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Riverworld #4
The Magic Labyrinth
At the end of The Fabulous Riverboat, Sam Clemens finally set out in the great iron riverboat Not for Hire to reach the headwaters of the massive river on whose shores humanity has been resurrected. After 33 years on the river, Clemens and his crew--including the giant subhuman Joe Miller--are finally near the end of their journey, and only one obstacle remains: the evil Earthly king, John Lackland. John is waiting just upriver in the Rex Grandissimus, the first riverboat that Sam constructed and the one that John and his crew hijacked, and he's hell-bent on sinking Sam's boat (and vice versa). Complicating the battle is the fact that both ships likely contain agents of the Ethicals, the group of advanced beings who created Riverworld for reasons unknown. One or more of the Ethicals themselves may even be on board, as are various humans that the rebel Ethical, known as the Mysterious Stranger (but known to Clemens simply as X), enlisted in his cause, which may or may not lead to humanity's salvation.
The battle is set to take place along the shores populated by members of the Church of the Second Chance, a group that believes they must attain ethical perfection in order to proceed to the next phase of existence. The Second Chancers are not violent, but their charismatic leader, La Viro, may attempt to sink one or both of the iron ships in order to prevent the battle. Among the Second Chancers is former Nazi officer Hermann Goring, who had a run-in with Sir Richard Francis Burton in the first Riverworld novel, To Your Scattered Bodies Go. Burton and his companions--among them several people who were contacted by the Mysterious Stranger--are reluctantly serving on John's boat in order to reach the headwaters of the river. But will any of the humans working for X survive the coming battle? And if so, how can they possibly hope to penetrate the tower in the North Sea where the Ethicals are thought to reside? And what could lowly humans hope to do against a race so advanced that they can reshape entire planets and resurrect all of humanity? --Craig E. Engler
402 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1980
61 people are currently reading
1991 people want to read
About the author
Philip José Farmer
597 books891 followersPhilip José Farmer was an American author, principally known for his science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories. He was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, but spent much of his life in Peoria, Illinois.
Farmer is best known for his Riverworld series and the earlier World of Tiers series. He is noted for his use of sexual and religious themes in his work, his fascination for and reworking of the lore of legendary pulp heroes, and occasional tongue-in-cheek pseudonymous works written as if by fictional characters.
Farmer is best known for his Riverworld series and the earlier World of Tiers series. He is noted for his use of sexual and religious themes in his work, his fascination for and reworking of the lore of legendary pulp heroes, and occasional tongue-in-cheek pseudonymous works written as if by fictional characters.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 173 reviews
October 10, 2024
The fourth fabulous book of 5 in the often used but seldom accurate phrase, an unique series , this saying is true if a little bit understated in my shall we say humble opinion...maybe... Imaginative plot of every human born... alive again here, should they be? Why, somewhere, somehow in a strange planet of the cosmos with no answers to a flood of questions . Finding them is the story...the endless quest mile after mile in a weird watery though perfect atmosphere the Riverworld, calm stream bloody battles for survival to be kind, conquest to be sure with a plethora of two legged animals many you will recognize, the good, the bad and the insane. In the air, under the river for the unlucky, every conceivable craft to travel including balloons ...to the north pole and kill or seek salvation from evil aliens. Sir Richard Burton ( the explorer) not the great actor leads...sometimes . Mark Twain chain- smoking in his riverboat the Not For Hire, chasing bad King John in another paddle wheel up the long ten million in miles, length river, the views are exotic, the carnage not . The Mississippi would look like a puddle to the pilot yes Mr. TWAIN. Alice of Wonderland fame is with Burton who is with creepy John that complicates the situation, a favorite Cyrano , always gallant amuses us . The pre-human giant called Joe Miller a funny name for the colossal , scary 800 pound Behemoth ten foot tall , dominates. And the charming part is the Aliens hide as Earthlings, and their weird ways.. trying to desperately discover them.. can be difficult. .What do they want? A hint, adventure... the best things are the many famous people from the past who appear and the very good research the author does, gives life to them. A well worthwhile read and soon back to the the river in the last magical epic. Not literature yet a plain jump into the reason we read. This was intended to complete the vast saga but the demand continued and so we are quite grateful.
July 18, 2014
This is the fourth and most disappointing novel of the Riverworld series. Although the first three had some problems, they remained interesting. What drove me to keep reading this series was the mystery of why the world was built, and the purpose behind the resurrections. This fourth novel provides the final explanation for everything that is going on and who is behind it all. And that explanation is unfortunately predictable and entirely unoriginal. I will explain what I mean only in the most vague terms to avoid spoilers.
The explanation is predictable because Farmer provided too much of it before the final scene in which the whole truth is revealed. Too many facets of it were already guessed at or revealed to the main characters in earlier books. And so when the final truth is given, only minor details are new -- everything else was already anticipated by Burton and the others. At best we have some of them saying, "Ah, so that is why X happened." But these are only the most trivial details -- all of the big deductions made by the main characters end up being, on the whole, correct. And so there was no big "aha!" moment where the light bulb goes of for the reader.
But perhaps that could have been forgivable if Farmer's explanation hadn't been so trite. Perhaps if one never reads much science fiction this might have seemed original, but as someone who has read widely of the genre and seen many movies and TV shows in the genre, the driving force behind what is going on is nothing new in sci-fi. In fact, it's been done to death. I was highly disappointed in this fact, because the idea of the Riverworld itself is so original that I expected surely to be surprised and delighted by a wildly unique explanation at the end of who is behind it all and why. But we have the same old culprits here that we would have in any other unremarkable and highly predictable sci-fi novels or movies.
Finally, the other problem is that Farmer side-tracked the main plot, which is getting up the river to find the source and learn the truth, for nearly 75% of the book so he could focus on the sub-plot of the Clemens vs. King John feud. This he tracks in minute detail, to the point where I almost gave up on the novel for not caring - because I literally did not care at that point who won the fight. Even within this story, this side-track, Farmer insists on diverting us from the diversion by providing a 2-page biography of just about every minor character to appear in the novel -- about a page on what they did in the real world, and then another page on what they've been doing on the Riverworld. Then the bit character who has just been bio'ed leaps into the fight and, in almost every case, promptly dies. Gee, I'm sure glad Farmer treated me to the history of a character that won't be around in another chapter.
When combined, these negatives weigh down the narrative and bring what had been a mildly enjoyable series to a thoroughly unsatisfying conclusion. Farmer, in the introduction to book 3, claims that books 3-4 were supposed to be a single novel but grew too large to publish in one volume. Had I been his editor, I could have helped him cut the two down by telling him to just get the Clemons-John fight over with quickly, and get back to the real point of the story - the travel upriver.
There is a fifth Riverworld book, but I'll not bother to read it. This one was too poor to want to read any more. I'm afraid in addition, because the ending is so unsatisfying, I find myself unable to recommend the series as a whole. And that's a shame, because the first two books are pretty good, and the basic premise (minus the awful and cliche'ed explanation!) is a good one. It's a shame Farmer didn't do more with this.
The explanation is predictable because Farmer provided too much of it before the final scene in which the whole truth is revealed. Too many facets of it were already guessed at or revealed to the main characters in earlier books. And so when the final truth is given, only minor details are new -- everything else was already anticipated by Burton and the others. At best we have some of them saying, "Ah, so that is why X happened." But these are only the most trivial details -- all of the big deductions made by the main characters end up being, on the whole, correct. And so there was no big "aha!" moment where the light bulb goes of for the reader.
But perhaps that could have been forgivable if Farmer's explanation hadn't been so trite. Perhaps if one never reads much science fiction this might have seemed original, but as someone who has read widely of the genre and seen many movies and TV shows in the genre, the driving force behind what is going on is nothing new in sci-fi. In fact, it's been done to death. I was highly disappointed in this fact, because the idea of the Riverworld itself is so original that I expected surely to be surprised and delighted by a wildly unique explanation at the end of who is behind it all and why. But we have the same old culprits here that we would have in any other unremarkable and highly predictable sci-fi novels or movies.
Finally, the other problem is that Farmer side-tracked the main plot, which is getting up the river to find the source and learn the truth, for nearly 75% of the book so he could focus on the sub-plot of the Clemens vs. King John feud. This he tracks in minute detail, to the point where I almost gave up on the novel for not caring - because I literally did not care at that point who won the fight. Even within this story, this side-track, Farmer insists on diverting us from the diversion by providing a 2-page biography of just about every minor character to appear in the novel -- about a page on what they did in the real world, and then another page on what they've been doing on the Riverworld. Then the bit character who has just been bio'ed leaps into the fight and, in almost every case, promptly dies. Gee, I'm sure glad Farmer treated me to the history of a character that won't be around in another chapter.
When combined, these negatives weigh down the narrative and bring what had been a mildly enjoyable series to a thoroughly unsatisfying conclusion. Farmer, in the introduction to book 3, claims that books 3-4 were supposed to be a single novel but grew too large to publish in one volume. Had I been his editor, I could have helped him cut the two down by telling him to just get the Clemons-John fight over with quickly, and get back to the real point of the story - the travel upriver.
There is a fifth Riverworld book, but I'll not bother to read it. This one was too poor to want to read any more. I'm afraid in addition, because the ending is so unsatisfying, I find myself unable to recommend the series as a whole. And that's a shame, because the first two books are pretty good, and the basic premise (minus the awful and cliche'ed explanation!) is a good one. It's a shame Farmer didn't do more with this.
August 28, 2025
What was meant to be the final Riverworld book becomes the penultimate novel in the series focusing on Burton and Clemens and their riverboats mainly as Clemens seeks revenge on King John and his boat. Meantime, Burton seeks the origin of the world and the mystery of the Ethicals so we have a lot of goals here by some very head strong men with various other historical and non-historical people sprinkled in. The harrowing journey towards the end of the book is quite the page turner and some of the losses and happenings along the way are rough, but there is a lot to like in this novel with one more to go.
September 15, 2022
The Magic Labyrinth is the fourth and originally the final book in Farmer’s Riverworld series. Here all the quests of those travelling to the headwaters of the river end for better or worse. Here too, the mysteries of the Riverworld planet and the mass resurrection of all humanity are revealed.
This book is wildly uneven. It vacillates between episodes of thrilling action and mind-numbing boredom. Well developed characters who we have followed throughout the books are mingled together with new ones, barely sketched out, but still central to the action. The writing is often barely competent, yet many of the ideas presented are still fascinating.
The book attains its climax at its midway point. The final drama of a forty-year, up river chase of two rival riverboats — The Rex, captained by King John Lackland, (stolen from Sam Clemens) pursued by Clemens’s The Not For Hire — finally ends. Clemens' quest to storm the mysterious tower at river’s end, rumored to contain the answers to this world's riddles, has been long subsumed by his thirst for revenge against King John. Most of the action of the book takes place when these two mighty boats, both heavily armed and manned by crews of Earth's famous and near famous, have their final clash. Two great set pieces have French ace George Guynemer, and German ace Werner Voss fighting a last fantastic dogfight over the river, and an awe-inspiring fencing duel to end all duels between Cyrano de Bergerac and Sir Richard Francis Burton. It is here that Farmer works his grand concept for all that it is worth.
But after this climatic battle’s resolution it all goes to rot. A handful of survivors continue on to complete the quest to the great tower at river’s end. But most of the characters we have followed through the book don’t survive the climax. Several of this final group are the new, unfamiliar characters with whom readers can feel little connection. . Almost the whole last fourth of the book is composed of chapter after chapter of massive information dumps — explanations of the how, why and who of the creation of Riverworld and the resurrection of the billions of humans there — all delivered like a lecture from a perfectly dull professor. After reading through four books to get to the big revelations, this is criminally lame. If you struggled this far through Farmer’s often stilted prose, you deserved better.
The Magic Labyrinth is a disappointing ending to what started as a fantastic concept. (There is a book five, where Farmer revisited the series and tacked on a new ending, but trust me, don't bother. No, really, I’m serious. Book five makes book four look brilliant.) Thus ends speculative fiction’s most ambitious concept, not with a bang, but a whimper.
This book is wildly uneven. It vacillates between episodes of thrilling action and mind-numbing boredom. Well developed characters who we have followed throughout the books are mingled together with new ones, barely sketched out, but still central to the action. The writing is often barely competent, yet many of the ideas presented are still fascinating.
The book attains its climax at its midway point. The final drama of a forty-year, up river chase of two rival riverboats — The Rex, captained by King John Lackland, (stolen from Sam Clemens) pursued by Clemens’s The Not For Hire — finally ends. Clemens' quest to storm the mysterious tower at river’s end, rumored to contain the answers to this world's riddles, has been long subsumed by his thirst for revenge against King John. Most of the action of the book takes place when these two mighty boats, both heavily armed and manned by crews of Earth's famous and near famous, have their final clash. Two great set pieces have French ace George Guynemer, and German ace Werner Voss fighting a last fantastic dogfight over the river, and an awe-inspiring fencing duel to end all duels between Cyrano de Bergerac and Sir Richard Francis Burton. It is here that Farmer works his grand concept for all that it is worth.
But after this climatic battle’s resolution it all goes to rot. A handful of survivors continue on to complete the quest to the great tower at river’s end. But most of the characters we have followed through the book don’t survive the climax. Several of this final group are the new, unfamiliar characters with whom readers can feel little connection. . Almost the whole last fourth of the book is composed of chapter after chapter of massive information dumps — explanations of the how, why and who of the creation of Riverworld and the resurrection of the billions of humans there — all delivered like a lecture from a perfectly dull professor. After reading through four books to get to the big revelations, this is criminally lame. If you struggled this far through Farmer’s often stilted prose, you deserved better.
The Magic Labyrinth is a disappointing ending to what started as a fantastic concept. (There is a book five, where Farmer revisited the series and tacked on a new ending, but trust me, don't bother. No, really, I’m serious. Book five makes book four look brilliant.) Thus ends speculative fiction’s most ambitious concept, not with a bang, but a whimper.
February 1, 2010
I'm virtually certain I got as far as this volume before I abandoned the series, but I can't remember a thing about it. All I can recall is that we were given the explanation for Riverworld, and I just thought "Huh"?
I guess I wasn't in a receptive frame of mind, given that some other people appear to like this book. Sorry.
I guess I wasn't in a receptive frame of mind, given that some other people appear to like this book. Sorry.
June 24, 2025
So, this concludes the main Riverworld story. The first two books were great and intrigued me enough to want to find out what happened in the end. The Dark Design and The Magic Labyrinth really drug on and were over long and over complicated. I’d say that if you just want to find out what The Riverworld is all about then you will have a rough time with this series (just read the wiki). If you enjoy a look at historical figures and how they’d possibly interact with one another then you might find some enjoyment out of this. Even though it seems like Farmer knew his history the characters came off flat and were a bit lifeless to me. The ending in no way lived up to the initial hype that I had and the work to get there wasn’t worth it. I’m committed enough to read Gods of Riverworld though, so there is that.
January 12, 2015
WARNING: This review contains spoilers! Read at your own risk!
"This fourth book in the classic Riverworld series continues the adventures of Samuel Clemens and Sir Richard Francis Burton as they travel through Farmer's strange and wonderful Riverworld, a place where everyone who ever lived is simultaneously resurrected along a single river valley that stretches over an entire planet. Famous characters from history abound.
Now Burton and Clemens, who have traveled for more than thirty years on two great ships, are about to reach the end of the River. But there is a religion, The Church of the Second Chance, that has grown up along the River and its adherents, possibly inspired by aliens, are determined to destroy the riverboats. A coming battle may destroy Burton and Clemens, but even if they survive, how can they penetrate the alien tower of the Ethicals, who created this astonishing world? What can humans do against a race capable of creating a world and resurrecting the entire human race on it?"
This book takes an awfully long time to get to the point, namely who are the Ethicals and why have they created this world? There is a LOT of rather pointless fighting, in my opinion, which lends nothing to the plot and includes enough technical detail to send an insomniac into a coma.
When we finally get to hear from an Ethical, Mr. Mysterious X no less, it is underwhelming in the extreme. They are basically "advanced" human people, working under another race, who in turn were deputized by the "Ancient Ones." And they aren't so ethical that they can't disagree and squabble amongst themselves--plus they guard their computers with death rays. Still want to call them Ethicals?
One blessing is that Farmer finally committed to one measurement system, so the dimensions of everything aren't repeated in both Imperial and Metric.
Although I'm glad to know a bit more about the Ethicals and what they were up to, I persist in thinking that so much MORE could have been done with this concept. I finally realized with this (the fourth) book that religion was one of the issues in play in this series (so I guess its good that Farmer really lambastes the reader with it--I finally caught on). Its just so swamped in details--what they are eating, what they are wearing, how they produced this or that item, etc., etc.
And I think he did make an effort to produce some characters that women could relate to in this book (although the women are still very focused on the male characters and don't talk to each other).
There's only one book left, and what with the abrupt ending of the Magic Labyrinth, I will probably, against my better judgement, read it. Anyone who can explain the title to me, I would be most obliged. I'm probably being as thick about that as I was about the religious themes.
Probably more realistically 2.5 stars.
Cross-posted at my blog, The Next 50, at:
http://wanda-thenextfifty.blogspot.ca...
"This fourth book in the classic Riverworld series continues the adventures of Samuel Clemens and Sir Richard Francis Burton as they travel through Farmer's strange and wonderful Riverworld, a place where everyone who ever lived is simultaneously resurrected along a single river valley that stretches over an entire planet. Famous characters from history abound.
Now Burton and Clemens, who have traveled for more than thirty years on two great ships, are about to reach the end of the River. But there is a religion, The Church of the Second Chance, that has grown up along the River and its adherents, possibly inspired by aliens, are determined to destroy the riverboats. A coming battle may destroy Burton and Clemens, but even if they survive, how can they penetrate the alien tower of the Ethicals, who created this astonishing world? What can humans do against a race capable of creating a world and resurrecting the entire human race on it?"
This book takes an awfully long time to get to the point, namely who are the Ethicals and why have they created this world? There is a LOT of rather pointless fighting, in my opinion, which lends nothing to the plot and includes enough technical detail to send an insomniac into a coma.
When we finally get to hear from an Ethical, Mr. Mysterious X no less, it is underwhelming in the extreme. They are basically "advanced" human people, working under another race, who in turn were deputized by the "Ancient Ones." And they aren't so ethical that they can't disagree and squabble amongst themselves--plus they guard their computers with death rays. Still want to call them Ethicals?
One blessing is that Farmer finally committed to one measurement system, so the dimensions of everything aren't repeated in both Imperial and Metric.
Although I'm glad to know a bit more about the Ethicals and what they were up to, I persist in thinking that so much MORE could have been done with this concept. I finally realized with this (the fourth) book that religion was one of the issues in play in this series (so I guess its good that Farmer really lambastes the reader with it--I finally caught on). Its just so swamped in details--what they are eating, what they are wearing, how they produced this or that item, etc., etc.
And I think he did make an effort to produce some characters that women could relate to in this book (although the women are still very focused on the male characters and don't talk to each other).
There's only one book left, and what with the abrupt ending of the Magic Labyrinth, I will probably, against my better judgement, read it. Anyone who can explain the title to me, I would be most obliged. I'm probably being as thick about that as I was about the religious themes.
Probably more realistically 2.5 stars.
Cross-posted at my blog, The Next 50, at:
http://wanda-thenextfifty.blogspot.ca...
July 23, 2017
Storyline: 2/5
Characters: 2/5
Writing Style: 2/5
World: 2/5
The finale - any finale - has a lot going for it. It is where you get to solve mysteries, make big reveals, bring together disparate threads, and provide the happy (or not-so-happy) ending. Farmer managed to make his Riverworld finale the worst of the four books. If you're out for climactic and adrenaline-laced fight scenes, then you will probably disagree. There was little else, however, to recommend in this volume.
I was negatively inclined before I began, admittedly. I grumbled that the book was so long. The first (and best) had been 220 pages, the second 231, and the third (and worst-to-date) a monotonous 464. I would have liked for the fourth to have returned to the shorter form, but this one was 416 pages long. That wouldn't have been so bad had the author made good use of the pages. Yet Farmer confused background information with character building and thought that a book with multiple perspectives required that the same scene be retold from the different first person views. Thus much of the book was spent going backward or over again what we'd already been through. I'd recommend to anyone who is a skimmer or who is just looking for the highlights to skip the first six sections and begin with "Goring's Past" at chapter 17. That will save you more than a hundred pages, and though I just read this, I cannot think of anything remotely interesting or worthwhile that will be lost when doing so.
My other major grievance is that for about 75% of the book, Farmer forgot this was a work of science fiction. The action and adventures could have taken place on Earth in a WWII setting. Nothing about the big mysteries or of Burton's original quest (began early in book 1) matter for 3/4 of this book. Were Farmer making some point about the habits of humankind or our base emotions, perhaps this could have been an insightful account. Farmer wasn't making big or insightful points, however, he was looking to make the finale exciting in the same way that book 2 and book 3 were(n't). Thus we get 300 pages of the same adventures we'd experienced in those two middle volumes. When the shift does come, it read as if Farmer had been startled by the remembrance that this was supposed to be science fiction. In his befuddlement he threw out bizarre explanations for questions we hadn't been considering, involved us in technical details of problems that hadn't been part of the series thus far, tread on genres and tropes that were ill-suited to the present story, and finally ended with what was one of the least climactic series endings I've ever encountered. These last few chapters could have been good, even exactly as they were written. For them to have worked, however, Farmer would have had to have been building up to and working with these problems and questions over the course of the last three books. Unfortunately, he didn't write those versions of the books.
I do wish to express my gratitude, however, to Farmer for being true to his word in the preamble of book 3. There he promised to resolve the present quest in the next volume. He also promised to write Riverworld fans a spin-off so that they could carry forth with the series. I do like and appreciate it when an author provides a stepping-off point for readers. Probably it isn't good for sales, as I would have trudged through the fifth in order to get to the ending, but I'm a much happier reader now that I can stop here. And who knows, someday perhaps I'll forget the weariness and grumpiness with which I endured this, and I'll read that fifth after all. For now, it goes to the bottom of the reading pile.
Characters: 2/5
Writing Style: 2/5
World: 2/5
The finale - any finale - has a lot going for it. It is where you get to solve mysteries, make big reveals, bring together disparate threads, and provide the happy (or not-so-happy) ending. Farmer managed to make his Riverworld finale the worst of the four books. If you're out for climactic and adrenaline-laced fight scenes, then you will probably disagree. There was little else, however, to recommend in this volume.
I was negatively inclined before I began, admittedly. I grumbled that the book was so long. The first (and best) had been 220 pages, the second 231, and the third (and worst-to-date) a monotonous 464. I would have liked for the fourth to have returned to the shorter form, but this one was 416 pages long. That wouldn't have been so bad had the author made good use of the pages. Yet Farmer confused background information with character building and thought that a book with multiple perspectives required that the same scene be retold from the different first person views. Thus much of the book was spent going backward or over again what we'd already been through. I'd recommend to anyone who is a skimmer or who is just looking for the highlights to skip the first six sections and begin with "Goring's Past" at chapter 17. That will save you more than a hundred pages, and though I just read this, I cannot think of anything remotely interesting or worthwhile that will be lost when doing so.
My other major grievance is that for about 75% of the book, Farmer forgot this was a work of science fiction. The action and adventures could have taken place on Earth in a WWII setting. Nothing about the big mysteries or of Burton's original quest (began early in book 1) matter for 3/4 of this book. Were Farmer making some point about the habits of humankind or our base emotions, perhaps this could have been an insightful account. Farmer wasn't making big or insightful points, however, he was looking to make the finale exciting in the same way that book 2 and book 3 were(n't). Thus we get 300 pages of the same adventures we'd experienced in those two middle volumes. When the shift does come, it read as if Farmer had been startled by the remembrance that this was supposed to be science fiction. In his befuddlement he threw out bizarre explanations for questions we hadn't been considering, involved us in technical details of problems that hadn't been part of the series thus far, tread on genres and tropes that were ill-suited to the present story, and finally ended with what was one of the least climactic series endings I've ever encountered. These last few chapters could have been good, even exactly as they were written. For them to have worked, however, Farmer would have had to have been building up to and working with these problems and questions over the course of the last three books. Unfortunately, he didn't write those versions of the books.
I do wish to express my gratitude, however, to Farmer for being true to his word in the preamble of book 3. There he promised to resolve the present quest in the next volume. He also promised to write Riverworld fans a spin-off so that they could carry forth with the series. I do like and appreciate it when an author provides a stepping-off point for readers. Probably it isn't good for sales, as I would have trudged through the fifth in order to get to the ending, but I'm a much happier reader now that I can stop here. And who knows, someday perhaps I'll forget the weariness and grumpiness with which I endured this, and I'll read that fifth after all. For now, it goes to the bottom of the reading pile.
July 9, 2023
After a year and a half break I'm finally returning to the Riverworld series to take on the fourth installment. The Riverworld series has been a rocky journey in terms of my enjoyment of the series. I still have yet to find a Sci Fi book that take the place of my all time favorite Sci Fi book away from To Your Scattered Bodies Go. I really love the overall concept of riverworld and the blending of history, linguistics, and anthropology into a fun and out of the box Sci Fi story.
That being said, the follow up sequels have been underwhelming to say the least. I hated The Fabulous Riverboat as it felt like it removed everything I enjoyed from the first book. The lead protagonist was replaced by Sam Clemens (Mark Twain) who was stuck in a loop of building and having to rebuild his riverboats while whining about having lost his wife from earth to a new lover without really doing much about it but complain. I enjoyed the third book, The Dark Design, more. There was a return to some of the adventure and themes of the first book but still it was bogged down by diverting plot points that felt more like a distraction than anything else.
Out of all of the sequel I think I like The Magic Labyrinth best. That being said it isn't free from it's own issues and continuing problems I had with the last two books. While I enjoyed a lot of what this book had to offer I found just as many moments where I was struggling to work through it. The biggest issue here is how disjointed it is. There are the immediate plot points that need to be wrapped up from where they left off in the last book but also the overall mystery that has been explored since the first book needs to be wrapped up in a satisfying and fleshed out way. Overall, I didn't find this to be the best executed.
I enjoyed the first hundred pages or so. My biggest criticism here would be that it was a lot of rehashing of events that happened in the last book but considering I hadn't read that book in a year and a half I was alright with this recap. Mainly I was just enjoying back in this world. About 150 pages in we get to the big battle between Sam Clemens and King John. This is a carry over from the last book and was something I didn't really enjoy then. A big criticism I had of the last book was that the action scenes really fell flat for me. While I think this is done better here I still found this to be an issue. This battle is drawn out for around half of the book and it really slowed down my progress and interest in the book.
After the battle is concluded the characters are able to continue on their journey to the tower in which the ethicals live and try to find out what this world is. I was drawn back into the story. The adventure and worldbuilding is really what I enjoy most about these Riverworld books and I got that for the last hundred pages or so.
That being said, once the story gets to the tower and they are confronting the grand mystery I still wasn't feeling that invested. I've spent my time working my way through four books to get to what I wanted just to not really care. Some of the ideas are fun and this is the kind of Sci Fi I like exploring but I just felt like it wasn't the greatest payoff. Things wrap up rather quickly and in a mundane way. It felt like Farmer was wrapping up the story out of obligation and not really out of any real interest in exploring this world like he was in the first book.
As a series Riverworld could have been two, maybe three books, and I would have liked it more. There's a lot to explore in a world like this but much of what was focused on felt like typical adventure schlock as opposed to exploring a wholly unique world. One of the main issues I've had with these books is they go from essentially fighting with sticks and stones in the first book to having machine guns, airplanes, and fully functional large scale steam boats by the second book. This advancement in technology over only a few decades always threw me off and made it feel like this was just a general action series on 20th century earth more often than a newly explored Sci Fi world.
Overall, I think this is a fine place to tap out. I know there's a fifth book expanding on the world but unless I come across a copy and really feel like revisiting Riverworld in a few years I don't see myself reading it. I'd rather read one of Farmer's other works at this point or reread To Your Scattered Bodies Go. I knew going into this series that it doesn't really have legs to stand on but my curiosity and love for the first book got the best of me. It could have been worse but with such high expectations I'm still left feeling disappointed.
That being said, the follow up sequels have been underwhelming to say the least. I hated The Fabulous Riverboat as it felt like it removed everything I enjoyed from the first book. The lead protagonist was replaced by Sam Clemens (Mark Twain) who was stuck in a loop of building and having to rebuild his riverboats while whining about having lost his wife from earth to a new lover without really doing much about it but complain. I enjoyed the third book, The Dark Design, more. There was a return to some of the adventure and themes of the first book but still it was bogged down by diverting plot points that felt more like a distraction than anything else.
Out of all of the sequel I think I like The Magic Labyrinth best. That being said it isn't free from it's own issues and continuing problems I had with the last two books. While I enjoyed a lot of what this book had to offer I found just as many moments where I was struggling to work through it. The biggest issue here is how disjointed it is. There are the immediate plot points that need to be wrapped up from where they left off in the last book but also the overall mystery that has been explored since the first book needs to be wrapped up in a satisfying and fleshed out way. Overall, I didn't find this to be the best executed.
I enjoyed the first hundred pages or so. My biggest criticism here would be that it was a lot of rehashing of events that happened in the last book but considering I hadn't read that book in a year and a half I was alright with this recap. Mainly I was just enjoying back in this world. About 150 pages in we get to the big battle between Sam Clemens and King John. This is a carry over from the last book and was something I didn't really enjoy then. A big criticism I had of the last book was that the action scenes really fell flat for me. While I think this is done better here I still found this to be an issue. This battle is drawn out for around half of the book and it really slowed down my progress and interest in the book.
After the battle is concluded the characters are able to continue on their journey to the tower in which the ethicals live and try to find out what this world is. I was drawn back into the story. The adventure and worldbuilding is really what I enjoy most about these Riverworld books and I got that for the last hundred pages or so.
That being said, once the story gets to the tower and they are confronting the grand mystery I still wasn't feeling that invested. I've spent my time working my way through four books to get to what I wanted just to not really care. Some of the ideas are fun and this is the kind of Sci Fi I like exploring but I just felt like it wasn't the greatest payoff. Things wrap up rather quickly and in a mundane way. It felt like Farmer was wrapping up the story out of obligation and not really out of any real interest in exploring this world like he was in the first book.
As a series Riverworld could have been two, maybe three books, and I would have liked it more. There's a lot to explore in a world like this but much of what was focused on felt like typical adventure schlock as opposed to exploring a wholly unique world. One of the main issues I've had with these books is they go from essentially fighting with sticks and stones in the first book to having machine guns, airplanes, and fully functional large scale steam boats by the second book. This advancement in technology over only a few decades always threw me off and made it feel like this was just a general action series on 20th century earth more often than a newly explored Sci Fi world.
Overall, I think this is a fine place to tap out. I know there's a fifth book expanding on the world but unless I come across a copy and really feel like revisiting Riverworld in a few years I don't see myself reading it. I'd rather read one of Farmer's other works at this point or reread To Your Scattered Bodies Go. I knew going into this series that it doesn't really have legs to stand on but my curiosity and love for the first book got the best of me. It could have been worse but with such high expectations I'm still left feeling disappointed.
May 24, 2018
Po przeczytaniu ponad 3000 stron sagi, którą rozpocząłem w sposób zupełnie losowy, muszę przyznać że jestem bardzo zaskoczony jak szybko udało mi się przez nie przejść.
Philip Jose Farmer stworzył niezwykle ciekawe uniwersum, w którym wszyscy ludzie, którzy kiedykolwiek żyli, zostali jednocześnie wskrzeszeni na planecie, przez którą ciągnie się kilkumilionowej długości rzeka, a żaden z jej mieszkańców zupełnie nie ma pojęcia jak to się stało i jakie istoty sprawiły, że dostali "kolejną szansę". Wskrzeszeni ludzie nie zostali jednak wcześniej ocenieni pod kątem ich ziemskich dokonań, dlatego tuż obok siebie wskrzeszani są średniowieczni królowie, neandertalczycy, czarnoskórzy bluesmani, skandynawscy awanturnicy, nazistowscy oficerowie, czy mityczni bohaterowie sumeryjskich utworów literackich. Doprowadza to do niezwykle ciekawych procesów tworzenia się państwowości, religii, czy rozważań na temat etyki i filozofii, a także pochodzenia duszy. Warto wspomnieć, że z biegiem lat większość mieszkańców planety zaczyna porozumiewać się ze sobą za pomocą języka esperanto opracowanego przez polsko-żydowskiego uczonego - Ludwika Zamenhofa.
Przez większość książki uważałem, że jest całkiem dobrze napisana i oparta na bardzo ciekawym uniwersum, ale końcowy dialog wyjaśniający naturę planety i genezę zjawisk, które się wydarzyły, przekonały mnie, że Farmer stworzył nie tylko ciekawe uniwersum, ale także całą skomplikowaną koncepcję filozoficzną na temat "uświadomościowiania" się wszechświata i tego czym tak naprawdę jest dusza i skąd się wzięła, a także tego czy jesteśmy pierwszą i jedyną świadomą istnienia rasą we wszechświecie, czy też prawa fizyczne określane przez nas jako "Bóg" zostały w jakiś sposób wydarte wszechświatowi przez kogoś zupełnie innego.
Bardzo polecam zarówno jako lekką lekturę (chociaż uprzedzam, że stron dotyczących codziennego życia w dolinie rzeki jest wystarczająco dużo do kilku tygodni lub miesięcy czytania), ale również jako intrygującą koncepcję dotyczącą pochodzenia duszy i wartości etycznych.
Philip Jose Farmer stworzył niezwykle ciekawe uniwersum, w którym wszyscy ludzie, którzy kiedykolwiek żyli, zostali jednocześnie wskrzeszeni na planecie, przez którą ciągnie się kilkumilionowej długości rzeka, a żaden z jej mieszkańców zupełnie nie ma pojęcia jak to się stało i jakie istoty sprawiły, że dostali "kolejną szansę". Wskrzeszeni ludzie nie zostali jednak wcześniej ocenieni pod kątem ich ziemskich dokonań, dlatego tuż obok siebie wskrzeszani są średniowieczni królowie, neandertalczycy, czarnoskórzy bluesmani, skandynawscy awanturnicy, nazistowscy oficerowie, czy mityczni bohaterowie sumeryjskich utworów literackich. Doprowadza to do niezwykle ciekawych procesów tworzenia się państwowości, religii, czy rozważań na temat etyki i filozofii, a także pochodzenia duszy. Warto wspomnieć, że z biegiem lat większość mieszkańców planety zaczyna porozumiewać się ze sobą za pomocą języka esperanto opracowanego przez polsko-żydowskiego uczonego - Ludwika Zamenhofa.
Przez większość książki uważałem, że jest całkiem dobrze napisana i oparta na bardzo ciekawym uniwersum, ale końcowy dialog wyjaśniający naturę planety i genezę zjawisk, które się wydarzyły, przekonały mnie, że Farmer stworzył nie tylko ciekawe uniwersum, ale także całą skomplikowaną koncepcję filozoficzną na temat "uświadomościowiania" się wszechświata i tego czym tak naprawdę jest dusza i skąd się wzięła, a także tego czy jesteśmy pierwszą i jedyną świadomą istnienia rasą we wszechświecie, czy też prawa fizyczne określane przez nas jako "Bóg" zostały w jakiś sposób wydarte wszechświatowi przez kogoś zupełnie innego.
Bardzo polecam zarówno jako lekką lekturę (chociaż uprzedzam, że stron dotyczących codziennego życia w dolinie rzeki jest wystarczająco dużo do kilku tygodni lub miesięcy czytania), ale również jako intrygującą koncepcję dotyczącą pochodzenia duszy i wartości etycznych.
November 24, 2018
It was an incredibly long slough, but finally there is a Riverworld book with a reasonably satisfying ending. This book thankfully mostly-satisfactorily wraps up the stories of Sam Clemens and Richard Burton and their quest to the tower. That said, this book and particularly the previous book, The Dark Design, have some serious problems, and really should have been edited down to a much smaller, single volume.
The theme of this series was great but it was structured really badly. Here's my re-structuring of this series in a way that I think would work much better:
I will also note that I think the stuff about wathans was particularly crude philosophizing, and was not handled well. I think it could have been an interesting turn-the-tables move if the god-like world-creators were shown to have this weird, illogical philosophy: "Holy shit the gods have been crazy this whole time", but it was played annoyingly straight, which made the long discussions and dialogues about it pointless. So many missed opportunities in this series.
2.5 of 5 stars
The theme of this series was great but it was structured really badly. Here's my re-structuring of this series in a way that I think would work much better:
I will also note that I think the stuff about wathans was particularly crude philosophizing, and was not handled well. I think it could have been an interesting turn-the-tables move if the god-like world-creators were shown to have this weird, illogical philosophy: "Holy shit the gods have been crazy this whole time", but it was played annoyingly straight, which made the long discussions and dialogues about it pointless. So many missed opportunities in this series.
2.5 of 5 stars
June 3, 2024
Enfin terminé, je n'en pouvais plus.
August 15, 2019
I read the whole of the Riverworld series as a single sequence and this review is a review of the sequence. There are some commendable ideas in this sequence of books. We can almost feel the transhumanists salivating at the core of the story.
Each person who has ever lived has had their human essence (more on that later) digitally encoded. The encoded humans are then downloaded into into a clone like body and then re-energised back to life. In the first volume, they all awake at the same moment and merry Hell ensues. Eventually, we learn two things. First, the technology allows for resurrection. Those who die, including the heroes of the story, come back to life again. Second, the planet on which resurrection takes place consists of a single river valley that criss-crosses the whole planet. So far, so good. Which makes the first volume quite interesting.
In the second volume, a group of explorers decide to construct a boat to travel to the source of the river. The probem is that there are no minerals on the planet. Not to worry, a mysterious guiding hand manages to crash an asteroid into the river valley to rovide the minerals to build a boat. The Fabulous Riverboat of the volume title. At this point we are left wondering who, exactly, is the mysterious guiding hand. The whole thing seems a little too convenient.
The third volume has a focus on the mysterious guiding hand, and wht they are up to. What, exactly, is their motivation? At this point the work descends into a mass of metaphysical nonsense. Glimpses of a good story do shine through on occasion, but there is far too much, in my opinion, of chasing the 'human essence'. The characters here become nothing more than mouthpieces for some nonsense speculations about the nature of the soul.
The fourth vlume continues along this vein, only it is far more obscure. With chapters entitled 'Burton's Soliloquy', we know that the book is largely unreadable. I did make it though to the end, but I also left myself wondering why. The narrative is tedious, badly written, and not much more than a stream of nonsense. I don't remember the book in this way. Perhaps I have just become more jaundiced over the years?
The first two volumes work. The second two don't. I found the whole series to be over-inflated. It could do with a good, hard, edit. The fourth volume might work if it were to be about a fifth of the length. It's unfortunate that this is what you read last because it colours how you remember the series as a whole. Perhaps we ought to read the last volume first and the first volume last? Or, better still, just read the first volume and decide to go no further. I wish that I had.
Each person who has ever lived has had their human essence (more on that later) digitally encoded. The encoded humans are then downloaded into into a clone like body and then re-energised back to life. In the first volume, they all awake at the same moment and merry Hell ensues. Eventually, we learn two things. First, the technology allows for resurrection. Those who die, including the heroes of the story, come back to life again. Second, the planet on which resurrection takes place consists of a single river valley that criss-crosses the whole planet. So far, so good. Which makes the first volume quite interesting.
In the second volume, a group of explorers decide to construct a boat to travel to the source of the river. The probem is that there are no minerals on the planet. Not to worry, a mysterious guiding hand manages to crash an asteroid into the river valley to rovide the minerals to build a boat. The Fabulous Riverboat of the volume title. At this point we are left wondering who, exactly, is the mysterious guiding hand. The whole thing seems a little too convenient.
The third volume has a focus on the mysterious guiding hand, and wht they are up to. What, exactly, is their motivation? At this point the work descends into a mass of metaphysical nonsense. Glimpses of a good story do shine through on occasion, but there is far too much, in my opinion, of chasing the 'human essence'. The characters here become nothing more than mouthpieces for some nonsense speculations about the nature of the soul.
The fourth vlume continues along this vein, only it is far more obscure. With chapters entitled 'Burton's Soliloquy', we know that the book is largely unreadable. I did make it though to the end, but I also left myself wondering why. The narrative is tedious, badly written, and not much more than a stream of nonsense. I don't remember the book in this way. Perhaps I have just become more jaundiced over the years?
The first two volumes work. The second two don't. I found the whole series to be over-inflated. It could do with a good, hard, edit. The fourth volume might work if it were to be about a fifth of the length. It's unfortunate that this is what you read last because it colours how you remember the series as a whole. Perhaps we ought to read the last volume first and the first volume last? Or, better still, just read the first volume and decide to go no further. I wish that I had.
October 26, 2015
This is the fourth (and originally final) book in Philip Jose Farmer's Riverworld series. Picking up the various threads from the first three books, Farmer weaves the stories and characters together and comes to what is meant to be a rousing conclusion. I thought it was just OK.
The book begins with parallel stories that follow King John in his riverboat, the Rex Grandissimus, and Samuel Clemens in his riverboat, the Not for Hire, as they head upriver in an attempt to get to the headwaters, meet the Ethicals and unravel the secrets of Riverworld. Naturally, there is a final confrontation between John and Clemens and much destruction ensues. The survivors of the battle (no spoilers) head upstream and eventually do make it to the Dark Tower, first encountered in the previous volume.
This book is mildly entertaining. Farmer knows how to keep the action moving. There are plenty of plots and subplots and I was gratified that he seemed intent on answering the various questions and problems he laid out in the series so far.
My two complaints are interrelated. First, Farmer once again takes an awfully long time to get to the point. The first 3/4 of the book gets us only as far as a massive battle between the two riverboats and their megalomaniacal captains. I am sure that many find this material very entertaining, as there is plenty of violence and action, but I found it tedious after a time. I cared far more about the mysteries of the Riverworld, most of which are relegated to discussion in the final 100 pages of the book.
My second complaint is that the exploration of the Tower, the encounters with the aliens and the explanations that go with these things, are far too brief. This section is the payoff after many hundreds of pages of storytelling. Do you think we could take just a little bit more time with it? Instead, Farmer seems intent on racing to the conclusion rather than letting us savor the unraveling of all of these mysteries.
The resolution of the various threads and the answers to the questions about the Riverworld posed earlier are actually moderately satisfying, for what it's worth. I just wanted a little less violent foreplay and a little more of the intellectually stimulating climax.
I also know there is a fifth book in the series, written a little later. I am curious to know what Farmer felt he left unresolved. I guess I will find out soon enough.
The book begins with parallel stories that follow King John in his riverboat, the Rex Grandissimus, and Samuel Clemens in his riverboat, the Not for Hire, as they head upriver in an attempt to get to the headwaters, meet the Ethicals and unravel the secrets of Riverworld. Naturally, there is a final confrontation between John and Clemens and much destruction ensues. The survivors of the battle (no spoilers) head upstream and eventually do make it to the Dark Tower, first encountered in the previous volume.
This book is mildly entertaining. Farmer knows how to keep the action moving. There are plenty of plots and subplots and I was gratified that he seemed intent on answering the various questions and problems he laid out in the series so far.
My two complaints are interrelated. First, Farmer once again takes an awfully long time to get to the point. The first 3/4 of the book gets us only as far as a massive battle between the two riverboats and their megalomaniacal captains. I am sure that many find this material very entertaining, as there is plenty of violence and action, but I found it tedious after a time. I cared far more about the mysteries of the Riverworld, most of which are relegated to discussion in the final 100 pages of the book.
My second complaint is that the exploration of the Tower, the encounters with the aliens and the explanations that go with these things, are far too brief. This section is the payoff after many hundreds of pages of storytelling. Do you think we could take just a little bit more time with it? Instead, Farmer seems intent on racing to the conclusion rather than letting us savor the unraveling of all of these mysteries.
The resolution of the various threads and the answers to the questions about the Riverworld posed earlier are actually moderately satisfying, for what it's worth. I just wanted a little less violent foreplay and a little more of the intellectually stimulating climax.
I also know there is a fifth book in the series, written a little later. I am curious to know what Farmer felt he left unresolved. I guess I will find out soon enough.
May 30, 2015
I was a little disappointed in this book. It was not a great end to the story, among other things. I finished the last page and turned the page expecting more. I also found this book to contain more casual sexism and racism than I had noticed in previous books, and it bothered me. None of the female characters are truly significant, nor do they play much of a role beyond being mates for the male character (except at the very very end). I also thought they competition between John Lackland and Samuel Clemens was unnecessary. The whole series could have been at least a book shorter, and it didn't feel necessary. There was lots of tension already with the mystery of the situation and wondering what was going on with the Ethicals and X. Also, as my husband said when I was telling him about this book, you have all the famous people who have ever lived to choose from, and this is the story you choose to tell? There were some interesting metaphysical and philosophical discussions near the end, but it still wasn't great.
March 14, 2017
The conclusion to the Riverworld trilogy (except that there are number of additional short stories that were published later), this tries to wrap everything up and answer the fundamental questions about what the hell Riverworld was all about. Though the author has his reasons for dragging things out to show some more about the central characters -- Richard Francis Burton, Samuel Clemens, and Hermann Goering -- I felt like a lot of the second and third books were redundant. The mystery is solved in a somewhat rushed manner toward the end, and it is a little unsatisfying given all the build up. It sort of feels like the conclusion/explanation was contrived just in time to finish the story. Still, Farmer's characters are mostly excellently realized, and even with my qualms about some of the armchair philosophy and repetition, I was completely immersed in the Riverworld while it lasted.
May 10, 2021
La saga de Farmer había perdido fuelle en su anterior novela, la misma a pesar de un nivel general casi aceptable, perdía gran parte de su desarrollo en un sopor del que resultaba muy difícil salir.
Esta cuarta novela si bien más entretenida, no alcanza nunca el nivel de las dos primeras, y encima no logra su cometido, es decir lograr un final coherente a una trama que al autor se le había ido un poco de las manos, tal vez por eso posteriormente Farmer agregó una nueva novela a las 4 originales.
En definitiva es una saga que a pesar de presentar ciertas ideas interesantes, y de lograr entretener en amplios pasajes de 3 de sus 4 novelas, uno puede pasar tranquilamente sin entrar en ella.
Nota 6/10
Esta cuarta novela si bien más entretenida, no alcanza nunca el nivel de las dos primeras, y encima no logra su cometido, es decir lograr un final coherente a una trama que al autor se le había ido un poco de las manos, tal vez por eso posteriormente Farmer agregó una nueva novela a las 4 originales.
En definitiva es una saga que a pesar de presentar ciertas ideas interesantes, y de lograr entretener en amplios pasajes de 3 de sus 4 novelas, uno puede pasar tranquilamente sin entrar en ella.
Nota 6/10
June 11, 2016
If you're thinking that anybody can write a book, then this series is the series for you. If you're thinking that anybody can write a great book, then this series disproves that theory.
The first book was very good. The next two were a waste of time since they didn't progress the story. This one was overly long and didn't reach what I would call a satisfying conclusion. I won't go into any details other than to say that I found myself skimming page after page. Did I really need an entire chapter on a dogfight between 4 planes that ended with all 4 crashing?
The first book was very good. The next two were a waste of time since they didn't progress the story. This one was overly long and didn't reach what I would call a satisfying conclusion. I won't go into any details other than to say that I found myself skimming page after page. Did I really need an entire chapter on a dogfight between 4 planes that ended with all 4 crashing?
December 18, 2014
I seguiti del Fiume proprio non riescono a piacermi.
Sono talmente abborracciati!
Sono talmente abborracciati!
January 8, 2018
Riverworld series (books 1-5) Review
An “IMO” review, if you’re looking for a description of the Riverworld or plot summary Wikipedia does the trick.
I enjoyed Riverworld (1-4 at least), though its not the kind of series that left me scrambling for the next book. The premise is unique and very interesting, the author does a lot with it. However, as the series progresses the pacing and narrative quality declines with an almost geometric exactness. If the first book is “five stars” the last book is “one star”.
OK, so the series starts out strong and declines over time. As a reader I have zero patience for filler or fluff. That is, expository digressions that have little or nothing to do with advancing the story. If these narrative departures serve to fill out a character that’s one thing, but if I find myself 20 pages into a meandering trip down some nobody's memory lane I start to get frustrated. That’s the primary weakness of the later books in my opinion, and what made the last book “Gods of Riverworld” all but unreadable.
I can overlook impossible technological leaps (of which there are many), nonsensical economics, or improbable motivations because, hey, its science fantasy! But I cannot stand filler! The whole story comes to a standstill for dozens of pages at a time (40+ pages in one case I bothered to count in “Gods”) because a trivial character who does nothing important gets demented-old-lady-on-the-bus levels of exposition. Filler! Fluff! Aimless boring irrelevant drivel! That’s why the last book gets only 1 star, it’s a poor conclusion to a series that started out so strong.
Nearly all the characters with dialog are genuine historical figures. Some of these characters behave true to their historical selves (Burton, Rotten John), some undergo intriguing changes (Herman Goering becomes a pacifists after years of spiritual/moral anguish), and others seem to have a cartoonish quality or just plain retarded (such as Sam Clemens aka Mark Twain).
I’m not familiar with all the historical characters, but I do know a thing or two about Clemens and Burton. Burton was a sort of real-life Indiana Jones, only much much cooler. He’s one of those larger than life people for whom the saying “you cant make this stuff up” seems to have been invented. His character is the backbone of the five-book series, making most of the important discoveries, outwitting or fighting the antagonists etc., which is fitting.
But then we also get Mark Twain/Sam Clemens… Clemens is perhaps the second most important protagonist, and one of the book series’ greatest weaknesses. Clemens is portrayed as a dithering, avaricious, childish man who seems to run his own advanced eponymous nation (Twain-land in Esperanto) on the Riverworld just because the author wanted it to be so. In fact, he is far less interesting or likeable than Rotten John with whom he shares power for a time.
Clemens makes all the wrong moves, alienates all the wrong people, snatches defeat from the jaws of victory so many times I nearly gave up the series because of him. While the author’s prose are seldom elegant, Clemens’ lines and actions make him appear to have brain damage, which is frustrating since the actual historical Clemens was justifiably famous in his own lifetime for wit and human insight. In the books, he is thoroughly unlikable and not in a rascally Southern way either. Eventually he dies for good, to the reader’s indescribable relief…
Riverworld is a passable five book series that could have been made great if heavily abridged into a two or three book series. Don’t bother with the last book “Gods of Riverworld” at all, just don’t…
An “IMO” review, if you’re looking for a description of the Riverworld or plot summary Wikipedia does the trick.
I enjoyed Riverworld (1-4 at least), though its not the kind of series that left me scrambling for the next book. The premise is unique and very interesting, the author does a lot with it. However, as the series progresses the pacing and narrative quality declines with an almost geometric exactness. If the first book is “five stars” the last book is “one star”.
OK, so the series starts out strong and declines over time. As a reader I have zero patience for filler or fluff. That is, expository digressions that have little or nothing to do with advancing the story. If these narrative departures serve to fill out a character that’s one thing, but if I find myself 20 pages into a meandering trip down some nobody's memory lane I start to get frustrated. That’s the primary weakness of the later books in my opinion, and what made the last book “Gods of Riverworld” all but unreadable.
I can overlook impossible technological leaps (of which there are many), nonsensical economics, or improbable motivations because, hey, its science fantasy! But I cannot stand filler! The whole story comes to a standstill for dozens of pages at a time (40+ pages in one case I bothered to count in “Gods”) because a trivial character who does nothing important gets demented-old-lady-on-the-bus levels of exposition. Filler! Fluff! Aimless boring irrelevant drivel! That’s why the last book gets only 1 star, it’s a poor conclusion to a series that started out so strong.
Nearly all the characters with dialog are genuine historical figures. Some of these characters behave true to their historical selves (Burton, Rotten John), some undergo intriguing changes (Herman Goering becomes a pacifists after years of spiritual/moral anguish), and others seem to have a cartoonish quality or just plain retarded (such as Sam Clemens aka Mark Twain).
I’m not familiar with all the historical characters, but I do know a thing or two about Clemens and Burton. Burton was a sort of real-life Indiana Jones, only much much cooler. He’s one of those larger than life people for whom the saying “you cant make this stuff up” seems to have been invented. His character is the backbone of the five-book series, making most of the important discoveries, outwitting or fighting the antagonists etc., which is fitting.
But then we also get Mark Twain/Sam Clemens… Clemens is perhaps the second most important protagonist, and one of the book series’ greatest weaknesses. Clemens is portrayed as a dithering, avaricious, childish man who seems to run his own advanced eponymous nation (Twain-land in Esperanto) on the Riverworld just because the author wanted it to be so. In fact, he is far less interesting or likeable than Rotten John with whom he shares power for a time.
Clemens makes all the wrong moves, alienates all the wrong people, snatches defeat from the jaws of victory so many times I nearly gave up the series because of him. While the author’s prose are seldom elegant, Clemens’ lines and actions make him appear to have brain damage, which is frustrating since the actual historical Clemens was justifiably famous in his own lifetime for wit and human insight. In the books, he is thoroughly unlikable and not in a rascally Southern way either. Eventually he dies for good, to the reader’s indescribable relief…
Riverworld is a passable five book series that could have been made great if heavily abridged into a two or three book series. Don’t bother with the last book “Gods of Riverworld” at all, just don’t…
November 10, 2021
This 1980 sci-fi finale is honestly worse than the miserable third volume, although it picks up slightly for its closing stretch, in which the tower at the headwaters of the river is finally reached and breached. Not that that goal has ever been grounded in any clear motivation to explain why multiple people have spent over a half-century now in seeking it! Most of the novel is again nominally geared around that vague quest, minus a long diversion for the inevitable Samuel Clemens / King John battle, but we also have to sit through interminable passages of stream-of-consciousness philosophical musings and pointless backstories, telling us what every minor character did both back on earth and thus far in the resurrected afterlife. As usual, author Philip José Farmer seems particularly preoccupied by bringing in notable historical personalities rather than creating original protagonists, though they are developed so poorly beyond the simple presentation of biography that it often feels like a kid playing with action figures.
This is a series centered on mysteries, and a number of answers are provided here. But many still are not, and those we get are fairly dull and uninspired given all the build-up beforehand. Furthermore, several proposed resolutions aren't even necessarily the truth, merely idle conjectures with no more evidence than we've had all along, despite how they're received. For an intended conclusion, this book never manages to offer definitive compelling closure on any such open topics.
While I'm nitpicking, I hate all the tossed-off details about the luxury of Sam's riverboat too, like its ten pianos and closed-circuit security cameras, which fly in the face of everything we've heard about this resource-strapped setting and civilization created from scratch. And I loathe that we have yet another redemption story for the Nazi leader Hermann Göring, arguing that his earthly crimes are forgivable and he's worth readers investing in as a reformed soul.
So, am I going to continue on to Gods of Riverworld, the loose sequel to this main quartet? I don't know. I remember it being weaker yet, and based on how the rest of the entries have failed to live up to my childhood recollections, I can't say that I'm in a hurry to be underwhelmed further. On the other hand, my morbid curiosity may just get the better of me.
[Content warning for racism including slurs, ableism including slurs, sexism, fatphobia, incest, and rape.]
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This is a series centered on mysteries, and a number of answers are provided here. But many still are not, and those we get are fairly dull and uninspired given all the build-up beforehand. Furthermore, several proposed resolutions aren't even necessarily the truth, merely idle conjectures with no more evidence than we've had all along, despite how they're received. For an intended conclusion, this book never manages to offer definitive compelling closure on any such open topics.
While I'm nitpicking, I hate all the tossed-off details about the luxury of Sam's riverboat too, like its ten pianos and closed-circuit security cameras, which fly in the face of everything we've heard about this resource-strapped setting and civilization created from scratch. And I loathe that we have yet another redemption story for the Nazi leader Hermann Göring, arguing that his earthly crimes are forgivable and he's worth readers investing in as a reformed soul.
So, am I going to continue on to Gods of Riverworld, the loose sequel to this main quartet? I don't know. I remember it being weaker yet, and based on how the rest of the entries have failed to live up to my childhood recollections, I can't say that I'm in a hurry to be underwhelmed further. On the other hand, my morbid curiosity may just get the better of me.
[Content warning for racism including slurs, ableism including slurs, sexism, fatphobia, incest, and rape.]
Like this review?
--Throw me a quick one-time donation here!
https://ko-fi.com/lesserjoke
--Subscribe here to support my writing and weigh in on what I read next!
https://patreon.com/lesserjoke
--Follow along on Goodreads here!
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/6...
--Or click here to browse through all my previous reviews!
https://lesserjoke.home.blog
March 12, 2026
I own the hardcover, which I purchased back in 1980 for (I think) the full retail price at the time, $11.95. And it has sat, unread, on my bookshelf since then. About time I got to it.
Reader, I mean no disrespect to the late Philip José Farmer, but the word that kept popping into my head while reading this was "interminable". Things go on for many, many pages.
And, not that it matters, but: that's a neat cover picture, but nothing like that shows up in the book.
And, to add to my kvetching, my edition has a back-cover quote from Farmer that states:
Now ends the Riverworld series, all loose ends tied together in a sword-resisting Gordian knot, all the human mysteries revealed, the millions of miles of The River and the many years of quests and The Quest completed.
And then just a few years later, his actual last novel, Gods of Riverworld, was published. I'm sure there was a good reason for that besides squeezing out a few bucks from readers with more money than sense. Like me.
Riverworld is falling apart here. The once-reliable "resurrection" feature that rebooted dead humans into a new life along the River has stopped working: when you're dead, you're dead. And the semi-magical grailstones that provided periodic food, drink, and other consumables to humanity stop working entirely on one bank of the River. Which causes that bank's inhabitants to go to war against the other, resulting in the death of half of Riverworld's billions of souls. (Easy come, easy go.) A lot of these troubles are brought about by "X", a mysterious (and murderous) renegade from the race that created Riverworld, the "Ethicals".
Worse: there are two competing riverboats racing upriver, aimed at finding the "Tower" at the River's source: one helmed by King John, the other by Samuel Clemens. They go to all-out war, too, because why not. This involves an interminable dogfight between each boat's airplanes, closely followed by an interminable battle between the boats themselves, fought out on the river's surface.
Leaving a ragtag group of survivors to proceed to the Tower. Their (also interminable) trek is perilous and deadly, but they still have time to engage in discussions (reminiscent of college dorm rooms) of wathans, a soul-like psychic gadget that acts as a backup device for humans.
Eventually, things wind up, and it turns out to be fortunate that one of the survivors of all the carnage is Alice Liddell, Lewis Carroll's inspiration. Spoiler: She saves the day.
March 19, 2025
At the end of The Fabulous Riverboat, Sam Clemens finally set out in the great iron riverboat Not for Hire to reach the headwaters of the massive river on whose shores humanity has been resurrected. After 33 years on the river, Clemens and his crew--including the giant subhuman Joe Miller--are finally near the end of their journey, and only one obstacle remains: the evil Earthly king, John Lackland. John is waiting just upriver in the Rex Grandissimus, the first riverboat that Sam constructed and the one that John and his crew hijacked, and he's hell-bent on sinking Sam's boat (and vice versa). Complicating the battle is the fact that both ships likely contain agents of the Ethicals, the group of advanced beings who created Riverworld for reasons unknown. One or more of the Ethicals themselves may even be on board, as are various humans that the rebel Ethical, known as the Mysterious Stranger (but known to Clemens simply as X), enlisted in his cause, which may or may not lead to humanity's salvation.
The battle is set to take place along the shores populated by members of the Church of the Second Chance, a group that believes they must attain ethical perfection in order to proceed to the next phase of existence. The Second Chancers are not violent, but their charismatic leader, La Viro, may attempt to sink one or both of the iron ships in order to prevent the battle. Among the Second Chancers is former Nazi officer Hermann Goring, who had a run-in with Sir Richard Francis Burton in the first Riverworld novel, To Your Scattered Bodies Go. Burton and his companions--among them several people who were contacted by the Mysterious Stranger--are reluctantly serving on John's boat in order to reach the headwaters of the river. But will any of the humans working for X survive the coming battle? And if so, how can they possibly hope to penetrate the tower in the North Sea where the Ethicals are thought to reside? And what could lowly humans hope to do against a race so advanced that they can reshape entire planets and resurrect all of humanity? --Craig E. Engler
The battle is set to take place along the shores populated by members of the Church of the Second Chance, a group that believes they must attain ethical perfection in order to proceed to the next phase of existence. The Second Chancers are not violent, but their charismatic leader, La Viro, may attempt to sink one or both of the iron ships in order to prevent the battle. Among the Second Chancers is former Nazi officer Hermann Goring, who had a run-in with Sir Richard Francis Burton in the first Riverworld novel, To Your Scattered Bodies Go. Burton and his companions--among them several people who were contacted by the Mysterious Stranger--are reluctantly serving on John's boat in order to reach the headwaters of the river. But will any of the humans working for X survive the coming battle? And if so, how can they possibly hope to penetrate the tower in the North Sea where the Ethicals are thought to reside? And what could lowly humans hope to do against a race so advanced that they can reshape entire planets and resurrect all of humanity? --Craig E. Engler
December 19, 2024
The philosophy was really, really dull (to the degree that I ended up skimming huge chunks of the final chapters because they seemed entirely pointless: all we need for plot purposes is "magic resurrection machine reincarnates people's vital essence", whatever you plan to call it). The body count was horrifically high, to the degree that just about every named character - and millions of unnamed ones - got killed off with nothing being achieved in the process.
Not having read the previous books in the series didn't mean that I couldn't follow what was going on (cast of protagonists has been recruited by renegade member of the ruling alien race to help him overthrow his counterparts). Unfortunately it did mean that I didn't *care* about what was going on and who was secretly on whose side; the mysterious X seemed a thoroughly unlikeable and untrustworthy character and I had nothing invested in his success, and hence no sense of betrayal when - surprise, surprise - he turned against the rest of the party. And the Ultimate Explanation was entirely underwhelming; possibly if I had spent the previous three books burning to find out what was really behind everything that had happened, I might have been more interested in it.
The action sequences were pretty good, but the fact that so much of it ended up being quite pointlessly destructive left a sour taste in my mouth; literally nothing is achieved by smashing up everyone and everything, other than presumably reducing the cast list back to manageable proportions and getting rid of side-plots that were complicating the life of the author. Looking at other reviews of the book, I get the impression that this was a case of a writer who started off with a 'cool idea' but then struggled to find ways to progress it further.
I was interested enough by the opening pages to keep reading. By the time I got to the end I just wanted to finish it, and the finish really didn't live up to my initial expectations.
Not having read the previous books in the series didn't mean that I couldn't follow what was going on (cast of protagonists has been recruited by renegade member of the ruling alien race to help him overthrow his counterparts). Unfortunately it did mean that I didn't *care* about what was going on and who was secretly on whose side; the mysterious X seemed a thoroughly unlikeable and untrustworthy character and I had nothing invested in his success, and hence no sense of betrayal when - surprise, surprise - he turned against the rest of the party. And the Ultimate Explanation was entirely underwhelming; possibly if I had spent the previous three books burning to find out what was really behind everything that had happened, I might have been more interested in it.
The action sequences were pretty good, but the fact that so much of it ended up being quite pointlessly destructive left a sour taste in my mouth; literally nothing is achieved by smashing up everyone and everything, other than presumably reducing the cast list back to manageable proportions and getting rid of side-plots that were complicating the life of the author. Looking at other reviews of the book, I get the impression that this was a case of a writer who started off with a 'cool idea' but then struggled to find ways to progress it further.
I was interested enough by the opening pages to keep reading. By the time I got to the end I just wanted to finish it, and the finish really didn't live up to my initial expectations.
November 15, 2025
This last book of the major books in Philip Jose Farmer’s Riverworld series was a disappointment for me. The overall format of the series has been a quest, similar to Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” except that instead of orcs, trolls, and elves Farmer’s fantasy is peopled with actual historic figures from different periods, with conflicts arising from the juxtaposition of different periods and personalities (For example, Samuel Clemens starts in search of his late wife Olivia, but finds her as the partner of Cyrano de Bergerac. Imagine.)
The problem is that the object of the quest never hooked me. Samuel Clemens and Richard Burton, the main protagonists, are both determined to find the source of the River which twines around Riverworld, thinking that they will be able to discover the creators of Riverworld and be made privy to their objectives in creating a world populated by every human who has ever lived on Earth. But their curiosity is animated by hostility – they assume the aims of the creators are hostile or at least unempathetic to the problems they have created for the resurrected humans. I couldn’t figure out the reason for this assumption, and thus could not really root for the success of the quest.
A large part of the book is taken up with preparations for a combat between Clemens and his nemesis, King John Lackland of England. A bunch of historical warriors and aviators are introduced as participants in the combat, but this distracts from the quest, making the conclusion of the book seem almost an after thought.
The problem is that the object of the quest never hooked me. Samuel Clemens and Richard Burton, the main protagonists, are both determined to find the source of the River which twines around Riverworld, thinking that they will be able to discover the creators of Riverworld and be made privy to their objectives in creating a world populated by every human who has ever lived on Earth. But their curiosity is animated by hostility – they assume the aims of the creators are hostile or at least unempathetic to the problems they have created for the resurrected humans. I couldn’t figure out the reason for this assumption, and thus could not really root for the success of the quest.
A large part of the book is taken up with preparations for a combat between Clemens and his nemesis, King John Lackland of England. A bunch of historical warriors and aviators are introduced as participants in the combat, but this distracts from the quest, making the conclusion of the book seem almost an after thought.
December 12, 2021
In honor of the 50th anniversary of Farmer's Hugo win for "To Your Scattered Bodies Go" I've been rereading his famous Riverworld series. I suppose this is still his best known work, but perhaps it has been eclipsed by his Wold Newton stuff.
"The Magic Labyrinth" was the original ending of the series (but Farmer returned to write one more, which I've got coming in the mail). The big reveal at the end of the book is satisfying enough, but this is probably the weakest of the four main books in the series. The problem I have is that Farmer doesn't really seem to care about his characters. Some of the characters we've been following for the past three books die between books. Other favorites die between chapters. A whole bunch of favorites we've been following since book one just disappear since their deaths were in a chapter that Farmer cut from the book (you can find it in "Riverworld War," a hodge-podge of Farmer's literary leftovers that had a small print run in the early 1980s).
The book is still decent enough. It moves a lot more quickly than "The Dark Design." The premise is still great. I still want to see a TV adaptation of the series.
I'll pen a few notes about the fifth book in the series next month.
"The Magic Labyrinth" was the original ending of the series (but Farmer returned to write one more, which I've got coming in the mail). The big reveal at the end of the book is satisfying enough, but this is probably the weakest of the four main books in the series. The problem I have is that Farmer doesn't really seem to care about his characters. Some of the characters we've been following for the past three books die between books. Other favorites die between chapters. A whole bunch of favorites we've been following since book one just disappear since their deaths were in a chapter that Farmer cut from the book (you can find it in "Riverworld War," a hodge-podge of Farmer's literary leftovers that had a small print run in the early 1980s).
The book is still decent enough. It moves a lot more quickly than "The Dark Design." The premise is still great. I still want to see a TV adaptation of the series.
I'll pen a few notes about the fifth book in the series next month.
June 15, 2025
I decided to reread the four volume "Riverworld" series by Philip Jose Farmer, forty four years after my first reading. I was disappointed.
This is the fourth volume. It is slow moving and padded with digressions. We get 132 pages, out of 400, of recap of stuff from the first three volumes. We get a three-page potted biograph of Alice Liddell, the model for Alice in Wonderland. We get a five-page, surprisingly understanding, biographical sketch of Herman Goering. We get endless discussions wondering about who the secret agents are. We get a climactic battle between Mark Twain's riverboat and King John's Riverboat that goes on forever, "forever" defined as 90 pages.
The final reveal of who created Riverworld and why was completely unsatisfying. There is a pile of mystical gobbledygook. The rational for the experiment still doesn't make sense and there is no real resolution.
The first volume, "To Your Scattered Bodies Go" sets up a fascinating world. It poses deep questions about reality, morality and the nature of life. The next three volumes do not deliver on it. This volume feels like a writer who has taken on more than he can handle and if trying to just find some way to wrap up this mess.
This is the fourth volume. It is slow moving and padded with digressions. We get 132 pages, out of 400, of recap of stuff from the first three volumes. We get a three-page potted biograph of Alice Liddell, the model for Alice in Wonderland. We get a five-page, surprisingly understanding, biographical sketch of Herman Goering. We get endless discussions wondering about who the secret agents are. We get a climactic battle between Mark Twain's riverboat and King John's Riverboat that goes on forever, "forever" defined as 90 pages.
The final reveal of who created Riverworld and why was completely unsatisfying. There is a pile of mystical gobbledygook. The rational for the experiment still doesn't make sense and there is no real resolution.
The first volume, "To Your Scattered Bodies Go" sets up a fascinating world. It poses deep questions about reality, morality and the nature of life. The next three volumes do not deliver on it. This volume feels like a writer who has taken on more than he can handle and if trying to just find some way to wrap up this mess.
September 16, 2024
Riverworld Book 4
This volume has a lot more going on that the previous two. In addition to resolving most of the outstanding plot lines from the series, it also has many passages of backstory that fill in missing bits from the stories of the previous three books. Or, in some cases, explains what was really going on that might have been slightly different from what the characters thought was going on at the time.
It's hard to get into any particulars from this volume. Nearly anything I say would be a spoiler for the first three volumes. But there's a lot of action, all the groups of characters finally meet up with each other, old enemies have it out, some characters move from one group to another group, some live, some die. The survivors form new groups and some carry on towards the tower. Do they finally reach it? Some of them do. Do they solve the mysteries of Riverworld? Well, you'll get a lot of questions answered but maybe not all. And it ends on a bit of a cliff-hanger that leads directly into volume 5.
Still not as a good as book one but definitely one of the better books of series. Recommended.
This volume has a lot more going on that the previous two. In addition to resolving most of the outstanding plot lines from the series, it also has many passages of backstory that fill in missing bits from the stories of the previous three books. Or, in some cases, explains what was really going on that might have been slightly different from what the characters thought was going on at the time.
It's hard to get into any particulars from this volume. Nearly anything I say would be a spoiler for the first three volumes. But there's a lot of action, all the groups of characters finally meet up with each other, old enemies have it out, some characters move from one group to another group, some live, some die. The survivors form new groups and some carry on towards the tower. Do they finally reach it? Some of them do. Do they solve the mysteries of Riverworld? Well, you'll get a lot of questions answered but maybe not all. And it ends on a bit of a cliff-hanger that leads directly into volume 5.
Still not as a good as book one but definitely one of the better books of series. Recommended.
April 23, 2019
I'm going to stick with this original tetraology and not go on to the 5th book, which I understand was written rather hurriedly and rather unnecessarily. Of these original 4 books, I would rate this as a 3-star series. The difference between the first book, To Your Scattered Bodies Go and this supposed-to-be-final book, proves that sometimes the journey is much more fun than the destination. In spite of the cliffhanger, I would opt that the first book stands alone as an essential science fiction read, just with an ambiguous ending. I just grew weary of the same storylines and characters that I was a fan of through three books. That said, if you go past the first book, you pretty much have to go through this book. Often, I use two stars to rate a book I disliked but didn't hate. In this case, I'm going with Goodreads' definition: "It's was ok".
August 23, 2023
I’ve been putting off reading this for 4 years since I bought this copy in a used book store in Calgary. The Riverworld series starts so well but the sequels were less impressive and this concluding novel had a bad reputation from the few reviews I’d seen.
The biggest problem with this story is it’s so confusing. Most of the novel consists of interleaved stories of boats slowly making their way down an endless river. Characters are in disguise and understanding them relies on remembering the convulsed machinations of the previous three volumes.
All of this leads to an anti-climactic naval battle (on a river) and if you’re not interested in detailed descriptions of nautical hardware under stress, you might not get much from it.
The actual conclusion redeems the novel and series to some extent with a reasonable explanation for the whole saga and some slightly interesting philosophical questions. But I wasn’t wowed. A generous 3/5.
The biggest problem with this story is it’s so confusing. Most of the novel consists of interleaved stories of boats slowly making their way down an endless river. Characters are in disguise and understanding them relies on remembering the convulsed machinations of the previous three volumes.
All of this leads to an anti-climactic naval battle (on a river) and if you’re not interested in detailed descriptions of nautical hardware under stress, you might not get much from it.
The actual conclusion redeems the novel and series to some extent with a reasonable explanation for the whole saga and some slightly interesting philosophical questions. But I wasn’t wowed. A generous 3/5.
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