Scan barcode
kxu65's review against another edition
3.0
I would like this book better if the characters went in different groups in different directions.
trike's review against another edition
2.0
All these books that have the same date for the summer of ‘22 are because I was locked out of Goodreads and didn’t note the day I read the books.
clyssandre's review against another edition
2.0
Ouch. This third opus of the Riverworld series was tough to get over with. I really like the world and I can't wait to know what it's all about, but seriously this book was a lot longer than it should be. There is a lot of convoluted flashbacks into various characters life, lot of back and fro in time, and generally not much happening beside petty men being childish and murderous. The story felt scattered: it's basically many teams building many vehicles going up river and many conflicts for petty reasons. The arch didn't progress much. Ugh!
nnewbykew's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
cruelspirit's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Book three in the Riverworld series. After my love of the first book and my dissapointment with the second I was aprehensive about getting into book three. After being exposed to a highly imaginative world, full of mystery and adventure in the first book I was let down with the near removal of everything I loved in the second book. Considering this book is nearly twice as long as both of those were, I was hesitant to get into book three.
Luckily it seems Philip José Farmer took the criticisms I had 45 years before I even expressed them. A lot of what I loved about To Your Scattered Bodies Go was revisited in The Dark Design. Familiar characters are back and new ones are actually interesting, they are going on adventures again, the societies they visit are more interesting, and the mystery is being unraveled. It feels like what you signed up for in the first book while building on top of it, taking things up a notch. There is a bigger focus on spirituality and dreams in this book and it is interesting to see where Farmer takes those ideas.
Philip José Farmer introduced his, not so subtle, self insert character Peter Frigate in the first book but here he is a main character. In To Your Scattered Bodies Go I found this to be a fun addition that added to the bizarre tone of the book. Here I still enjoy it as it really adds more to that "out of the box sci fi" tone. There are many tangents that Farmer goes on in this book, one of which is pretty much just turning this book into his auto biography. Personally, I enjoyed this but I can see some readers taking issue with it.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of problems too. Many of the dull and dry moments from the second book, The Fabulous Riverboat, are back. So little of importance happened in that book that I could almost recommend skipping it outright. Unfortuately, they do reference events that happened in that book but you could just read a synopsis in order to stay up to date. The Dark Design is also very bloated. This seems to be the biggest complaint most people have. Reading the introduction, Farmer even says this book was supposed to be longer, leading to there being a fourth book. A lot could have been ommitted or streamlined for a more enjoyable reading experience.
Once again Farmer shows that action is one of his weaker skills. You wouldn't think action would be so bland but every time an action scene happened I was left wishing we were back to world building or uncovering mystery.
A big change in this book is the shifting between multiple characters and their perspectives. I read plenty of books like this so that wasn't that much of an issue for me but I found a lot of character's experiences to be pretty repetitive of each other, which definitely lead to confusion in comprehension. There are so many ships and airships that characters are building, or chasing after that they all start to blend together.
Overall there are points that I liked as much as the first book, reminding me why I'm still reading this series. I'm interested in continuting on but for as much as I liked parts of this book there were plenty that annoyed me, leading to a middle of the road score.
Luckily it seems Philip José Farmer took the criticisms I had 45 years before I even expressed them. A lot of what I loved about To Your Scattered Bodies Go was revisited in The Dark Design. Familiar characters are back and new ones are actually interesting, they are going on adventures again, the societies they visit are more interesting, and the mystery is being unraveled. It feels like what you signed up for in the first book while building on top of it, taking things up a notch. There is a bigger focus on spirituality and dreams in this book and it is interesting to see where Farmer takes those ideas.
Philip José Farmer introduced his, not so subtle, self insert character Peter Frigate in the first book but here he is a main character. In To Your Scattered Bodies Go I found this to be a fun addition that added to the bizarre tone of the book. Here I still enjoy it as it really adds more to that "out of the box sci fi" tone. There are many tangents that Farmer goes on in this book, one of which is pretty much just turning this book into his auto biography. Personally, I enjoyed this but I can see some readers taking issue with it.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of problems too. Many of the dull and dry moments from the second book, The Fabulous Riverboat, are back. So little of importance happened in that book that I could almost recommend skipping it outright. Unfortuately, they do reference events that happened in that book but you could just read a synopsis in order to stay up to date. The Dark Design is also very bloated. This seems to be the biggest complaint most people have. Reading the introduction, Farmer even says this book was supposed to be longer, leading to there being a fourth book. A lot could have been ommitted or streamlined for a more enjoyable reading experience.
Once again Farmer shows that action is one of his weaker skills. You wouldn't think action would be so bland but every time an action scene happened I was left wishing we were back to world building or uncovering mystery.
A big change in this book is the shifting between multiple characters and their perspectives. I read plenty of books like this so that wasn't that much of an issue for me but I found a lot of character's experiences to be pretty repetitive of each other, which definitely lead to confusion in comprehension. There are so many ships and airships that characters are building, or chasing after that they all start to blend together.
Overall there are points that I liked as much as the first book, reminding me why I'm still reading this series. I'm interested in continuting on but for as much as I liked parts of this book there were plenty that annoyed me, leading to a middle of the road score.
finaloption's review against another edition
4.0
Do yourself a favor, do NOT jump into this third Riverworld novel without taking a break from the series after reading books 1 & 2, which are short (by contemporary standards) comparably breezy reads. THE DARK DESIGN however is about 3x as long in word count and the story gets much denser, more populated with characters and yes, like many point out, it draaaaags. But count me among the minority that found this the best volume in the series, thus far.
The saga still suffers from it's odd pacing issues, anti-climactic climaxes, and often insufferable characterization of real world characters. But this third volume finally begins to feel like an EPIC. It takes more time, builds with many more blocks so that the vastness of the Riverworld is felt. The mysteries begin to feel truly mysterious (and complex, whereas before they seemed merely obscure). And some of the sub-plots are actually thrilling, something that wasn't felt much in the first volume and not at all in the second.
All in all this is the book where things get "real" for the Riverworld. And only one more volume to go! (plus a coda/epilogue book)
The saga still suffers from it's odd pacing issues, anti-climactic climaxes, and often insufferable characterization of real world characters. But this third volume finally begins to feel like an EPIC. It takes more time, builds with many more blocks so that the vastness of the Riverworld is felt. The mysteries begin to feel truly mysterious (and complex, whereas before they seemed merely obscure). And some of the sub-plots are actually thrilling, something that wasn't felt much in the first volume and not at all in the second.
All in all this is the book where things get "real" for the Riverworld. And only one more volume to go! (plus a coda/epilogue book)
daisymoon's review against another edition
1.0
Well that is the end of my re-read of Riverworld.
Writing still boring and poor, even worst than in the two first books.
The men are still amazing heroes, women are weak archetypes. And the fact that a woman is added as a main character, a supposedly strong and emancipated woman (an astronaut in her first life for christ's sake) doesn't do any good. Because, you see, the woman in question is still a woman that needs rescuing. She also is "hysterical" (I hate that word but it is what Farmer makes her to be, she has all the attributes, you kinda feel like he read Freud and decided to write the character from this reading), she basically antagonizes EVERYONE because of her "feminist" ways and obviously is a victim of horrible treatments. Basically, yeah, so infuriating that I stopped reading.
I have no idea who Farmer was in real life. I still hope I won't meet him in the Riverworld after my death, because I'm pretty sure we would not go along well.
Writing still boring and poor, even worst than in the two first books.
The men are still amazing heroes, women are weak archetypes. And the fact that a woman is added as a main character, a supposedly strong and emancipated woman (an astronaut in her first life for christ's sake) doesn't do any good. Because, you see, the woman in question is still a woman that needs rescuing. She also is "hysterical" (I hate that word but it is what Farmer makes her to be, she has all the attributes, you kinda feel like he read Freud and decided to write the character from this reading), she basically antagonizes EVERYONE because of her "feminist" ways and obviously is a victim of horrible treatments. Basically, yeah, so infuriating that I stopped reading.
I have no idea who Farmer was in real life. I still hope I won't meet him in the Riverworld after my death, because I'm pretty sure we would not go along well.
expendablemudge's review against another edition
2.0
Pearl Ruled (p66)
By the end of chapter 12, I was slogging through the prose hating each and every page folio and running head. My eye would catch the author's name on the verso and I'd begin to churn my guts into roiling masses of acid fury; the title on the recto made my rectum clench; and then, as page 66 gave me another bash in the balls with Farmer's name, the next chapter was 13 and, well, I lost the will to live on in Riverworld. It didn't help that this was the last page's last few lines:
So. Much. NO. I hate the "but she *meant* yes" defense, and this sounds to me like the classic set-up for date rape. "I know you better than you know yourself" is infuriating when your long-term partner says it (probably because there's some truth in that case); when some joker off the street does, it's enraging.
It was 1977 when this marvy came out. It isn't in me to revisit that head-space in this way with that dreadful, stodgy prose as my cicerone.
By the end of chapter 12, I was slogging through the prose hating each and every page folio and running head. My eye would catch the author's name on the verso and I'd begin to churn my guts into roiling masses of acid fury; the title on the recto made my rectum clench; and then, as page 66 gave me another bash in the balls with Farmer's name, the next chapter was 13 and, well, I lost the will to live on in Riverworld. It didn't help that this was the last page's last few lines:
"I see that we are getting close to our homes. I bid you adieu then until tonight. I will set out two torches, which you may see from your window, to announce when our little gathering begins."
"I did not say that I was coming."
"But you had nevertheless accepted," he said. "Is that not true?"
"Yes, but how did you know?"
"It's not telepathy," he said, smiling again. "A certain posture, a certain relaxation of muscles, the dilation of your pupils, an undertone to your voice, undetectable except to the highly trained, told me that you were looking forward to the party."
Jill said nothing. She had not known herself that she was pleased with the invitation. nor was she sure now. Was Piscator conning her?
So. Much. NO. I hate the "but she *meant* yes" defense, and this sounds to me like the classic set-up for date rape. "I know you better than you know yourself" is infuriating when your long-term partner says it (probably because there's some truth in that case); when some joker off the street does, it's enraging.
It was 1977 when this marvy came out. It isn't in me to revisit that head-space in this way with that dreadful, stodgy prose as my cicerone.
nicholasbobbitt1997's review against another edition
4.0
This book seems the one where Farmer began to run out of steam. After two books of different narrators and narratives, he has begun to retrace steps, return to previously explored characters, and re-explore plot points. The writing is still of extremely good quality, but he's stopped innovating and so I'm less of a fan of this than the first two.
lordofthemoon's review against another edition
4.0
The third volume in the Riverworld saga, this book starts interleaving the stories of the characters from the previous two volumes (leaving the final volume to bring them together), adds some new ones, and has some shocking revelations of its own, including the return of death to the Riverworld.
I enjoyed this book, following the slight disappointment of the previous volume I felt this one brought the series back on track, keeping up a good pace even if it felt like some characters got more screen time than others. The mysteries of the Riverworld continue to intrigue both the reader and the characters and even the mysterious stranger who is bringing Richard Francis Burton, Samuel Clemens, Peter Jairus Frigate and the others together is shown to be fallible. I look forward to the final volume and the conclusion of this rather excellent series.
I enjoyed this book, following the slight disappointment of the previous volume I felt this one brought the series back on track, keeping up a good pace even if it felt like some characters got more screen time than others. The mysteries of the Riverworld continue to intrigue both the reader and the characters and even the mysterious stranger who is bringing Richard Francis Burton, Samuel Clemens, Peter Jairus Frigate and the others together is shown to be fallible. I look forward to the final volume and the conclusion of this rather excellent series.
More...