This is the 30-years-in-coming sequel to Walter M. Miller's seminal work, A Canticle for Leibowitz. It chronicles the odyssey of Brother Blacktooth St. George, a fallen monk of the Leibowitz order who becomes secretary to the politically ambitious Cardinal Brownpony. Brownpony is involved in a complex scheme to break the rule of the Hannegan Empire, which dominates the 35th-century's post-apocalypse world. Even though Brownpony's plans will ultimately restore both the world and the declining Papacy to some form of order, he is not a religious man, although he is drawn to those who are. He sees something profoundly religious in Blacktooth, who on the surface seems to be a disgraced monk foundering in confusion because of his love for a woman, his semi-pagan visions of the Virgin Mary, and his nomadic heritage. Ultimately it seems that Brownpony's--and indeed humanity's--salvation may lie with Blacktooth, who will never quite realize how great is the gift he's been given.


From Library Journal
The long-awaited sequel to the classic A Canticle for Leibowitz (1959) was completed by Terry Bisson (Pirates of the Universe, LJ 3/15/96) from instructions left by Miller before his death in 1996. After World War III, America is divided into territories (Plains, Texark, Oregon, and others) struggling to reindustrialize. In this fragmented society, the papacy plays an important role in uniting the factions. In Texark, Nimmy Blacktooth regrets the vows he took to be a monk. While trying to get out of monastery life, he becomes embroiled in the search for a new pope. Unfortunately, despite its humor and social commentary, this book is a bit of a disappointment; the plot drags and seems pointless, and there is very little of the visionary sf that made the original so compelling. For larger sf collections and where the original book is popular. Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.


The New York Times Book Review, Gerald Jonas
Both Blacktooth and Brownpenny are worth spending time with, and whenever the narrative turns from affairs of church and state to personal trials and the struggle for survival in a harsh environment, the prose pulses with life.... But measured against its predecessor, the new novel comes across more as a fascinating footnote to one of science fiction's hallowed classics than as a must-read sequel.


From Kirkus Reviews
Miller's episodic, ironic, deeply moving, and only previous novel, A Canticle for Leibowitz (1959), remains one of science fiction's enduring masterpieces. This quasi-sequel--the chronologies can't be reconciled--was, according to the publisher, ``85% complete'' upon the author's death in 1996; short-story expert Bisson (Pirates of the Universe, 1996, etc.) completed it. The Abbey of San Leibowitz, located in America's Southwest, has survived into the 32nd century, but various empires, hostile tribes, and ecclesiastical power struggles threaten to destroy the political stability of the region, and the Papacy along with it. Among the characters who will play crucial roles in this conflict- -which seems to invite allegorical interpretations--are: the disgraced and reluctant monk of Leibowitz Abbey, Blacktooth St. George; Father e'Laiden, a priest under interdict; Holy (Little Bear) Madness, a wild but aristocratic Nomad; seaman, warrior, and executioner Wooshin; the Red Deacon, Cardinal Brownpony; ’drea, a beautiful ``gennie'' (mutant) and nun, with whom Blacktooth becomes emotionally and physically involved; and Benjamin, the mysterious old Jew of the Mesa of Last Resort, who may be both the Wandering Jew and Saint Leibowitz himself. Dense, meandering, with a bewildering cast of thousands, and not very enlightening either: a book that almost every aficionado of Miller's masterpiece will want to attempt, but very few will finish. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Review
"A remarkably affecting novel. . . Vividly imagined. . . Superb."
--The Washington Post Book World

"Pulses with life. . . Fascinating."
--The New York Times Book Review

"I can't remember the last time I so avidly looked forward to reading a new novel, and with such gratifying results."
--Science Fiction Chronicle

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Millennia have passed since the Flame Deluge, yet society remains fragmented, pockets of civilization besieged by barbarians. The Church is in turmoil, the exiled papacy struggling to survive in its Rocky Mountain refuge. To the south, tyranny is on the march. Imperial Texark troops, bent on conquest, are headed north into the lands of the Nomads, spreading terror in their wake. Meanwhile, isolated in Leibowitz Abbey, Brother Blacktooth St. George suffers a crisis of faith. Torn between his vows and his Nomad upbringing, between the Holy Virgin and visions of the Wild Horse Woman of his people, he stands at the brink of disgrace and expulsion from his order. But he is offered an escape - of sorts; a new assignment as a translator for Cardinal Brownpony, which will take him to the contentious election of a new pope and then on a pilgrimage to the city of New Rome. Journeying across a continent divided by nature, politics, and war, Blacktooth is drawn into Brownspony's intrigues and conspiracies. He bears witness to rebellion, assassination, and human sacrifice. And he is introduced to the sins that monastery life has long held at bay. This introduction comes in the form of Aedrea, a beautiful but forbidden "genny" living among the deformed and mutant castouts in Texark's most hostile terrain. As Blacktooth encounters her again and again on his travels - in the flesh, in rumors of miraculous deeds, and in the delirium of fever - he begins to wonder if Aedrea is a she-devil, the Holy Mother, or the Wild Horse Woman herself.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Until his death last year at age 75, Miller was known as a one-book authorbut the book was the classic A Canticle for Leibowitz, winner of the 1960 Hugo for Best Novel. Here is Miller's sequel to Canticle, completed after his death by Terry Bisson and likely the most anticipated SF book of the fall season. Now the errant monk Blacktooth is impressed into the service of Cardinal Brownpony, who is seeking to unite rebel factions against the tyranny of the Hannegan empire. Over a millennium has passed since the fiery end of the "Magna Civitas" of the 20th century. Gennies, genetically damaged people, live in isolated conclaves, and little-understood remains of the nuclear holocaust still cause illness and are revered as holy places. Scholars study ancient documents and sometimes succeed in re-creating a weapon, a telegraph line, an electrical generator. Pagan religions flourish in uneasy coexistence with the Catholic church, while the church wrestles with temporal authorities for political power. The narrative is dense with military and political machinery, dry history absent the interest of real-world associations. Too much of the action is uninformed by any character's feelings; instead, we have a deluge of names and information in which theme and passion are often lost. Blacktooth's inner struggle, the tension between church and state, the attempted dialectic between mystical and ecclesiastical religiosity and even the inherent commentary on our own possible fate are all eclipsed by the mass of useless invented information. There are indeed interesting, complex characters present, and Blacktooth's sporadic love affair with a brash, beautiful gennie is intriguing. Only they are maddeningly diluted by pages and pages of undigested and indigestible facts. (Oct.)

VOYA - Libby Bergstrom

Those looking for a sequel to Miller's 1959 classic, A Canticle for Leibowitz (Lippincott, 1960, (c)1959), might be disappointed. This story takes place in the 3240s A.D., placing it chronologically in the middle of Miller's first novel. Rather than telling readers what happened after A Canticle, Miller goes back to fill in details about the post-apocalyptic world he created in the first book. This story follows a young nomadic monk, Brother Blacktooth, who finds himself in the service of Cardinal Brownpony. He becomes somewhat unwillingly involved in Brownpony's plot to overthrow the Texarkanians. Blacktooth is alternately fascinated and repelled by Brownpony, who eventually becomes a most worldly pope. Blacktooth is also fascinated with Aedrea, the beautiful but forbidden mutant who teases him into breaking his vow of chastity. Blacktooth struggles to reconcile his call to serve God with his love for Aedrea, as well as the ties he feels to the beliefs of his nomadic ancestors. Though the military plans of Brownpony go awry, and the world is once again plunging into a dark age, Blacktooth ultimately finds peace as a hermit and teacher in the Valley of the Misborn. Miller spends much of the book describing the cultures and political alliances of the thirty-third century. He also struggles with philosophical and religious issues, and this is the book's weakenss. Individual characters are lost on this large canvas. They fail to fully come to life, and at times the sheer number of people to follow is confusing. Transitions in focus from Blacktooth to larger events can be jarring, perhaps in part because the book was not finished when Miller committed suicide in 1996. The book itself never indicates that Miller died, although a brief note states that the estate of Walter M. Miller, Jr. thanks Terry Bisson for his editorial contributions to the book. Not living up to the promise of his first book, this one might appeal to mature readers interested in political and religious questions, as well as those who have read A Canticle and want to know more about Miller's vision of the future. VOYA Codes: 3Q 2P S (Readable without serious defects, For the YA with a special interest in the subject, Senior High-defined as grades 10 to 12).

KLIATT

Forty years after his classic novel A Canticle for Leibowitz, Miller published this second book (with an "editorial contribution" by Terry Bisson). Less a sequel than a novel set in the same world, set some years after the events in Part 2, it chronicles the adventures of Brother Blacktooth St. George. He is a reluctant monk who leaves the Abbey of Saint Leibowitz to serve as secretary to the ambitious Cardinal Brownpony, a former Plains nomad like himself. The journey brings Brother Blacktooth out of the pious world of the Abbey and into the highly politically charged arena of Papal politics and into the arms of the beautiful but genetically damaged Edrea. As the unworldly monk stumbles through this new world, he finds himself torn between Church and State, chastity and love, and the Christian God and the nomad's own Wild Horse Woman. This novel is different from the original. A Canticle for Leibowitz is an allegory, and as such glossed over the way the new world worked, while this is more nuts-and-bolts political SF. It is as if Miller spent all those years thinking about the actual politics of the world, and answered his own, and possibly his fans', questions in the new novel. While different, it should be popular with his fans, and is a worthy complement to the author's classic. KLIATT Codes: SA—Recommended for senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 1997, Bantam, 434p, 24cm, 97-3181, $14.95. Ages 16 to adult. Reviewer: Deirdre B. Root; Ref. Libn., Middletown P.L., Middletown, OH, May 2000 (Vol. 34 No. 3)

Library Journal

Miller died shortly before finishing this follow-up to his classic sf novel, Canticle for Leibowitz (1959). Enter genre author Bisson, who completed this tale of post-World War III America.

Kirkus Reviews

Miller's episodic, ironic, deeply moving, and only previous novel, A Canticle for Leibowitz (1959), remains one of science fiction's enduring masterpieces. This quasi-sequel—the chronologies can't be reconciled—was, according to the publisher, "85% complete" upon the author's death in 1996; short-story expert Bisson (Pirates of the Universe, 1996, etc.) completed it. The Abbey of San Leibowitz, located in America's Southwest, has survived into the 32nd century, but various empires, hostile tribes, and ecclesiastical power struggles threaten to destroy the political stability of the region, and the Papacy along with it. Among the characters who will play crucial roles in this conflict—which seems to invite allegorical interpretations—are: the disgraced and reluctant monk of Leibowitz Abbey, Blacktooth St. George; Father e'Laiden, a priest under interdict; Holy (Little Bear) Madness, a wild but aristocratic Nomad; seaman, warrior, and executioner Wooshin; the Red Deacon, Cardinal Brownpony; Ædrea, a beautiful "gennie" (mutant) and nun, with whom Blacktooth becomes emotionally and physically involved; and Benjamin, the mysterious old Jew of the Mesa of Last Resort, who may be both the Wandering Jew and Saint Leibowitz himself.

Dense, meandering, with a bewildering cast of thousands, and not very enlightening either: a book that almost every aficionado of Miller's masterpiece will want to attempt, but very few will finish.