I wouldn’t say that this was stupendously good – but it’s not far off. Perhaps not as good as Foundation or the first Dune – probably my favourite sf books – but as good as Donaldson’s Gap series. Very interesting thoughts woven through the story; I’m now eager to read the next one. I love the idea of earth being destroyed by a big mistake…
One of the themes from last Saturday’s Learning Church (audio available here).
However, the Weekend Fisher spells out much of what I was trying to say. (And thanks to Mad Priest for putting me on to her blog).
A Canticle for Liebowitz, by Walter Miller. There’s a good Wikipedia page here if you want to discover a bit more about it.
I loved this. Hadn’t read any sf for ages – must be at least six months – so it was great to plug back in. Lots of stimulating images, and, of course, it fitted so nicely with my ‘After Virtue’ interests. Lots of things will stay with me, but perhaps the final debate about euthanasia most of all. Very challenging, but I was grateful that the religious perspective wasn’t implicitly ridiculed, in the way that much sf would do.