Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman

Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman is a parallel novel to A Canticle for Leibowitz, taking place during the second section of Canticle. The writing style is different - definitely more complex - than its predecessor. Many of the issues dealt with in Saint Leibowitz will probably not sit well with many readers who enjoyed Canticle - homosexuality stands out as one of those. I think these two aspects of Saint Leibowitz are the main reasons for discontent amongst the people who gave this book one star.For starters, there's a lot happening in this book. The reader learns about the political, social, and economic atmosphere of the the lands traveled. There's a lot of history involved, and a lot of "current" events are discussed in detail.There are at least five main cultures in the book, and different characters go by different names within different areas of the land. This isn't so bad, considering only a handful of characters have different nicknames, but some characters are called by each of their names on the same page.The Wild Horse Woman plays a significant role in the book, however she doesn't show up a lot as a character. Instead, her presence is felt in many of the tribal religious/spiritual practices.All in all, this book has a lot more depth to it than what you can usually find on the bookshelf. As a parallel novel, it's incredible. Just keep in mind, it isn't Canticle. If you want to read a book exactly like A Canticle for Leibowitz, read A Canticle for Leibowitz.

One author sets murders in a medieval Roman Catholic monastery and it becomes an object of popular acclaim. Another author sets Papal politics in a post-nuclear holocaust society and it's dubbed "Sci-fi", and tossed in the remainders bin. Neither book deserved the fate it received. Miller's second look at post-nuclear North American society reveals a church divided within and still struggling with Caesar after three millennia. Popes tend to church politics with one hand and civil society with another. Somewhere in the middle are the lesser religious tending their adherents or hiding from the conflicts.One such "lesser religious" is a monk, Blacktooth St George. A resident at the monastery long dedicated to the memory of Isaac Leibowitz, nuclear scientist and martyr, Blacktooth harbours doubts about his calling. His roots are from the Plains people and their pagan heritage conflicts with the Roman Catholic Church's ideal of monotheism and self-sacrifice. Attempting to shed the burdensome vows, Blacktooth is conscripted to the service of a lawyer cardinal. Elia Brownpony, too, is a former Plainsman, but has risen quickly in the Church hierarchy due to diplomatic talents. Diplomacy usually involves conspiracy, and Brownpony must be adept at both for he is struggling to reunite the broken church. Theology isn't the basis of the schism, however. The expanding empire of Texark has challenged the Pope's power. Brownpony, wheeling and dealing, uses Blacktooth as a major instrument.Politics are a lesser challenge to Blacktooth than the condition of his own spirit. Beset by visions and his glands alike, this mid-thirties adult is known as Nimmy, an appellation applied to young boys. He encounters a genetic mutant, a heritage of the holocaust, whose only flaws are an uncanny insight and a rampant libido. She seduces Nimmy, who doesn't quite break his vows, and supposedly produces two children. Her image haunts him as he goes about his role of personal assistant. He's also haunted by the multi-figured image of a pope of African descent. All these conflicting visions keep Blacktooth on edge and in peril. His reconciliation of all these disparate forces are the theme of Miller's "midquel" of Canticle for Leibowitz [this story commences at the middle of Canticle, not the end].Swirling roles of church and state and the Church and the individual formed the basis of "Canticle". Expanded and enhanced in this book, they are nicely integrated with convulsions that shook the Roman Catholic Church after the 1960s. Bisson has done Miller's original draft proud in completing a compelling story of the pressures on faith. Through a complex plot, the characters are kept realistic, if somewhat bizarre. Religious institutions, particularly under stress, are never simple, and the complexities are well handled and you never lose the threads, no matter how tightly they seem tangled. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

I don't really understand the overwhelming negative reaction to this work. I can see how someone who has loved and reread Canticle many times may have had their hopes of a true sequel left unfulfilled. Personally, I was amazed at the maturing of Miller's style and content, and his credible and immersive attempt at world building. I thought the tone, although more modern, was sufficiently similar to Canticle that I felt the connection necessary for "sequel nostalgia". I felt connected to the main characters, though, their thoughts and actions were sometimes mysterious, foreign, and often displeasing. But these were the things that affected me most about the story. The characters' world IS mysterious, foreign, and displeasing, as well as dangerous and primitive. From the gut-wrenching descriptions of death and illnesses, to the touching, if strange, relationship between the fallen monk Blacktooth and "genny" AEdrea, I found this novel to be an emotional and mind opening rollercoaster.

I am giving this book five stars to try to somewhat offset the plethora of "1 star" reviews. As I don't plan to "stuff the ballot box", it is more a token gesture. Walter M. Miller Jr. was one of the most gifted writers ever to write science fiction. A Canticle for Leibowitz, yes, but also his short fiction shows a command of the language that few of his contemporaries could match. I won't even begin to talk about current day writers, as the majority of their output compares favorably with the old "Dick and Jane" learn-to-read books.I read A Canticle for Leibowitz in 1971, believe it or not, it was assigned reading in an English class. When I chanced upon Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman last year, I was thrilled to find it. What did I find? No, it's not up to A Canticle for Leibowitz in grace or content, but it is still an absorbing read. For those readers who can't take a little off-the-middle-of-the-road sexuality, and characterizations, relationships and plotting that makes them use the parts of their brains that TV and movies never awaken, I don't recommend it. For those who like to be enriched and challenged by what they read, try it. By all means, please read A Canticle for Leibowitz first, and then approach Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman not so much as a sequel but as a new story set in the same world, a possible future world that should chill you to the bone.

Long, complicated, misled, bloated, massive. These all describe Walter M. Miller's long-awaited sequel to the revolutionary novel "A Canticle For Leibowitz." However, it is too easy and too hasty to discredit "Saint Laibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman" simply on these merits alone. The awe that surrounds ACFL comes only in part from the story itself. Most of its sense of wonder comes from what it represented and who wrote it. Miller had converted to catholicsm a few years before the book was published. His hopes for christianity are prevalent throughout the book, particularly since only the righteous survive the second flame deluge at the end of the novel. In SLATWHM, most of his hopefulness is gone. Blacktooth, who is obviously Miller, has seen that the forces that drive his religion are no different than those that drive our tyrants and despots. Unable to reconcile religious politics with his christian spirituality, Blacktooth ultimately abandons the church. Now, it seems that (according to Miller) not only is the secular world cyclical, but the religious as well. Those who would read SLATWHM for the purpose of being merely entertained should expect to be disappointed. It is rather a study of Miller's belief system and its subsequent deconstruction. The novel took seven years to write, but I expect that the development of Blacktooth/Miller's worldview extend back much further than that. SLATWHM should be read in the same frame of mind that one should read Philip K. Dick's "Valis." The reader knows that Dick was insane when he wrote it, Dick knew he was insane when he wrote it, and the central character Horselover Fat (an extension of Dick into the novel like Blacktooth for Miller) knows that he is insane. Nevertheless, he is able to treat the subject with considerable clarity. Sad, and convincing, SLATWHM seems like less of a novel than a documentary of Miller's decline into incurable despair. Bisson's ending is adequate for the nove! l, but not accurate. Miller wrote the final words when he told a 911 operator that there was a dead man in his front yard.