(9.00)335 pages. Introduction, author mini-bio.
In my youth, I was a voracious reader of science fiction, and it is quite likely I read this novel then. Now I have read it again.
This book is considered one of the best sci-fi novels ever written. It is serious science fiction. Books have been written analyzing this book. Study guides are available.
The author first wrote three independent novellas, then later adapted the stories into a single novel. The common element is a religious order of monks, devoted to preserving knowledge after a nuclear holocaust, continuing the work of the revered Leibowitz.
The first part of the novel follows Brother Francis of the Utah, who is seeking elevation to monkhood through solitary fasting when an encounter with a wanderer leads him to discover a relic of Leibowitz. While the authenticity of the relic is disputed, Francis eventually becomes a monk and embarks on making an illuminated copy of the Leibowitz relic. When New Rome canonizes Saint Leibowitz, Brother Francis is invited to attend the services and meet the Pope. All of this takes place against a background which is comparable to medieval times.
The second part of the novel advances the timeline several centuries, when nations are beginning to emerge, a renaissance has begun, and the Church is losing influence. As a new generation of scientists begin to realize the treasures of knowledge that the monks have kept, will the new nations intrude upon the monks and their library? The background in this story is comparable to the early Renaissance.
The third and final part of the novel shows us the monks in a new age of science. Mankind has gone to the stars. The world is divided between competing superpowers. As the threat of nuclear war rises, will the Church succeed in putting their emergency plan into motion?
The reader is left to figure out the background story from clues dropped by the author. After a nuclear war, mobs at first rebelled against politicians, then against technology, and finally against anyone who could read. Leibowitz was a martyr to the cause of preserving knowledge. Mutants exist but are uncommon and primitive. What the monks have preserved are little more than fragments of knowledge. Characters such as the Wandering Jew, the Poet, and a two-headed woman are encountered but never fully explained.
While there is strife and conflict at moments throughout the novel, this is a thoughtful tale rather than an action-filled story, with a degree of wry humor emphasizing futility. The author takes an almost mocking tone towards the 'medieval' monks, only to show the later monks dealing with theological issues such as church versus state and the morality of suicide. The author leaves it up to the reader to decide whether the monks are merely well-intentioned men or inspired by God.
The novel has a double ending, showing both a pragmatic and a spiritual/symbolic success for mankind.
From the perspective of 2025, the 'future' in the last of the novel is non-digital – not surprising from when it was written, and certainly possible in a different age of technology.
Can you game it? The first setting would work for any post-disaster game setting, pitting monks against raiders and mutants. The second setting would allow for low-tech battles. The third period of nuclear war is not playable or winnable.
I recommend this novel for anyone interested in a thoughtful exploration of religious and scientific survival after the fall of civilization.
Reviewed by 
Editor in Chief Bill 
.