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To Your Scattered Bodies Go

(Riverworld #1)

Philip José Farmer

3.95 · Rating details · 29,440 ratings · 878 reviews

To Your Scattered Bodies Go is the Hugo Award-winning beginning to the story of Riverworld, Philip José Farmer's unequaled tale about life after death. When famous adventurer Sir Richard Francis Burton dies, the last thing he expects to do is awaken naked on a foreign planet along the shores of a seemingly endless river. But that's where Burton and billions of other humans ...more

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Paperback, 220 pages

Published June 30th 1998 by Del Rey (first published 1971)

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Nov 28, 2013 Lyn rated it really liked it

To Your Scattered Bodies Go was author Philip Jose Farmer’s 1971 novel that went on the win the 1972 Hugo Award for Best Novel.

About as inventive as a great science fiction novel from a very good writer can be, this describes a world where everyone who ever lived is reincarnated into a river valley environment. Filled with philosophical and theological metaphor, this is an excellent vehicle for the author to explore various subjects revolving around sociology, human nature and group dynamics.

A ...more

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Apr 04, 2013 Bradley rated it really liked it

Shelves: sci-fi, 2016-shelf

It's 1972 and the Hugos just named this one best novel, and why?

Because it's actually 2016 and this novel has just been optioned by both HBO AND Showtime for an ongoing series noted mostly for it's all nude cast, all the time, celebrities and historical personages all coming back to their most perfect forms, and, of course, senseless war and violence. (When they're not expounding on philosophy, of course, because philosophy and religion always leads to a cave-man's club and a bunch of grabbing o It's 1972 and the Hugos just named this one best novel, and why?

Because it's actually 2016 and this novel has just been optioned by both HBO AND Showtime for an ongoing series noted mostly for it's all nude cast, all the time, celebrities and historical personages all coming back to their most perfect forms, and, of course, senseless war and violence. (When they're not expounding on philosophy, of course, because philosophy and religion always leads to a cave-man's club and a bunch of grabbing of blond hair.)

Don't get me wrong. I'm actually having a great time with this book. I can ignore the constant nudity, because, after all, the main characters are Sir Richard Francis Burton and Hermann Goering. What I'm most fascinated by is the deeper questions.

Like Why? Come on, SF, you know you want to ask it. Why are we having the tale of the bodily resurrection in an ostensibly heaven-like world complete with Holy Grails for every single person who had ever lived? And why does chewing gum bring out the very worst in us all? And why do we always, always, always have to degenerate to our very worst selves whenever the outcome just doesn't matter? Huh? Why?

Tune in for the next novel! Maybe? I don't know! This is my first Farmer, and it's definitely not going to be my last. I'm getting great vibes off of this. It's too graphic for Netflix, but I think it has practically unlimited possible milage for HBO and Showtime. We can do ANYTHING! Murders don't even count. That eviscerated person will just pop up somewhere else along the nearly infinite world of rivers among yet another random population of... ANYONE WHO EVER LIVED.

Okay... why aren't All the Authors Who Ever Lived turning this idea into a franchise and filling all our bookshelves with better versions of what I just read? The potential is glorious. I loved the conversations between all these famous people. They have the most respectful and interesting ways of saying WTF. :)

Beyond just a couple of dumb blond preferences, I think this novel has held up extraordinarily well over the years. I think it could gain a whole new audience in today's readership, especially in the realm of slash fiction, fan fiction, and whatever it is that Stephanie Meyer and E.L. James does.

...more

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Apr 12, 2018 David Putnam rated it it was amazing

This is a wonderful book, so creative and evocative. I have favorite books in every genre. In fantasy my fave is The Wind Up Girl,(a fantastic book), To Your Scattered Bodies Go is up there in the top five of fantasy. This is a book about resurrection and the premise is a little out there. When a person dies the wake up on a 4 million mile long river with a grail around their necks. The point of view character is Richard Burton, the explorer not the actor. Everyday the people on the river puts t ...more

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Mar 21, 2013 Zoe's Human rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: dnf

I can't even continue with this book. The premise is moderately interesting, but the sexism is just too much. Prudes and whores and nags and every fucking stereotype of woman you can think of, but god forbid there be a woman who serves any purpose other than sex object or victim. Yet another "genius" who can imagine a world without religion or oppressive sexual mores, but can't imagine competent women with purpose and agency outside of a man.

DNFed at page 78. ...more

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Dec 20, 2008 Manny rated it liked it

Shelves: science-fiction, too-sexy-for-maiden-aunts

A very Kilgore Troutish book. Farmer comes up with a phenomenal idea: a world where every human being who's ever lived has been resurrected, to spend the rest of eternity coming to terms with each other along the banks of a gigantic river. Unfortunately, after a few chapters it becomes clear that the author has no real plan about where to go with his concept. I remember some reviewer expressing similar disappointment with "The Matrix". It starts with a metaphysical revelation, and ends with a sh ...more

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Apr 01, 2010 TK421 rated it it was amazing

Shelves: sci-fi

Let’s say you died in 2005. You wake up on a beach (I am simplifying here for those of that have not read this—the book does not start off on a beach), next to a river that is endless. You have no recollection of this place. You know this can't be possible because next to you are a man dressed in 16th century attire and a bit further down from him is what looks like a Neanderthal. But, hey, you're in a Philip Jose Farmer novel, so anything's possible.

I love the concept that when we die (regardl ...more

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Sep 25, 2008 J.G. Keely rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: novel, science-fiction, reviewed, america

For me, the appeal of Speculative Fiction is the breadth and depth of its scope. An author is free to explore the most difficult questions and imagine worlds vastly different from anything we have ever experienced. Though all literature is concerned with what it means to be human, few outside of Sci Fi go to such lengths to ask what it means to be capable of thought and self-knowledge

However, there is a drawback. Often, authors succumb to the temptation to create a world so new, so different, so ...more

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Jun 05, 2012 lark benobi rated it did not like it

Shelves: amazingly-1-star-reads, male-identified-authors

I was really put off by its misogyny, its bullheaded masculinity, its eurocentrism. Like much science fiction, it simply can't escape the stale assumptions of its time. These problems do make the book an interesting read on another level. At least I can see how far we've come. But I also wish someone would write an alternative vision, a book that would have the same kind of wonderful, playful, pan-historical mish-mosh of characters, but that would not have the same unpleasant philosophical limit ...more

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May 03, 2015 Bettie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: re-visit-2015, sci-fi, spring-2015, recreational-drugs, character-growth, published-1971, casual-violence, paper-read, nowt-as-queer-as-folk, anthropology

Revisit 2015 is via audio file 07:42:33

Description: To Your Scattered Bodies Go is the Hugo Award-winning beginning to the story of Riverworld, Philip José Farmer's unequaled tale about life after death. When famous adventurer Sir Richard Francis Burton dies, the last thing he expects to do is awaken naked on a foreign planet along the shores of a seemingly endless river. But that's where Burton and billions of other humans (plus a few nonhumans) find themselves as the epic Riverworld saga begin ...more

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Dec 29, 2010 Kat Hooper rated it really liked it

Shelves: audiobook

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.

After he died, the famous 19th century explorer Sir Richard Francis Burton wasn’t surprised to find that what the Christian priests had taught about the Resurrection wasn’t true. But he was totally bewildered by what actually happened. He woke up young, hairless, naked, and turning in midair (as if on a spit) in the middle of 37 billion other young, hairless, naked and rotating humans. Soon after waking, the bodies — all the people over the age of five who ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.

After he died, the famous 19th century explorer Sir Richard Francis Burton wasn’t surprised to find that what the Christian priests had taught about the Resurrection wasn’t true. But he was totally bewildered by what actually happened. He woke up young, hairless, naked, and turning in midair (as if on a spit) in the middle of 37 billion other young, hairless, naked and rotating humans. Soon after waking, the bodies — all the people over the age of five who had ever lived — plunged to the ground and began their new lives together in a giant river valley... Is this Heaven, Hell, Purgatory, or is it some huge social experiment being run by aliens?

Most of the humans, happy that their basic needs are being met, are content to just be living again. Some people see this as an opportunity to seize the power and wealth that they had, or never obtained, on Earth. But Sir Richard just wants to know what’s going on. He seems to be the only person who got a glimpse behind the scenes of their new home and, not only does he resent being manipulated, but his curiosity is insatiable. So, he and a few companions set out to explore the Riverworld and, they hope, to discover the source of the river and find some answers.

Richard Francis Burton, a fascinating and scandalous man in real life, is the perfect character to explore the Riverworld. Philip Jose Farmer’s depiction of Burton, and several other real historical figures, is superb, though occasionally teachy when Farmer periodically interjects an encyclopedic-sounding aside about a character’s life (this minor bit of clumsiness is the reason for my 4.5 instead of 5-star rating). I won’t tell you who else shows up in the Riverworld, because I’d spoil the fun, but I’ll say that it’s hilarious to watch Burton learn about 20th-century history and interact with some of its denizens.

The best aspect of To Your Scattered Bodies Go is its original premise — the idea of all of humanity spread out, generally in chronological order, along a giant river which can be traveled, like a human timeline. There is some “scattering” of bodies (hence the title) so that a 21st century American could end up in a tribe of Neanderthals. If someone dies in the Riverworld, they are resurrected at random somewhere along the river.

To Your Scattered Bodies Go, written in 1971, is creative, exciting, fast-paced, and totally absorbing. I was completely enthralled from the first page to the last. I listened to Recorded Books’ version read by Paul Hecht and I had a hard time removing my earbuds for long enough to pay attention to my real-life duties. By the end of the story Burton has managed to get a few answers, but there are so many questions left and I can’t wait to learn more about Riverworld. Therefore, I’m already reading the next installment: The Fabulous Riverboat. ...more

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Apr 11, 2019 Jim rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 3series, scifi, 1audio, 2fiction

I read this many years ago, but never wanted to read any more in the series. As time went by, I forgot why, so I thought I'd reread it & see. The description makes this sound really neat & it is, but it's also disappointing. It's certainly open ended enough that I should want to continue, but I don't - again.

It starts off with a great idea. Everyone is reborn into their body at their prime. They have plenty of food, no disease or insects, & a great climate with abundant natural materials save me ...more

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Sep 28, 2013 Althea Ann rated it did not like it

Usually, the Hugo Awards are a good recommendation for entertaining literature.
Not in this case. I really don't understand how this book could have been given an award of any kind. Were there NO other sf novels published in 1971?
Farmer uses historical figures as his characters as an excuse to not bother writing any characterization of any kind. Every character in the novel is completely two-dimensional. It's pretty hard to make such an interesting and multi-dimensional character as the historica Usually, the Hugo Awards are a good recommendation for entertaining literature.
Not in this case. I really don't understand how this book could have been given an award of any kind. Were there NO other sf novels published in 1971?
Farmer uses historical figures as his characters as an excuse to not bother writing any characterization of any kind. Every character in the novel is completely two-dimensional. It's pretty hard to make such an interesting and multi-dimensional character as the historical Richard Burton dull and flat - but Farmer manages it.
Moreover, the book is offensively, insidiously sexist. By which I don't mean that, in the grand tradition of adventure stories, that lusty buxom babes abound! (if only!) Rather, I mean that not one female character in the book displays any initiative, independence, or intelligence. Men regard them as property, and women's only instinct seems to be to find a male "protector." The stereotypes of women as "prude," "nag," or "whore" are found in abundance. Women are only an accessory to a man, to be admired physically, used sexually, and then tired of.
Here's one direct quote: "She was the product of her society - like all women, she was what men had made her."
One cannot excuse this attitude in writing as being a product of its time - check out what Ursula LeGuin was publishing in the late 60's and early 70's!
Sexist stereotypes are not the only ones found... they're practically incidental to the ethnic and cultural stereotypes! In a world supposedly populated with people of all cultures, time periods, and places, everything seems to run in a remarkably Eurocentric manner. To regard cigars as a universal luxury item is particularly bemusing.
Still, all this would be excusable, if only the story was fun, exciting and interesting. Not so. For such a short (222p.) novel, the plot was inexcusably meandering and dull. I fell asleep on it last night, and finished it this afternoon out of some sort of sense of obligation.

I think I'll be sending the copy of World of Tiers on my to-read shelf straight to the recycle bin. ...more

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Nov 03, 2011 Maggie K rated it liked it

Shelves: wwe-grandmaster-challenge, sci-fi-masterworks

The one sentence version: Great idea, bad execution....

I LOVE the idea of a world where everyone who ever existed is suddenly reesurrected and given a second chance...if that is what's really happening...

However, it seems like it never gets too developed from an idea into a story, and using real-life people as characters...well, it can be sometimes disconcerting. When the main character Richard Burton goes after Alice Hargreaves (Alice in Wonderland) it seems more like a peek at the author's own ...more

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Mar 19, 2019 Rose rated it liked it

Shelves: science-fiction

I loved the concept behind this book more than the story itself. It was good but it could have been much better. The idea of millions of people, spanning the globe and human history, waking beside each other was fantastic. Then to learn that they were deliberately brought together was even more fascinating. But then there was the story itself.

Told from the POV of Sir Richard Burton, the dialogue felt unauthentic but still dated. There were some other interesting characters but there wasn’t near ...more

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Mar 21, 2017 Shawn Deal rated it really liked it

Shelves: sci-fi

There is really a lot to love in this book. First--the inventive idea of coming back to life on a foreign planet with everyone else who has ever lived. Second--now all the characters must live with each other and other hsitorical figures, how does one get along with so many different people displaced from time. Third--just survival on a foreign planet. There is a lot to wrap your mind around in this book, especially when it comes to social interaction with various kinds of people and characters. ...more

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Nov 24, 2019 Malum rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction

Anybody remember that Milton Bradley game Heroscape, where people from all times, places, and universes (Samurai, Vikings, WWII soldiers, monsters, etc.) were thrown together and made to fight each other? Philip Jose Farmer's To Your Scattered Bodies Go is what it would have been like had Heroscape went the Star Wars and Dungeons & Dragons route and had licensed official fiction.

In this novel, primitives, Nazis, aliens, monsters, the mysterious overlords of the Riverworld, and others from all t ...more

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Oct 25, 2008 Stephen rated it really liked it

Shelves: award-winner-hugo, easton-press, award-nominee-hugo, multiple-award-nominee, award-nominee-locus, sf-alien-planets-and-societies, sf-adventures-investigations-and-mi

4.0 stars. Excellent novel by one of the under-rated masters of science ficiton. Great, original concept and a well-written plot. Recommended.

Winner: Hugo Award for Best Science Fiction Novel (1972)
Nominee: Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel (1972)

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Oct 14, 2020 Katie rated it did not like it

Shelves: dnf

Dnf 40% - funny how even in the after life this is just about men trying to hook up with or rape women.

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Mar 30, 2010 Amy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: made-into-a-movie, speculative-fiction, life-after-death, fantasy, 2010-books-read

Imagine that you wake up and the last thing that you remember is dying. You're lying on a riverbank surrounded by strangers who are naked and hairless just as you are. As you explore your surroundings, you find that you are no longer on Earth and the people around you are all the people from the beginning of time who have lived and died on Earth. Furthermore, there are no animals or insects, but there are plenty of fish in a river that seems never never to end. Meals and wants like cigarettes, a Imagine that you wake up and the last thing that you remember is dying. You're lying on a riverbank surrounded by strangers who are naked and hairless just as you are. As you explore your surroundings, you find that you are no longer on Earth and the people around you are all the people from the beginning of time who have lived and died on Earth. Furthermore, there are no animals or insects, but there are plenty of fish in a river that seems never never to end. Meals and wants like cigarettes, alcohol, and clothing are provided daily from unseen benefactors.

The main character of the story is Richard Francis Burton, a famous British explorer from the last half of the 1800s. He's the perfect character to follow around in such a world because of his wide acquaintance with various cultures and ability to speak 29 different languages. Joining him (wanted or unwanted) are characters such as a caveman, an alien (responsible for the destruction of most of the human race in 21st century), the real life Alice who was the inspiration for the fictional Alice in Wonderland, Nazi leader Hermann Göring, and a well-read American.

When my husband mentioned the premise of this series to me, I knew I had to read it. He also said that it's going to be a 4-hour movie event on the SyFy channel. Unfortunately, Richard Burton isn't going to be the main character because they were worried that Americans would think of the wrong Richard Burton -- the one that was an actor and Elizabeth Taylor's husband. Are we really so dumb that we couldn't differentiate between a little-known actor and a well-known explorer? Some other things that I bet won't make it into the series are people waking up naked and hairless, marijuana and hallucinates, lots of suicides, lots of love and war, and people's questioning of their religion since the afterlife is different than they were told. Oh, what am I talking about? I'm sure they'll show war. That at least is socially acceptable on television. *rolls eyes*

I'm giving this 5 stars because I actually want to read the next book in the series when I'm usually not a reader of book series. The next book in the series The Fabulous Riverboat features Mark Twain as the main character rather than Richard Burton. While the first book gives a small idea of who created Riverworld and why everyone is there, it still leaves enough questions unanswered that I'm curious about. For one thing, there's the end/beginning of the river and a fabled Tower to reach. As for the television series, I'm not nearly as optimistic about it. I'm sure Philip José Farmer would roll over in his grave to see the changes they'll surely make. ...more

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Feb 12, 2008 Nancy Oakes rated it really liked it

Shelves: sci-fi-fantasy

First, a word of warning: do NOT expect to know the answers to the questions you're going to have by the end of this book. They aren't there. So if you read this book, get to the end of it and say "this stinks! There's no resolution! I hate this book," don't say I didn't warn you! The book isn't about finding the answers...it's the journey that counts. And if by the end of the book you don't have any questions, you need to go back and read it again because your curiousity should be absolutely on First, a word of warning: do NOT expect to know the answers to the questions you're going to have by the end of this book. They aren't there. So if you read this book, get to the end of it and say "this stinks! There's no resolution! I hate this book," don't say I didn't warn you! The book isn't about finding the answers...it's the journey that counts. And if by the end of the book you don't have any questions, you need to go back and read it again because your curiousity should be absolutely on fire!

Second, if you are a hardcore Christian, this book just might bother you enough because of the subjects it deals with. Remember: it's Fiction!

This novel is the first of the Riverworld Series, in which the reader is introduced to the Riverworld, so called because its main feature is a continuous river that doesn't seem to end. The main character is a real character, here in his fictional garb, the explorer Sir Richard Burton. One moment, he's laying in the arms of his wife, dying; the next moment, he's floating among countless numbers of sleeping people, the only one awake until he sees a canoe with strange markings floating toward him, carrying humans in it, who put him back to sleep. Shortly thereafter, he wakes up, buck naked, his mustache (his pride and joy) gone, along with all of his hair in fact, with only a cylinder attached to him. As he awakens, he realizes there are others there as well, all in the same condition. Eventually he comes to realize that they have all at some point, died, either before him or after him. All told, every single human being that ever lived on the Earth at any moment in its history are there in the Riverworld, resurrected, it seems. At first the main problems are seeking shelter and safety; afterwards, Burton is not content to simply accept his fate, but the explorer in him wants to get a boat onto the river and follow it wherever it leads and to see what lies beyond. What he finds is not pretty: it seems that people are just repeating their old bad human-nature habits. His real quest, however, is to find the who, the how and the why behind this massive resurrection.

I guess what amazed me about this book was the idea that humans are humans no matter what the situation, time, place, whatever. And while I didn't always like Burton's character, the author did an amazing job with the creation of this guy. I cannot wait to read the rest of the books in the series, although I've heard that none of them can top this one. I have to say that this is probably true, considering how well done this book was.

I would recommend it to sci-fi readers who aren't in to all the techno aspects of sf; this is more like a fantasy type thing. Also, if you are a reader interested in the questions of the soul as spirit or physical entity, you might also be interested.

read: October 2005 ...more

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Jun 12, 2009 ♥ Marlene♥ rated it it was amazing

Recommended to ♥ Marlene♥ by: My father

Shelves: sf-fantasy, series

Wow. Just finished reading this first book and it is so fascinating. My dad told me the first 3 books are great but the last 2 are not.

I think I am going to start reading book 2 now.
Finished this book just now. June 21 2009

"Really enjoying it. So curious what is going to happen next and I love that P.J. Farmer used real people like Richard Francis Burton."

06/19/2009 "I've read this book about 25 years ago Yes I am old. ;)

and I think I never finished it cause I lost the 2 books. I always wante ...more

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Apr 14, 2009 Gregory rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-before-1990, fiction-scifi, favorites

The first PJF novel I ever read. His short stories from sci-fi magazines had impressed me but this novel went way beyond that. This novel has one of the most memorable opening sequences in all of sci-fi literature. Even 20+ years since I read this novel, I can still recall the fascinating opening of it with the suspended bodies and our protagonist coming awake. The mix of sci-fi and religion is always fascinating to me but in the hands of PJF, it was doubly fascinating.

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Mar 07, 2010 Ian rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Sir Richard Francis Burton is a Dick.

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Feb 18, 2019 Jocelyn rated it liked it

Shelves: sci-five, hugo-award-winners, 2019-reading-challenge-sci-fi

This one had been toward the top of my TBR pile for several years. The premise was intriguing and all the awards it won made me think I was going to be reading a thought provoking yarn once I finally picked it up. Well, it certainly did end up provoking quite a few thoughts, not all of them good.

The world building was phenomenal and there was a twist or two that surprised me. I also really liked that we had people spanning the entirety of human history and evolution suddenly being pushed togeth This one had been toward the top of my TBR pile for several years. The premise was intriguing and all the awards it won made me think I was going to be reading a thought provoking yarn once I finally picked it up. Well, it certainly did end up provoking quite a few thoughts, not all of them good.

The world building was phenomenal and there was a twist or two that surprised me. I also really liked that we had people spanning the entirety of human history and evolution suddenly being pushed together in such a staggering way. No matter when or how they all died, they ended up in the same place at the same time in the afterlife. This was something I thought would be an incredible plot point, the different eras of humans coming together in such a mystifying way. As an archaeologist, this would be a dream come true (minus the me being dead part).

Unfortunately our main character, British adventurer Richard Francis Burton, squandered this opportunity. He even had a Neanderthal in his group (a Neanderthal!) named Kazzintuitruaabemss and all he could do was denigrate Kazz- who in my opinion was far more human than Dick. When Richard wasn’t sizing up the body of every woman he saw, he was constantly extolling colonial Britain values, looking down on anyone and anything that wasn’t white, British, or male.

I get this book was written decades ago and to be fair, Richard Burton was probably exactly like a real life counterpart would be, but it doesn’t mean it was fun to read anything from his point of view. It was a chauvinistic, xenophobic nightmare being inside his head.

I’m definitely glad I read this book but I am really disappointed that it didn’t turn out to be anything like I had hoped. The latter half was much stronger than the first, especially the inexplicable run-ins with Hermann Goring. The more we moved away from Richard Burton waxing philosophical and more toward finding out the meaning of this strange afterlife planet and the people on it, the better the book became.

Despite the issues I have with To Your Scattered Bodies Go, I do plan to read the next instalment in the series with the hope that it has more of the good aspects in it and less of the bad. ...more

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Sep 13, 2017 Dario rated it did not like it

Shelves: science-fiction, one-star

I had high expectations from this novel, perhaps too high, because now I am disappointed.

The writing style is inconsistent, ranging from fairly straightforward descriptions of the character's thoughts and feelings to incoherent narration about Riverworld (where the novel is set) and the events that involve the various characters. The second half of the novel is awful, almost unreadable, as it required more effort than necessary to get through some sections.

I hated Burton, the main character. I k ...more

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Apr 03, 2019 David B rated it really liked it

Explorer Richard Burton, along with every other human who has ever lived, is resurrected on the shores of an impossibly long river on an alien planet. His premature awakening among countless bodies connected to some type of machinery prompts him to go in search of the river's source and purpose.

The criticisms leveled by other reviewers on this page are well-taken. It is not as enlightened as it could be with regard to women and other cultures, and the prose, though serviceable, is not of literar ...more

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Jan 20, 2019 Sydney rated it did not like it

admittedly, I hate sci-fi, so at best this might have gotten a three from me-- but wow, this book did not age well.

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Nov 01, 2011 Mike Moore rated it it was ok

Here's the premise: all of mankind is reborn, all at once, on a planet custom made for the purpose. If you think about this for a few minutes, you'll probably come up with all sorts of possibilities: anthropological exploration, meeting famous historical figures, fights with savages from various time periods. Give it a few minutes more and you'll probably start thinking about your personal interactions: folks you might want to settle a score with, or even people long dead who you'd like to take Here's the premise: all of mankind is reborn, all at once, on a planet custom made for the purpose. If you think about this for a few minutes, you'll probably come up with all sorts of possibilities: anthropological exploration, meeting famous historical figures, fights with savages from various time periods. Give it a few minutes more and you'll probably start thinking about your personal interactions: folks you might want to settle a score with, or even people long dead who you'd like to take to task for some reason or another. Stop right there, and you know everything there is to know about this book.

Of course, there are particulars. The main character (19th century explorer and ethnologist Richard Francis Burton) is a personal hero of Farmer's. A lot of the book is the two of them talking about Burton's life and character. There are several action sequences and some (slightly weird) love connections. There's also an over-arching plot about the creators of this experiment, but it was frankly incoherent. Farmer has a strange and (I think) not-entirely-intentional contradiction in his construction of themes, in that he has brashly declared his setting to be purely rational (no divine powers please), yet infused the execution with theological concerns. Most notable among these is Manichaeism, which rears its head about two thirds through the book and effectively subverts the possibility of viewing the novel as anything other than a theological thought-experiment.

I have no problem with thought experiments, far less when they're theological or philosophical in nature. My complaints about the novel are not the issues it raises, but what it fails to consider. I hope a guided thought experiment will explore ideas in, if not an unexpected way, at least a way that is consistent and fruitful. Farmer doesn't lack for conclusions, actually he's pretty moralistic. But his morals are delivered anecdotally, with no connection to the thought experiment. He'll have someone from 2008 (his distant future) declare "of course, the only people in our enlightened times who still held to the nudity taboo were hopeless neurotics", or have all the admirable characters from a half dozen eras agree in a blase fashion to some principle. The actual thought experiment of people from different eras cohabiting goes nowhere. If anything it regresses, as inexplicable behaviors (everyone has enough food, all their needs are provided for, there's no such thing as luxury, so why is greed still so prevalent?) are accepted without a second thought and even the ramifications of his own explicit parameters are ignored (shouldn't they all be waist deep in corpses by the end of the first week? If they're constantly forced into other cultures, why do the ethnic barriers remain so rigid? What happens to all those children?)

But the novel lurches along well enough until Farmer starts trying to explain the motivations of the creators. The final chapters are so nonsensical that I can only assume that he had gotten to the point of throwing ideas onto the page and seeing what would stick. Every explanation makes less sense than the one before, and I was left with the distinct impression that the author was hoping one of the characters would tell him what was happening in his own story. ...more

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Mar 07, 2017 Bria rated it it was ok

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Mayyybe 2.5

Some real character building here - there's Burton, who, realistically, is almost the only person out of 36 billion intent on figuring out how the world works. There's Alice, who is a bit of a stickler for Victorian morals but has a great figure. Frigate, who wikipedia claims is a stand-in for the author. Wilfrida, who has a great figure. Herman Goering, who eventually works his way toward salvation. Luga, who would be pretty if only her lips were better, but has a great figure. The s ...more

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Feb 15, 2010 Meg Powers rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction, pastoral-dystopia

I don't know if this book actually deserves a four star rating, but it has been haunting the back of my mind since senior year of high school, when I had to read it for my "Literature of Science" class. Haunting me not because it is an amazing piece of literature (I recall it being awkwardly written ) but because it is so WEIRD. It's weird in that way that certain low budget movies you catch on t.v. late at night are weird. The progression of events and the unfolding of the story is weird. The c ...more

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About Philip José Farmer

Philip José Farmer

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Philip 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 th ...more