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A review by ellis_eden
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr.
2.0
While this book is technically science fiction, the religious overtone of the entire book really bogs down the text. So much Latin! One is hard pressed to find much to recommend this as science fiction.
The book seems more fantasy than scifi. After reading a lot of reviews about it being "one of the greatest science fiction books of all time", I was sad to form the opposite opinion. While the prose flowed relatively well in each section, it read more like what it was: three novellas of a similar theme, stuck together. It was difficult to care about the fate of any characters. Just as you begin to understand one, they disappear for some reason or another, never to return unless as a brief aside or historical reference. They moved like puppets created for the furtherance of the plot.
Granted, this is a golden age book, but the lack of ANY strong female characters (with one exception of a mutant woman beatified on the spectrum of the virgin/whore duality) I also found troubling.
Overall, a disappointment.
The book seems more fantasy than scifi. After reading a lot of reviews about it being "one of the greatest science fiction books of all time", I was sad to form the opposite opinion. While the prose flowed relatively well in each section, it read more like what it was: three novellas of a similar theme, stuck together. It was difficult to care about the fate of any characters. Just as you begin to understand one, they disappear for some reason or another, never to return unless as a brief aside or historical reference. They moved like puppets created for the furtherance of the plot.
Granted, this is a golden age book, but the lack of ANY strong female characters (with one exception of a mutant woman beatified on the spectrum of the virgin/whore duality) I also found troubling.
Overall, a disappointment.