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3.6 AVERAGE
3.6 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
“Purgatory is hell with hope.”
TYSBG is a compact novel about resurrection, humanity, human nature, and of course – aliens. I give nothing away by saying so. Richard Burton, a fictionalized version of the 19th century polyglot, awakens nude on a riverbed with countless others. Humans from all eras and geographies appear to have been reincarnated in such a way. There is even an alien or two among them.
Soon Neanderthal and 20th century Jew and 19th century Englishman and 21st century American are traveling together. How long is the River? Who brought them there? Can they die in this new situation? Only one way to find out.
TYSBG is a compact novel about resurrection, humanity, human nature, and of course – aliens. I give nothing away by saying so. Richard Burton, a fictionalized version of the 19th century polyglot, awakens nude on a riverbed with countless others. Humans from all eras and geographies appear to have been reincarnated in such a way. There is even an alien or two among them.
Soon Neanderthal and 20th century Jew and 19th century Englishman and 21st century American are traveling together. How long is the River? Who brought them there? Can they die in this new situation? Only one way to find out.
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This was VERY WEIRD. But I was absolutely absorbed by it and compelled to finish it. Will definitely be back for book 2.
The choice of Richard Francis Burton as our narrator/protagonist is a fascinating one, and honestly suits this premise rather well. An anthropologist and polyglot, he seems ideally suited for this kind of cultural mixing and understanding. I do, however, recommend checking out his wiki article for a summary if you aren't familiar, as some of his comments and ideas won't make much sense with some basic knowledge of his life and academic pursuits.
The choice of Richard Francis Burton as our narrator/protagonist is a fascinating one, and honestly suits this premise rather well. An anthropologist and polyglot, he seems ideally suited for this kind of cultural mixing and understanding. I do, however, recommend checking out his wiki article for a summary if you aren't familiar, as some of his comments and ideas won't make much sense with some basic knowledge of his life and academic pursuits.
I would have enjoyed it more if it weren't about so many random historical figures. I tried reading the second book, but it turned out that I didn't care enough and was even more put off by the historical characters.
Rating: 2.5/5
Rating: 2.5/5
My interest in this novel (and in the entire Riverworld series) was peaked when I ran across an item that mentioned that the story is about another world (Riverworld) where humans are resurrected after death, and this is not a a story about heaven and hell but a sci-fi depiction of the afterlife.
I was not disappointed by the first book in the series and look forward to reading the rest; it's a great adventure story that also addresses a lot of interesting philosophical, religious, and scientific issues:
--what is the nature of identity? are the bodies that are resurrected in Riverworld just duplicates (what Derek Parfit would call replicas) of the people who died on earth, or are the resurrected bodies identical with those who died on earth? are a shared memory and psychological continuity (as Locke argued) between the dead earthlings and the resurrected Riverworld inhabitants enough to establish that the two are identical? towards the end of this first novel, we seem to get an answer: ****POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT**** each body has a psychomorph associated with it, and it would seem that the psychomorph is the source of identity; it's not clear exactly what a psychomorph is, but it seems to be in many respects similar to a soul or to an astral body.
--is eternity something that, if we really ponder the concept and its implications, we desire? would we not eventually find ourselves so bored with existence that we would want to die, to die really and truly: to cease to exist all together? in Riverworld, if one dies, one is simply resurrected again in Riverworld, so that a Riverworld "death" is not really death; is this not a frightening concept?
--if we died and found that our expectations (or lack thereof) about a possible afterlife were completely different than anything that we had previously expected, how would we react? would we maintain the religious beliefs (or religious skepticism) that we had on earth, or would we develop new religious beliefs?
--are the gods or God necessary for an afterlife to exist? or could some highly advanced civilization discover some mechanism to resurrect the dead? does the existence of an afterlife have any bearing on our belief or disbelief in deities?
--is existence really more akin to samsara than traditional Western notions about the goodness of existence? should our ultimate goal be not some type of heavenly existence but rather moksha or nirvana? whatever type of salvation we may seek, how do we attain it?
I was not disappointed by the first book in the series and look forward to reading the rest; it's a great adventure story that also addresses a lot of interesting philosophical, religious, and scientific issues:
--what is the nature of identity? are the bodies that are resurrected in Riverworld just duplicates (what Derek Parfit would call replicas) of the people who died on earth, or are the resurrected bodies identical with those who died on earth? are a shared memory and psychological continuity (as Locke argued) between the dead earthlings and the resurrected Riverworld inhabitants enough to establish that the two are identical? towards the end of this first novel, we seem to get an answer: ****POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT**** each body has a psychomorph associated with it, and it would seem that the psychomorph is the source of identity; it's not clear exactly what a psychomorph is, but it seems to be in many respects similar to a soul or to an astral body.
--is eternity something that, if we really ponder the concept and its implications, we desire? would we not eventually find ourselves so bored with existence that we would want to die, to die really and truly: to cease to exist all together? in Riverworld, if one dies, one is simply resurrected again in Riverworld, so that a Riverworld "death" is not really death; is this not a frightening concept?
--if we died and found that our expectations (or lack thereof) about a possible afterlife were completely different than anything that we had previously expected, how would we react? would we maintain the religious beliefs (or religious skepticism) that we had on earth, or would we develop new religious beliefs?
--are the gods or God necessary for an afterlife to exist? or could some highly advanced civilization discover some mechanism to resurrect the dead? does the existence of an afterlife have any bearing on our belief or disbelief in deities?
--is existence really more akin to samsara than traditional Western notions about the goodness of existence? should our ultimate goal be not some type of heavenly existence but rather moksha or nirvana? whatever type of salvation we may seek, how do we attain it?