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sozh's review against another edition
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
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 against another edition
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 against another edition
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 against another edition
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
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.
giantarms's review against another edition
3.0
This book is structured much like the first book: A series of delightful events surrounds a hapless junior monk and then other stuff that is just kind of tedious.
Any time there were people around, this book is great. The characters are all a little wacky. But for some reason, they like to A) have councils of war and B) go do some war, both of which I found trying.
Though, I got to tell you. The nomads have some pretty great names. If your name was Holy Madness I might, myself.
This review would be more coherent if it hadn't taken me like two months to read this thing because events conspire against the reading of books, but I can tell you that Greg liked it very much. He pointed out the "'Fishers of men' doesn't rule out fishing" bit which was an amazing picture to have in one's head. Thanks for that, Mr. Miller, Jr.!
Any time there were people around, this book is great. The characters are all a little wacky. But for some reason, they like to A) have councils of war and B) go do some war, both of which I found trying.
Though, I got to tell you. The nomads have some pretty great names. If your name was Holy Madness I might
Spoiler
follow you into a crusadeThis review would be more coherent if it hadn't taken me like two months to read this thing because events conspire against the reading of books, but I can tell you that Greg liked it very much. He pointed out the "'Fishers of men' doesn't rule out fishing" bit which was an amazing picture to have in one's head. Thanks for that, Mr. Miller, Jr.!
hayesstw's review against another edition
1.0
Some authors only have one book in them, and Walter M. Miller is one of those people.
kevin_carson's review against another edition
5.0
Apparently many consider this sequel a letdown from the previous book, but I don't know why. Miller did an amazing job of world-building, obviously putting a lot of anthropological reading into his development of the Plains Nomad culture and the political geography of North America. The mysticism and heterodoxy of Nimmy and Amen Specklebird are also interesting, considering Miller was probably going through his own crisis of faith when writing them.