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“The Fabulous Riverboat (1971) 256 pages by Philip Jose Farmer.
John L wrote this review 3 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
This is like chapter two in Riverworld. It's in the same setting as To Your Scattered Bodies Go, but it follows a second set of characters and doesn't come to a conclusion. No it ends like it was chapter two.
The premise of riverworld is that some alien species has taken every human being who ever died on Earth and resurected them on the planet of riverworld. Each person woke up naked and with a bucket. The planet consists of one endless river, with the terrain being pretty much the same on both sides of the river. A valley about 10 miles wide, ending at unscalable mountain cliff, and the river in the middle. Along the river every mile is a grailstone. People put their buckets or grails, on the grailstone at regular intervals of the day (like breakfast, lunch and dinner), and the grails will then be filled with food, liquor, tobacco, dreamgum, a towel, etc.
Each little area is stocked with 60% of it's population from one time & place, 30% from another and 10% random. When a person is killed in riverworld they are resurrected the next day somewhere else on the river.
Since the world contains everyone who has ever lived, Farmer is having some fun by making many of his characters actual historical figures. The first book follows Sir Richard Francis Burton, in real life an English explorer, translator, writer, soldier, orientalist, ethnologist, linguist, poet, hypnotist, fencer and diplomat. So he gets the people in his land to build a boat an he explores the river. Of course as he's traveling other lands are making technological improvements, and his boat eventually gets captured or sunk.
Riverboat picks up with Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) traveling on a boat with Bloodaxe and a bunch of eleveth century norsemen. With Sam is his riverworld friend Joe Miller. OK, somehow Farmer came up with the idea that in the very distant past there was a race of humans that was gorilla size or bigger. Joe is of that race, has a huge nose and talks with a lithp, er lisp.
Sam has an ambition of building a riverboat, but there is no or very little metal on this planet. As they are travelling a meterorite hits the planet just miles from where they are. The rest of the book is taken up with there struggles to build Sam's dream boat. The struggles being claiming the land where the meteorite hit, finding people to mine for the ore, then refine it. It isn't very long before the neighboring states are inhabited.
To Your Scattered Bodies Go wasn't that much better of a book, it won the Hugo, but it was. That book introduced riverworld and different cultures that develop all the river, such as grail slavery -- keeping someone just alive enought so that they can use that person's grail. It was original. The first couple of chapters when they first wake up on riverworld, that can't be replicated.
It is good enough that I had to go find book three, The Dark Design, off my shelf and start reading it. ”
“A brilliant concept, brilliantly executed. A science fiction/fantasy novel that plays with the greatest people from our entire history in an amazing landscape. Farmer has produced a must read novel for serious fans of this genre. Don't hesitate, try it now. If you are not a habitual sci/fi fantasy reader, you could hardly ask for a better introduction.”
Ian Bennett wrote this review 3 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“great story, the characters are very interesting”
Turiboy wrote this review Sunday, November 8 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“One of the funnest reads in sci-fi. Not for young-uns though. Mature content.”
David P wrote this review Sunday, September 27 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“What if everyone who ever died was resurrected together? That's the premise of the Riverworld novels, of which this is the first and best. But there's a good deal of doubt as to whether this is a resurrection in fact, or some sort of alien conspiracy. The main character in this first book is Richard Francis Burton, who explored the sources of the Nile and translated the Arabian Nights into English. A fascinating series, but tended to turn into a soap opera in the later books.”
Norman H wrote this review Monday, August 10 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“It has been so long since I read this book. My father gave me his Dutch copy , the first 2 books of the Riverboat Series and I managed to lose the books.
MarleneNL wrote this review Sunday, June 21 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Thankfully he still owned the English books and last night he gave all of them to me.
I am definitely going to re-read cause I remember it really impressed me even though i am not a big SF reader.
Update June 21 2009.
Finished the book for the second time, this morning. I always knew i wanted to re-read this book and also complete the whole series. Reading this in English and me being much older did not change my view on the book. Okay It could have been even better cause I would have loved to read more of the beginning of the resurrection but all in all it was fascinating.again.”
“This book is 30 or 40 or so years old (this edition is just newer) and fans of The Matrix will recognize some key points in the beginning of the book. Clearly the Wachowski bros are fans of this story.”
loudlife wrote this review Thursday, September 18 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“First of Farmer's superb Riverworld series.”
MÍcheál Ó Foghlú wrote this review Sunday, November 4 2007. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“The whole Riverworld series was brilliant. This was the third 'series' I read (the first being Dragonlance, the second being Farmer's World of Tiers series). And it was definitely not a disappointment. ”
PhilosophiX wrote this review Tuesday, July 24 2007. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
