Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman

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Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman

by Walter M. Miller Jr., Terry Bisson (Contributor)

3.09 of 5 stars 3.09 · rating details · 357 ratings · 41 reviews

It has been nearly forty years since Walter M. Miller, Jr., shocked and dazzled readers with his provocative bestseller and enduring classic, A Canticle for Leibowitz. Now, in one of the most eagerly awaited publishing events of our time, here is Miller's masterpiece, an epic intellectual and emotional tour de force that will stand beside 1984, Brave New World, and A Canti...more It has been nearly forty years since Walter M. Miller, Jr., shocked and dazzled readers with his provocative bestseller and enduring classic, A Canticle for Leibowitz. Now, in one of the most eagerly awaited publishing events of our time, here is Miller's masterpiece, an epic intellectual and emotional tour de force that will stand beside 1984, Brave New World, and A Canticle for Leibowitz.

In a world struggling to transcend a terrifying legacy of darkness—a world torn between love and violence, good and evil—one man undertakes an odyssey of adventure and discovery that promises to alter not only his destiny but the destiny of humankind as well. . . .

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 Brownpony'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 Ædrea, 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 Ædrea is a she-devil, the Holy Mother, or the Wild Horse Woman herself.

Picaresque and passionate, magnificent, dark, and compellingly real, Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman is a brutal, brilliant, thrilling tale of mystery, mysticism, and divine madness, a classic that will long endure in every reader's memory.(less)

Paperback, 448 pages

Published January 11th 2000 by Bantam (first published 1997)

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Jun 29, 2007 Jon rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: hardcore Miller fans only

The sequel to A Canticle for Liebowitz was thirty years in the making, but unfortunately, Miller seems to have forgotten how to write a novel in those decades. Many of the moral and ethical arguments that made Canticle so brilliant are still present, as is the occasional bit of dry humor, but these are overshadowed by long and drug-out passages, poor plotting, and a conclusion that seems to have been hastily written the night before the book went to press (the "Wild Horse Woman" from the title,...more

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Sep 13, 2011 Erik Graff rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Miller fans

Recommended to Erik by: no one

Shelves: sf

I'd read Miller's A Canticle for Liebowitz as a kid. Post-holocaust novels were quite popular then when the threat of global thermonuclear war was much discussed. Unlike most other such books, Canticle was touching, wryly amusing, even hopeful. Civilization had not quite collapsed and the Church, as in the Dark Ages, maintained fragments of culture and learning.

This book was intended as a sequel, being set many years after its predecessor. Unfortunately, Miller did not live to see it through to...more

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Jan 02, 2013 Bernard rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I struggled with this book, an 'interquel' to Miller's previous novel, A Canticle for Leibowitz. The middle third of this mature-themed novel was difficult reading but I am satisfied to have finished it. At first I couldn't figure out what the book was supposed to be about. Then I realized it was really about one man, Brother Blacktooth "Nimmy" St. George, born a nomad but who joined the monks at the St. Leibowitz Abbey in the Southwest desert, but who through all his life struggled to find a ba...more

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Jun 05, 2011 Perry Whitford rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

What the hell happened to Walter M Miller? In the late 1950s he produced one of the kite-marks of "literary" post-apocolyptic science fiction, A Canticle for Leibowitz, after being a fairly consistent writer of short-stories since the start of that decade; and then precisely nothing until this follow-up novel 40 years later - and this was only published after he blew his own brains out with a gun and an editor whittled down a sprawling 600 page manuscript by a third.

I had previously read Canticl...more

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Apr 08, 2010 Veronika KaoruSaionji rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Story of two men, simply monk and noble (charismatic) arcibishop, later pope, from future middle-age-like (plus in some aspects renaissance-like and 19. century-like)world about finding way to God, love and hapiness.
I thought for first time about dogmatica and spiritual confussion in middle age. It must be terrible! I feel so sorry for the poor people...
But, all this is so interesting! Very good book.
And there are some gay stories, too :o), some nice, some cruel ones: poor sweet (gay young unha...more

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Feb 04, 2012 Phil rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, sci-fi

This book is nowhere as bad as some have made it out to be, and, indeed, had the original Canticle for Leibowitz not been written, this book standing alone might have established Miller's reputation.

Miller's "problem" was that he hit a grand-slam home-run in Canticle, and he spent the remainder of what must have been a sad and frustrating life trying to get out from under Canticle's shadow. For a long time the prevailing view was that he had given up writing altogether. But the truth was that he...more This book is nowhere as bad as some have made it out to be, and, indeed, had the original Canticle for Leibowitz not been written, this book standing alone might have established Miller's reputation.

Miller's "problem" was that he hit a grand-slam home-run in Canticle, and he spent the remainder of what must have been a sad and frustrating life trying to get out from under Canticle's shadow. For a long time the prevailing view was that he had given up writing altogether. But the truth was that he spent decades writing that next book, fighting what must have been crushing depression that led him to commit suicide in 1996.

I read somewhere that manuscript left behind was a good one-third longer than the finished work - and I, for one, would love to know what was cut out. Perhaps one day those texts will become available.

Miller was not a "one-book wonder," however much his reputation rests upon Canticle. Before Canticle, he had written and had published some forty-one short stories, three of which were edited to create Canticle.

I refer you, the reader, to an insightful article by David N. Samuelson, The Lost Canticles of Walter M. Miller, Jr., published in 1976 and available on-line: http://www.depauw.edu/sfs/backissues/...

In retrospect, the popularity of Canticle in the late 1950s and early 1960s was clearing owing to the pandemic fear of nuclear annihilation. Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman appeared when that fear had largely past, although it clearly still obsessed Miller. Moreover, those issues in Miller's short stories and identified by Samuelson were revisited in much greater detail in Saint Leibowitz ...Wild Horse Woman.

Having praised the book and given it five stars, I do admit, I did not find it easy to get into. And I do wish a background summary (written by the editor and printed in italics)and Dramatis Personae had been supplied, for I did for a while have difficulty keeping straight who was who.

But on second and closer reading, not only were things clearer, but sharper and in greater focus.

I just wish people would put Canticle in the back of their mind when approaching Saint Leibowitz and judge it in the wider context of the themes that appeared in his other thirty-eight short stories.

(less)

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Mar 25, 2011 Jason rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: post-apocalyptic, sci-fi

Walter M. Miller committed suicide before completing his sequel to his only other novel, A CANTICLE FOR LEIBOWITZ. Terry Bisson was hired to edit and finish the book from Miller's outline. That hybrid became SAINT LEIBOWITZ AND THE WILD HORSE WOMAN.
This novel is more of a 'midquel', rather than sequel, because its events take place 80 years after CANTICLE's part two, called "Fiat Lux" (c. 3254 AD, and 600 years before CANTICLE's part three.
SAINT LEIBOWITZ reminded me very much of Herbert's DUNE....more

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Aug 11, 2011 Ketan Shah added it

It started out well but became too much of a chore to finish.When the story is initially told from the viewpoint of Blacktooth St George it's great ,but once the political intrigues become too deep the story gets too confusing and just doesn't hold interest anymore.Definitely not as good as a Canticle for Leibowitz.If you like the highly detailed,non technological world presented here,you might enjoy Keith Robert's Pavane,set in a backward 20th century molded by the assassination of Queen Elizab...more

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Dec 03, 2012 Sander rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it

This book was somewhat underwhelming to me. I read it immediately after I finished Canticle (which I love) for the third time and it just does not live up to the standard of the first book.

The focus of the book on politics is an interesting choice. I enjoyed the parts about the conclave. However, the 'human side' of the story was not fleshed out. Many characters felt like cardboard to me.

The book was wel structured though. I would recommend it to someone who really enjoyed Canticle but with a ca...more

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Feb 18, 2013 Myriad rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction, hugo-supplemental

My reaction in one sentence: What the eff was the point?

There’s a problem if I finish reading your book and I have no idea why you wrote it. And I honestly have no idea why Miller wrote this. What did he think he was discussing? Did he think he actually made some kind of point?

I wanted this to be good; it started out with so much potential. Since the main characters are primarily Nomads who have chosen service to the Church, I figured there would be a great exploration of the tension between a...more

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Jan 24, 2013 William Cline rated it 3 of 5 stars

It’s a shame that Miller didn’t finish Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman before he died. He had the makings of a rich novel, related to his earlier book A Canticle for Leibowitz but capable of standing on its own. Sadly, the book as it was published is much less than what it could have been.

In Terry Bisson’s account of working to finish Miller’s book for posthumous publication (contains mild spoilers for both Saint Leibowitz and Canticle), he claims that Miller’s manuscript, as he receiv...more

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Sep 07, 2008 Isil rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: post-apocalyptique, science-fiction, usa, xxe

Le terme « arborescence » utilisé sur la quatrième de couverture est juste puisque l’histoire du roman se déroule soixante-dix ans après le séjour de Thor Thaddeo, le savant de Hannegan City, à l’abbaye de Leibowitz dans « Un cantique pour Leibowitz ».
« L’héritage de Saint Leibowitz » est d’une structure plus classique que le précédent. Ici on suit un personnage tout au long du roman. Je trouve que le titre anglais (Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman) est plus parlant lorsqu’on lit le rom...more

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Nov 06, 2012 Dominick rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

This companion novel followed A Canticle for Leibowitz almost 40 years later. It's set some 70 years after the second section of the preceding novel. The book occasionally rivals the grace and power of its predecessor, but I suspect that the fact that it was ultimately published as a result of the editorial assistance of (read "completed by") another writer explains the occasional creaks and strains. Nevertheless, this is a worthy albeit not entirely successor to one of the great SF classics.

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May 18, 2012 Martin Moleski marked it as to-read

Shelves: science-fiction

I loved Canticle for Liebowitz when I was younger--I read it three or four times.

I was shocked and saddened when Iheard that the author committed suicide. I've never used the book in my courses as a consequence.

Some day, I hope to stumble across the sequel and see how it goes.

May God have mercy on Walter. May his soul and the souls of all of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

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Jan 28, 2010 Mike rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

Miller's first (and only other) novel, A Canticle for Liebowitz, is rightly regarded as classic. This posthumously published sequel is, in my opinion, just as good as the first (a minority view, I think). The story takes place around the same time as the second part of Canticle, and is an engrossing story with vivid characters. The symbolism and themes are often similar to Canticle's, with similar pessimism & dark humor, but Miller meanders into eastern mysticism too, and we even see heroism...more

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Feb 26, 2012 Thomas Albert rated it 2 of 5 stars

Sad follow up to A Canticle for Leibowitz, written forty years after. The author was apparently dying and had lost his Catholic faith in the process. He also lost his incredible literary vision and ability. The book had to be finished posthumously by another, with very unsatisfying results. Not worth reading no matter how much you love the first book.

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Mar 21, 2013 Greg rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Sad, I can't figure out if I should lay blame on Miller's disinterest in revisiting the world of Canticle when this was started, or if the fault lies with his ghostwriter. For as much as I loved Canticle, it seemed almost inevitable that this would fall short. Too bad it fell as short as it did.

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Nov 12, 2010 Pete rated it 4 of 5 stars

I couldn't believe I found this book for $1 at Half-Price Books. Miller's "A Canticle for Leibowitz" is a classic so when I saw this book as his final work at the end of his life I grabbed it and read it right away. I was not disappointed. Great read.

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Jul 07, 2008 Doreen rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Anyone who wants an intellectually, emotionally stimulating sci-fi novel

Oddly enough, I seem to be one of the few people here who enjoyed the sequel much more than its predecessor. I found A Canticle... devoid of much of the human suffering that pervades this book, which questions the conflict between faith and tradition, desire and happiness, and what it means to be a good human being. SLatWHW tackles some heavy moral issues of how best to synthesize your emotions with your scruples in order to lead a godly life, and admits that self-sacrifice, though good for your...more

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Mar 06, 2011 Thom Dunn marked it as to-read

Shelves: a-own-hardcover, sf-science-fiction, atomic, apocalyptic

"In the midst of a post-nuclear dark agge, the Catholic Church, riven by internal strife, is still involved in a bitter power struggle with the temporal leaders of the devastated USA." (front dj blurb)

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Jul 09, 2011 Brianosaurus rated it 4 of 5 stars

an interesting mid to his only other novel, 'a canticle for leibowitz'. very funny at times and incredibly creative. i could tell he was losing interest near the end though.

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Mar 29, 2013 Jason rated it 3 of 5 stars

Not as good as the original, but it was nice to revisit the world and see what had changed. It felt a bit disjointed at times, probably due to the fact the author died before finishing it and someone else tied together the loose ends.

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Nov 12, 2010 Luna kisser rated it 3 of 5 stars

was a decent book.. was glad that it had a clear finish to it.. tho i do wonder what become of the twon that where born

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Jun 09, 2010 Dave rated it 2 of 5 stars

I thought that it was long and slow. I was disappointed as it wasn't up the quality of the first book.

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Feb 21, 2012 Adam Fleming rated it 3 of 5 stars

Worth reading if you loved Canticle for Leibowitz, but it's not nearly as good.

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Jun 24, 2009 Stephen Hayes rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Nobody

Some authors only have one book in them, and Walter M. Miller is one of those people.

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Jun 16, 2010 Tlnorz rated it 2 of 5 stars

Perhaps this is why Harper Lee did not write another book.

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Apr 14, 2009 Fishsanwitt marked it as to-read

catalogued

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Apr 22, 2013 pjreads ♫ rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: sf-fantasy

Boring.

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Oct 12, 2008 Mike rated it 1 of 5 stars

I am ashamed to admit that this book was so bad that I stopped reading it half way through. This is very out of character for me.

I don't know if Miller's interests changed over the intervening 30 years or if the substantial differences between Canticle and Wild Horse Woman reflect the thoughts and interests of Terry Bisson, who completed the book after Miller's suicide. Either way, I do know that this book ought not to have been written.

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About Walter M. Miller Jr.

From the Wikipedia article, "Walter M. Miller, Jr.":

Miller was born in New Smyrna Beach, Florida. Educated at the University of Tennessee and the University of Texas, he worked as an engineer. During World War II, he served in the Army Air Corps as a radioman and tail gunner, flying more than fifty bombing missions over Italy. He took part in the bombing of the Benedictine Abbey at Monte Cassino,...more From the Wikipedia article, "Walter M. Miller, Jr.":

Miller was born in New Smyrna Beach, Florida. Educated at the University of Tennessee and the University of Texas, he worked as an engineer. During World War II, he served in the Army Air Corps as a radioman and tail gunner, flying more than fifty bombing missions over Italy. He took part in the bombing of the Benedictine Abbey at Monte Cassino, which proved a traumatic experience for him. Joe Haldeman reported that Miller "had Post Traumatic Stress Disorder for 30 years before it had a name".

After the war, Miller converted to Catholicism. He married Anna Louise Becker in 1945, and they had four children. For several months in 1953 he lived with science-fiction writer Judith Merril, ex-wife of Frederik Pohl and a noted science-fiction author in her own right.

Between 1951 and 1957, Miller published over three dozen science fiction short stories, winning a Hugo Award in 1955 for the story "The Darfsteller". He also wrote scripts for the television show Captain Video in 1953. Late in the 1950s, Miller assembled a novel from three closely related novellas he had published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1955, 1956 and 1957. The novel, entitled A Canticle for Leibowitz, was published in 1959.

A Canticle for Leibowitz is a post-apocalyptic (post-holocaust) novel revolving around the canonisation of Saint Leibowitz and is considered a masterpiece of the genre. It won the 1961 Hugo Award for Best Novel. The novel is also a powerful meditation on the cycles of world history and Roman Catholicism as a force of stability during history's dark times.

After the success of A Canticle For Leibowitz, Miller never published another new novel or story in his lifetime, although several compilations of Miller's earlier stories were issued in the 1960s and 1970s.

In Miller's later years, he became a recluse, avoiding contact with nearly everyone, including family members; he never allowed his literary agent, Don Congdon, to meet him. According to science fiction writer Terry Bisson, Miller struggled with depression during his later years, but had managed to nearly complete a 600-page manuscript for the sequel to Canticle before taking his own life with a gun in January 1996, shortly after his wife's death. The sequel, titled Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman, was completed by Bisson and published in 1997.(less)

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