the 40 years since Canticle, but he still introduces so many characters with so little to differentiate them from each other(besides giving them multiple names/titles), that it’s still very difficult to follow who is doing what, and why. I fully admit, as a result of this, I put the book down frequently, and that made it doubly difficult for me to pick it back up again. Life happens. My attention span, like every Uncle Sam forsaken American, has been obliterated by social media and at least 1 Covid infection. Old Sci Fi writers who cut their teeth writing in the late 50s, are borderline unintelligible today. For how much writing Miller has done, you would think he would also be willing to write out a character map in the beginning of the book, and a more accurate map of all the places he mentions. great book if you like cataloging as you go. Not great if you want a read to distract yourself from the possibility of nuclear annihilation which happens to be a founding pillar of the world Miller has built in ‘Saint Liebowitz and the Wild Horse Woman.’
esen10's review
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
2.5
Plot slowed to a crawl 2/3 of the way in
lyslys's review
adventurous
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
sozh's review
2.0
book almost singlehandedly killed my reading challenge pace. had to start over about 1/5 of the way in bc I was confused as to who was who and what exactly was happening.
book sets up some interesting lore, and some good characters, but unfortunately I found it a slog overall. which is too bad, because "Canticle for Leibowitz" is a straight-up masterpiece!
book sets up some interesting lore, and some good characters, but unfortunately I found it a slog overall. which is too bad, because "Canticle for Leibowitz" is a straight-up masterpiece!
wuzzy246's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
ryneb's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
wgemigh's review
3.0
Not as good as the first book, but it still has some interesting concepts that unfortunately get bogged down in the description of politics.
zoes_human's review
Life is too short for books you don't enjoy.
Maybe the fault is mine for trying to read this right after A Canticle for Leibowitz which would be a tough act to follow for anyone (including, apparently, the author who wrote it). Perhaps my expectations were just too high. This started off well enough with a nice premise about loss of faith, but it kind of fizzled after the first two or three chapters.
Or perhaps the fact that the author was suicidally depressed and took his own life before he finished it was a factor. Another author finished it from a reportedly almost complete manuscript, but how complete was it really? And how much did the original author's struggle with mental illness factor in?
Maybe the fault is mine for trying to read this right after A Canticle for Leibowitz which would be a tough act to follow for anyone (including, apparently, the author who wrote it). Perhaps my expectations were just too high. This started off well enough with a nice premise about loss of faith, but it kind of fizzled after the first two or three chapters.
Or perhaps the fact that the author was suicidally depressed and took his own life before he finished it was a factor. Another author finished it from a reportedly almost complete manuscript, but how complete was it really? And how much did the original author's struggle with mental illness factor in?
wikiweaponn's review against another edition
3.0
I came into this with high expectations following how good Canticle was and unfortunately those expectations were not met. This tells a more focused story which is interesting enough but unlike the broad epic of Canticle. There are effectively zero sci-fi elements given the story and time frame it's told in and while Miller has been able to make another lovable character in Blacktooth, I still liked Brother Francis from Canticle more even though I spent less time with him. The story in interesting enough in its own regard that I didn't hate it, but I wish I'd spent the time rereading Canticle instead.