The Long Tomorrow by Leigh Brackett was one of those novels I was not sure what to write about when I set down to write this review. I knew I liked it, but had a hard time figuring out why I did. These early Sci-fi novels tend to be “gentle.” I don’t mean the story is gentle, because there is a horrific murder very early in this novel, but the story is written in a way that can be best described as soft.

The main character, Len, grows throughout this novel both physically and emotionally. The choice he made as a child, impetuous as it was, shaped his life for the rest of the novel. Watching him grow and leave behind the childish notions of his youth, was glorious to behold. I guess that is why I enjoyed this novel so much.

This not what would be considered today a post-apocalyptic novel. Because it is set 100 years after the bombs dropped, life has reestablished. There is none of the traditional fallout gangs or mutations. The funny thing is, I did not miss it. What this novel did have was a resurgence of religious extremism, in all its forms. Len’s struggle is not physical, but is instead a struggle about the kind of man he is going to be.

Read this novel, you won’t be sorry.