Rating: 
Summary: A church tapestry of politics and traditions
Review: 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]
Rating: 
Summary: A Major Disappointment
Review: Over the years, I have distributed many copies of "A Canticle for Liebowitz" to friends - a book that I regard among the greats. It was with this reference frame that I started reading "Saint Leibowitz and..." As magnificent as I found the first, so I found the second tedious. It is confused, without meaningful plot, and its imagination and creativity extends only to the use of a number of "cute" names for people and places. I kept reading only because I thought that there must be something hidden here - anyone who wrote the first book could not have written anything as pedestrian as this. Unfortunately, I was wrong. Perhaps, as one reviewer points out, a reader may find this interesting if he/she is interested in the workings of the author's mind. But that was neither my expectation or desire. The main feeling I had when I reached the last page was: what a waste of time - mine and the authors.
Rating:
Summary: Great Parallel Novel to Canticle
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Like eveyone else - Highly Disappointed with it
Review: Seems like the only people who liked this book were the "paid" reviewers. "Canticle" is such a classic that I snapped this "sequel" up with high expectations. I was actually interested for the first 75 pages or so, but then had to slog my way through the never ending battle scenes and dreary, meandering, and B - O - R - I - N - G text. For any dedicated "A Canticle for Liebowitz" fans who feel they owe it to themselves to read this book and form their own opinion - my recommendation is borrow it from someone (like me) who was foolish enough to buy it.....don't waste your own money.
Rating: 
Summary: Reading this should count as time served in Purgatory
Review: Slogging through this was as long and torturous for the reader as for the characters meandering around the desert, caught in papal politics and inter-tribal intrigue. A few scenes stand out vividly in the memory, such as Amen Specklebird's cave or Blacktooth's imprisonment in a zoo, but on the whole it is a profound disappointment. If it were by an unknown author, it would be less egregious; the comparison to the classic "Canticle for Leibowitz" is what makes it odious. I got to the last page--at least 200 pages after I would have preferred to stop reading--and realized why authors sometimes burn their manuscripts. It does leave a puzzle though: what parts were Bisson's and which were Miller's? And what condition was Miller in when he wrote it if indeed it is 85% his?
Rating: 
Summary: Another thought about Leibowitz
Review: The reviews I've read here don't mention the obvious connection to Charles Reade's "Cloister and the Hearth." Miller appears to have tried to develop his idea from the historical conflict of church and state, juxtaposed with the personal conflict of religion and reality. Reade may have done the better job in his classic, but Miller's effort was worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: Disgraceful
Review: This book can be examined in two ways - as a stand alone or as a sequel to A Canticle for Leibowitz. As a stand alone, the book is little better than tawdry romance novel with elements of homo-eroticism simply for the sake of homo-eroticism with an apallingly negative image of faith(for those who claim the novel represents Martin's life, I would beg to differ that a convert to his particular faith writing a novel like this would constitute heresy). As a sequel to ACFL, the book fails miserably. No connection other than setting can be drawn without stretching the limits of credibility.
Rating:
Summary: Off track?
Review: This book doesn't seem to have much to do with the previous one. Yes, the monks are still there, and a Hannegan is off in the distance, but where are the philosophical bits? Why spend hundreds of pages describing the customs and mannerisms of various nomad tribes when they could be filled with the sort of writing that made Canticle famous? This work is more interesting as an insight into the author's life than as a novel, and better as a novel if one has not previously read the far better "A Canticle for Leibowitz".
Rating: 
Summary: A tiresome trek through a fascinating world
Review: This book slowly and carefully builds up a fascinating socio-political structure for post-armageddon North America, and it's unusual and convincing in that respect. The role of organized religion portrayed in this world is the most authentic I have ever seen in SF, perhaps even more so than in the original "Canticle for Leibowitz" story. However, despite intelligent writing and occasional sparks of high humor, the poor plotting and characterization ultimately make it an intolerable read. I kept on through about three quarters of the book, waiting for something, anything, to make the story come together, but it remained an incoherent ramble. I would love to see a collection of short stories by other writers, using this story's setting.
Rating:
Summary: A tiresome trek through a fascinating world
Review: This book slowly and carefully builds up a fascinating socio-political structure for post-armageddon North America, and it's unusual and convincing in that respect. The role of organized religion portrayed in this world is the most authentic I have ever seen in SF, perhaps even more so than in the original "Canticle for Leibowitz" story. However, despite intelligent writing and occasional sparks of high humor, the poor plotting and characterization ultimately make it an intolerable read. I kept on through about three quarters of the book, waiting for something, anything, to make the story come together, but it remained an incoherent ramble. I would love to see a collection of short stories by other writers, using this story's setting.
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