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3.61 AVERAGE
3.61 AVERAGE
I get this. I have often looked at history and thought, 'I'd ship it." Sir Richard Francis Burton and Alice Liddel? OK, whatever. The Emperor Hadrian and Freddie Mercury? Now that's a slash fiction that would be worth enduring the weird world building and casual Göering-dropping of this book. Apparently it's a classic. Good to know. Will read the plot summaries of the sequels to make sure I'm not missing out on any Edward Teach/Margaret Thatcher action.
Farmer’s sci-fi classic provides an alternative view of the afterlife. There are no angels, singing, and maybe some bright light. It’s mostly just naked people running around trying to figure out why they are here and not somewhere else. To make matters more interesting it’s Sir Richard Burton himself (the explorer not the actor) to take us on the ultimate adventure, through all of humanity.
Richard Burton dies of a heart attack and then moves on to a mysterious place. Bodies float and he is suddenly awakened, 25, virile, and very naked. He doesn’t understand what’s happened and never has believed in the afterlife. He must know why he is here and why there seems to be every civilization that has ever lived on earth, from Neanderthals, to Romans, to Nazis, to Aliens in the afterlife.
The story is a curious adventure. It’s interesting to take people from history and through them into a new environment to see if what made them great is still retained. I really liked that aspect. It’s a swash-buckling adventure story. I would have preferred it wasn’t such a vehicle just for a series, but it was very enjoyable.
Richard Burton dies of a heart attack and then moves on to a mysterious place. Bodies float and he is suddenly awakened, 25, virile, and very naked. He doesn’t understand what’s happened and never has believed in the afterlife. He must know why he is here and why there seems to be every civilization that has ever lived on earth, from Neanderthals, to Romans, to Nazis, to Aliens in the afterlife.
The story is a curious adventure. It’s interesting to take people from history and through them into a new environment to see if what made them great is still retained. I really liked that aspect. It’s a swash-buckling adventure story. I would have preferred it wasn’t such a vehicle just for a series, but it was very enjoyable.
Mindlowing concept, bad execution. Made it till 120 page just before the nothingness and repetitiveness of the story got me bored.
3 stars solely for the idea.
3 stars solely for the idea.
I loved the world building and the uncovering of different mysteries and questions throughout the book. How they did all get here and why are certain things missing? Unfortunately, this just hasn’t aged very well at all. However, the creativity is undeniable and easily the best part.
I'm reading my way through all the Hugo Best Novel Winners. They're not all great, and for me, this is one of the duds. Too much telling, not enough showing. Bland, workmanlike prose. I probably would have enjoyed it more if I'd read it in high school. I was a lot more tolerant of mediocre writing back then, and I'd be a lot more impressed because OMG they r nekkid LOL! Maybe the rest of the Riverworld stuff is better... one can only hope.
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Having a Victorian man be your protagonist, even an adventurous libertine of a Victorian, will allow an author to get away with a lot.
Riverworld is a fantastic idea. Stupendous. All who have ever lived and died on Earth have been simultaneously resurrected, including pre-humans, cured of disease, and disabilities, and all in the prime of life. All of their basic needs are provided for, but there are no explanations given for this strange miracle. I was introduced to it through the 2003 TV-movie (a failed pilot) and immediately ordered the first two books from the library.
And I liked them then, and I like 'To Your Scattered Bodies Go' now, except I just can't get past the huge gap between the great greatness of the idea and the basic adequacy of the plot. Richard Burton, explorer and translator of the 'Arabian Nights' is our compulsory hero, accompanied by a stand-in for Farmer himself, an alien who caused the supposed-end of humanity, a Neanderthal, and an inter-changeable cast of female love-bots led by Alice Hargreaves (inspired 'Alice in Wonderland').
Sorry, that's not fair. Alice Hargreaves is a silly prude until later in the book after the group is captured, and she and the other women are raped over and over for an indeterminable time (which is just... fuuuuck, why?). The men are forced to mine with a bunch of other unfortunates, but Burton orchestrates an escape. It's never really explained how so many people are forced to do anything in a world where everybody is young and fit, starts on the same footing, and technology is at the sticks and stones level. Where does the power base come from?. Eventually Alice becomes the "hutmate" of Burton.
Herman Goring and a pre-Republic King of Rome are the primary human villains but there is the whole mystery of Riverworld to get to the bottom of, and Burton makes the attempt. The powerful beings who have created this new life might have sinister motives of their own. Or not. But maaaaybe....
What's great about the book is how Burton relentlessly deconstructs the Riverworld in his attempts to understand it. He challenges the logistics of such an undertaking just as the reader does. Farmer doesn't exploit the potential of having a huge cast of notable and famous people either. It should have left a lot of room for character development without worries of "accuracy". No unique characters fill that void though. What else is wrong is he doesn't even approach the possibilities of clashing cultures (the initial distribution of people resurrected large percentages of people who died in the same time/place in the same area). Burton is the only character who is given any real characterization in-book, and that is mostly in the form of strident defensive posturing along the lines of "I only wrote that polemic damning Jews because the moneylenders of Damascus blah blah blah". The book is hollow, with most of the cultures encountered being identical to each other except for their names and women having no bearing to the plot or any self-agency except when it comes to being sexual partners.
OK, when I actual write out my problems with the book it seems like there isn't much to like. It's a great idea, but Farmer turned it into something like a dead-end, because Book 2, 'The Fabulous Riverboat', only builds on the problems within the series instead of expanding the world's possibilities.
Riverworld
Next: 'The Fabulous Riverboat'
Riverworld is a fantastic idea. Stupendous. All who have ever lived and died on Earth have been simultaneously resurrected, including pre-humans, cured of disease, and disabilities, and all in the prime of life. All of their basic needs are provided for, but there are no explanations given for this strange miracle. I was introduced to it through the 2003 TV-movie (a failed pilot) and immediately ordered the first two books from the library.
And I liked them then, and I like 'To Your Scattered Bodies Go' now, except I just can't get past the huge gap between the great greatness of the idea and the basic adequacy of the plot. Richard Burton, explorer and translator of the 'Arabian Nights' is our compulsory hero, accompanied by a stand-in for Farmer himself, an alien who caused the supposed-end of humanity, a Neanderthal, and an inter-changeable cast of female love-bots led by Alice Hargreaves (inspired 'Alice in Wonderland').
Sorry, that's not fair. Alice Hargreaves is a silly prude until later in the book after the group is captured, and she and the other women are raped over and over for an indeterminable time (which is just... fuuuuck, why?). The men are forced to mine with a bunch of other unfortunates, but Burton orchestrates an escape. It's never really explained how so many people are forced to do anything in a world where everybody is young and fit, starts on the same footing, and technology is at the sticks and stones level. Where does the power base come from?. Eventually Alice becomes the "hutmate" of Burton.
Herman Goring and a pre-Republic King of Rome are the primary human villains but there is the whole mystery of Riverworld to get to the bottom of, and Burton makes the attempt. The powerful beings who have created this new life might have sinister motives of their own. Or not. But maaaaybe....
What's great about the book is how Burton relentlessly deconstructs the Riverworld in his attempts to understand it. He challenges the logistics of such an undertaking just as the reader does. Farmer doesn't exploit the potential of having a huge cast of notable and famous people either. It should have left a lot of room for character development without worries of "accuracy". No unique characters fill that void though. What else is wrong is he doesn't even approach the possibilities of clashing cultures (the initial distribution of people resurrected large percentages of people who died in the same time/place in the same area). Burton is the only character who is given any real characterization in-book, and that is mostly in the form of strident defensive posturing along the lines of "I only wrote that polemic damning Jews because the moneylenders of Damascus blah blah blah". The book is hollow, with most of the cultures encountered being identical to each other except for their names and women having no bearing to the plot or any self-agency except when it comes to being sexual partners.
OK, when I actual write out my problems with the book it seems like there isn't much to like. It's a great idea, but Farmer turned it into something like a dead-end, because Book 2, 'The Fabulous Riverboat', only builds on the problems within the series instead of expanding the world's possibilities.
Riverworld
Next: 'The Fabulous Riverboat'
DNF
I am thinking about adding a shelf on Goodreads titled - HOT GARBAGE or maybe FLAMING DUMPSTER FIRE....this book would be the first book listed!!!!
I have tried to read some classic sci-fi but I doubt I will continue with that goal due to the misogyny I keep encountering. This is a sexist, ridiculous book. I couldn't figure if it was the author or the character, but it doesn't matter....both are completely unlikable. I will provide examples.
1. "All the women were enjoying sex, even the ugly ones"
2. "She'd be pretty if her hair grew out"
3. The main character Dick wanted Alice,"because she didn't want him". Mature.
4. Dick and Alice were captured and he hated the fact that 'other men were having her', not worried about her being brutally raped. So let's be clear - he was more upset that someone was touching his possession instead of being concerned that his companion was being assaulted.
I am done with this trash. Every interaction Dick had with a female seemed to be about (1) if he would sleep with her or (2) discussing her attractiveness.....along the lines of 'she would be attractive if....' Dick suggested that there was something wrong with Alice because she wasn't interested in having sex with him....it seemed that the female characters were prudes, whores, emotionally unstable, or children.
Nope. Nope. Nope.
I am thinking about adding a shelf on Goodreads titled - HOT GARBAGE or maybe FLAMING DUMPSTER FIRE....this book would be the first book listed!!!!
I have tried to read some classic sci-fi but I doubt I will continue with that goal due to the misogyny I keep encountering. This is a sexist, ridiculous book. I couldn't figure if it was the author or the character, but it doesn't matter....both are completely unlikable. I will provide examples.
1. "All the women were enjoying sex, even the ugly ones"
2. "She'd be pretty if her hair grew out"
3. The main character Dick wanted Alice,"because she didn't want him". Mature.
4. Dick and Alice were captured and he hated the fact that 'other men were having her', not worried about her being brutally raped. So let's be clear - he was more upset that someone was touching his possession instead of being concerned that his companion was being assaulted.
I am done with this trash. Every interaction Dick had with a female seemed to be about (1) if he would sleep with her or (2) discussing her attractiveness.....along the lines of 'she would be attractive if....' Dick suggested that there was something wrong with Alice because she wasn't interested in having sex with him....it seemed that the female characters were prudes, whores, emotionally unstable, or children.
Nope. Nope. Nope.
I remember reading Riverworld as a teen one summer and really loving it. I wanted to re-read it for a long time and finally gave it a shot.
The story is still pretty interesting. That is what I remembered and what I liked. That and the characters... But the writing was pretty underwhelming. When I read it as a teen, I felt it was easy to read... Now I find it's bland. And a little boring. And lacks subtlety.
I would say the same thing about the characters. I remembered them as interesting and complex... And probably made them to be way more than they were. At 13 I was okay with the author letting the reader do most of the work... At 31 I find it to be lazy characterization.
Also what I took for character's flaws kind felt like the author's own flaws. I tried to not think like that, but honestly the misogyny of Richard Burton felt, at times, like it was not just his flaw but also what the author actually felt/thought about women. The fact that women never really have other parts in this book than some equivalent of "wife" or "children" or "damsel in distress" or "whore" basically says it all. There was not one female character that was more than an archetype. That was disappointing.
But the story is still amazing. I still ended this book wanting to read the rest. I still wish one day Netflix or HBO could make a tv show out of this universe. Also, I really loved Goering, like I did as a teen, which is weird, but also shows how talented the writer was, to make me sympathize with a Nazi.
The story is still pretty interesting. That is what I remembered and what I liked. That and the characters... But the writing was pretty underwhelming. When I read it as a teen, I felt it was easy to read... Now I find it's bland. And a little boring. And lacks subtlety.
I would say the same thing about the characters. I remembered them as interesting and complex... And probably made them to be way more than they were. At 13 I was okay with the author letting the reader do most of the work... At 31 I find it to be lazy characterization.
Also what I took for character's flaws kind felt like the author's own flaws. I tried to not think like that, but honestly the misogyny of Richard Burton felt, at times, like it was not just his flaw but also what the author actually felt/thought about women. The fact that women never really have other parts in this book than some equivalent of "wife" or "children" or "damsel in distress" or "whore" basically says it all. There was not one female character that was more than an archetype. That was disappointing.
But the story is still amazing. I still ended this book wanting to read the rest. I still wish one day Netflix or HBO could make a tv show out of this universe. Also, I really loved Goering, like I did as a teen, which is weird, but also shows how talented the writer was, to make me sympathize with a Nazi.
The concept offered great scope for the imagination, but unfortunately Farmer's imagination was unable to stretch far enough to consider the possibility that women are people. He seems like a cynical guy, and a bit self indulgent. His story concept allows him to pull the most interesting historical figures (in his mind, anyway) into the novel as characters. Incidentally, the most interesting people in history includes a fictional dude who writes for a living and happens to share Farmer's initials. I don't even want to understand what Farmer was trying to do with Hermann Göring. Satisfying as it was to see that monster miserable and plagued by nightmares and drug addiction, Farmer seemed to be edging him toward a redemption arc, which does not interest me in the least.