Rating: 
Summary: Certainly close to a classic
Review: Something you have a book that has such an amazing concept that the entire book can be carried on just that one concept, regardless of how stirring the plot is or how deep the characters are or how exciting the prose is. With the concept that Farmer introduces in this novel he sure comes darn close but he really needed just a little extra to boost this novel into "true classic" status. What's the concept? Basically every human that has ever lived wakes up alongside a seemingly endless river on some strange planet for no apparent reason to basically do what people do. Food and even clothing is provided for, but really it's just a big question mark. Enter famous explorer Richard Burton who very quickly decides that he must penetrate the center of this mystery and try to find exactly what this is all about. Along the way he meets bunches of people from different times, some famous some not, gets involved in a series of adventures and sort of figures it out. But not quite. Burton is probably the best character in the book in the sense that he's supposed to the hero and yet there's quite a few reasons not to like him (he's a bit racist and a tad sexist, among other things . . .) which is good because being a historical character it shows Farmer was at least doing some research. The other characters don't make out so well and being that most of them seem to drop out halfway through the book, you really don't miss them since the focus really is squarely on Burton (the alien in particular seems to have just been included because he could make important revelations and thus it would make sense because he's an advanced alien and thus knows everything . . . not explained why he was resurrected though . . . also Peter Frigate mostly cries unless he needs to fight and then he kills with reckless abandon, er, mood swing anyone?) and as long as it stays there you can overlook things like that. Farmer has great fun with the concept and frustratingly gives us just a taste of the Riverworld, bypassing entire communities in a sentence that he could have spent a whole chapter on. The plot moves swiftly, with the usual absurd coincidences that only occur to you after you stop reading because he keeps the story moving so fast there's no time to think, which is good. Sometimes it's a mite too swiftly, subplots start but don't go anywhere (there's hints of romance that never turns into anything) and imminent revelations either are ignored or turn out to be nothing special. But the book is way too short and the ending is basically just a "To Be Continued" that reveals a bunch of stuff that may or may not be true. In the end it feels like the world's longest prologue and while enormously entertaining as such, doesn't leave you with a whole lot to take away from the book. Still the concept is one of the greatest in SF and just watching Farmer pull it off and lay down the foundation for the rest of the series is great fun. But his inability to really turn the book into a standalone epic on its own keeps the book from achieving truly classic status. But, like I said, it's worth a read simply for the concept itself.
Rating: 
Summary: Splendid concept ruined ...
Review: As a lifelong fan of science fiction and fantasy literature, I waited with bated breath to read a novel so grand in scope. And yet -- just like RINGWORLD or RENDEZVOUS WITH RAMA -- the novel fails (miserably) to deliver the other two key aspects of good fiction: strong characterization and conflict.While the character of Richard Burton is complex, he is far from sympathetic. Indeed, he is rendered so unrealistically that the normal suspension of disbelief requisite to speculative fiction is inadequate to overcome. This protagonist is better suited to a novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs. The alien from Tau Ceti -- who piques considerable interest -- is inconsequential. The repeated encounters with Goering are preposterous. And the fact that every woman has a great figure despite her lack of hair is really tiring. I'm very disappointed; I had hoped that this would be an exciting new series for me to explore. But given the poor quality of this opening novel, I have no desire to read the other books in the series. Keith
Rating: 
Summary: A new, unexplainable world of raised dead
Review: This is the first of the Riverworld series I've read, and picked it up quite by accident and found within the first two chapters that I was reading the inspiration for the SciFi TV movie "Riverworld" which I quite enjoyed about a year ago. Famous explorer and author Richard Burton awakes after his death to find all the pains of life near the end gone and himself floating among many bodies all around him. He is discovered and then plunges back into darkness to find himself awaking in a grassy meadow by a river surrounded by hundreds of others just waking. They are people from various times, some who know of him, and an alien and a proto-human neanderthal among them. Many belive themselves to be in purgutory, heaven, or hell, but a few know this cannot be an afterlife, there is something else at work here. Amid the chaos which first ensues he embarks to gather a group to protect themselves from any others who may wish them ill, and then to build a boat to navigate the source of the river. Along the way they find historical figures, both great and evil who help or impede thier journey. And, miraculasly, it seems they do not die permanently in this world, but are rather resurected again somewhere else along the eternal river along who's banks the entirety of every human who has ever lived now exists. Burton is driven to find the source of all that has transpired, why are they here? What is the purpose of thier resurection? Are those forces malevelont or benevolent? I must now embark to read the rest of the series to find out! A quick read, I finished in several hours. Charachter development is lacking, but the quest and concept are quite intriguing.
Rating:
Summary: Start of a memorable series
Review: I just re-read this book for the first time in (literally) twenty-five years. Some of my favored books from those "old days" don't hold up well. But this one does! Farmer came up with a awe-inspiring setting that gives him access to literally every human who ever lived, as well as some non-human characters, and the ability to shift settings quickly and dramatically. The hero of this book is Sir Richard Burton, the 19th Century British explorer and adventurer. After Burton breathes his last on Earth, he finds himself (after a puzzling interlude or two) reborn on another planet among everyone who ever lived on earth. All their basic needs are provided for, and in this new world, even further death is not permanent; since humanity is freed from the need to struggle for life, it's necessities, or even for many of its pleasures, there is time for something else. The focus of the series is on how different people used this unique opportunity. Burton uses it to try to uncover the motivations behind the beings responsible for the resurrection. Fortunately for him, he has a secret ally among the resurrectors. The book is interesting, very readable, and not terribly deep. I enjoyed it, and am going to re-read the whole series. You'll learn a lot about Burton in the book, but it did not inspire in me (originally or now) the fascination it appears to have inspired in some other reviewers.
Rating:
Summary: Mastefully done with the utmost care
Review: What captures your attention and holds it is not just the brilliantly creative story premise, which by itself would be worth a read, but the quality of research which Philip Jose Farmer clearly put into creating this novel. By using Burton as his main character, a flesh-and-blood anti-hero plucked straight from history, the fantastic action takes on a very believable feel, being no more amazing than anything else Burton accomplished in life. JPF has done an incredible job of researching Burton and painting him in a completely understandable and human way. I'd almost consider this book a hybrid of science fiction and historical fantasy - the historical characters are generally, more fleshed out and better developed than any of the fictional characters. I highly recommend this book, but suggest avoiding the rest of the series - they are just a series of cliff-hangers clearly designed to milk the River World story for everything it's worth. This first story makes a wonderfully self-contained adventure, and the rest of the books add nothing (and subtract much through revisionist plot-adjustment) that I sincerely wish I'd avoided them myself.
Rating:
Summary: An all-in-one reading experience -- brilliant!
Review: Philip José Farmer picked up his third Hugo Award for this 1972 book, his first win for Best Novel. He deserved it. Packing the story into a mere 215 pages, a slender volume compared to doorstops most science fiction and fantasy writers churn out today, Farmer managed to create a science-fiction novel of grand scope that wears many different masks: it's an adventure story, an examination of the development of cultures, an amusing literary exercise, a satire on human tendencies, and a character study. Every reader will find something here to enjoy, and because Farmer knits it all into a seamless whole, even the most discerning and picky reader will find him or herself enjoying every dimension of the book. This novel introduces the setting of "Riverworld," a mysterious planet where the entire human race from all time periods is suddenly a inexplicably 'resurrected.' Constructs known as grails provide food and other items for the billions of humans. Who or what created the Riverworld, and why did it reconstruct the whole of the human race? That question hangs over the entire story, as our hero, the legendary Victorian adventurer, Orientalist, anthropoligist, writer, and swordsman Richard Francis Burton, sets out on a quest to locate the masters of Riverworld. He has some interesting companions: a 20th century American, an alien visitor from the last days of Earth, a Neanderthal, the woman who inspired the character of Alice in Wonderland, and...well, Nazi leader Hermann Göring. Burton want to uncover the secrets of Riverworld, but the entities responsible for it want to find him as well, for he holds a secret that they desperately need. "Riverworld" moves at a rapid page-turning. Farmer lets you explore the wonder of this collision of ALL Earth cultures in one place, and you never quite know what will happen next. Sometimes Farmer grabs you with a tense fight scene, the next he amuses you with watching the developing cultures and colliding civilizations of this stew-pot world. The emergence of many famous individuals in the story is one of the novel's best features. Farmer is one of the first authors to exploit the dramatic potential of slamming together many different legendary figures into one story. (Today this is commonplace, such as in "Van Helsing" and "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen," although in "Riverworld" the famous people are all strictly historical instead of fictional). In Richard Francis Burton, Farmer picked the perfect hero. Burton is strong, brilliant, driven, and completely egotistical, just as he was in the real world. He's the sort of hero you can't stop reading about because you enjoy watching him overcome obstacles and constantly rankle the other characters. Burton is larger than life, the ideal hero for this larger than life setting. "Riverworld" will leave you with plenty to ponder, and fingers itching to pick up the next novel in the series, "The Fabulous Riverboat."
Rating:
Summary: A historian's dream
Review: Suppose you could be alive on the same planet as all the most interesting and intriguing people who ever lived (along with all the others who, though less interesting, took up space, ate, fornicated, fought wars to suit the interests of others and generally made nuisances of themselves)? It's a great concept and Jose Farmer managed to carry the fantasy to amazing extremes through this series of books. The wars of the final future of humanity, the dreams and aspirations, the mysteries and the ennui involve all the humans who ever lived, plus an alien or two and some others. Every intelligent being, I might have said, ever to die on the face of the planet earth, all at once. Any world where John Longshanks, Sir Richard Burton, Mark Twain, Jesus, Hermann Goering and everyone else is striving, competing and following the agendas and personality traits of their life on Planet Earth is bound to be worth a read, and this one is. Go for it, lean back and allow yourself to imagine the afterlife in a way you'd never dreamed of it being.
Rating:
Summary: A new, unexplainable world of raised dead
Review: This is the first of the Riverworld series I've read, and picked it up quite by accident and found within the first two chapters that I was reading the inspiration for the SciFi TV movie "Riverworld" which I quite enjoyed about a year ago. Famous explorer and author Richard Burton awakes after his death to find all the pains of life near the end gone and himself floating among many bodies all around him. He is discovered and then plunges back into darkness to find himself awaking in a grassy meadow by a river surrounded by hundreds of others just waking. They are people from various times, some who know of him, and an alien and a proto-human neanderthal among them. Many belive themselves to be in purgutory, heaven, or hell, but a few know this cannot be an afterlife, there is something else at work here. Amid the chaos which first ensues he embarks to gather a group to protect themselves from any others who may wish them ill, and then to build a boat to navigate the source of the river. Along the way they find historical figures, both great and evil who help or impede thier journey. And, miraculasly, it seems they do not die permanently in this world, but are rather resurected again somewhere else along the eternal river along who's banks the entirety of every human who has ever lived now exists. Burton is driven to find the source of all that has transpired, why are they here? What is the purpose of thier resurection? Are those forces malevelont or benevolent? I must now embark to read the rest of the series to find out! A quick read, I finished in several hours. Charachter development is lacking, but the quest and concept are quite intriguing.
Rating:
Summary: Series starts off strong and ends very poorly
Review: I just finished reading all 5 volumes in this series and had to offer a review. Book 1 starts off tremendous (!!) and offers up a good mystery - why are millions of people resurrected on an alien planet??? Book 2-4 spends grossly too much time delving into the history of the characters and not enough time getting to the Tower and the Ethicals. On a number of occasions, Mr. Farmer seems desperate to display the historical knowledge he has labored over. Book 5 really grapples with the issues from book 1 and is the second best book of the series. Book 3 was just awful in my opinion. Wayyyyyyyyy too much history of characters, it was like watching wood warp. I almost stopped reading the entire thing over book 3. Overall, in my opinion, the series would have been much better working the mystery of the Ethicals and a whole lot less time with the history of various people. It was a great opportunity squandered.
Rating:
Summary: Man abides
Review: Some really scathing reviews here and some quite unfair given that this novel was written 32 years ago. Film, theater, television and, yes, novels all age just as we do. They (like their author's)are products of their time. I haven't read this book since the mid-70's and decided to revisit based on some of the reviews here to see if it was all that bad. Guess what, it's still a pretty terrific book. Science fiction ages a bit less well than most mainstream or contemporary lit. Why? Because you're imagining the future--science fiction is like gambling you know the odds, you know that you could lose or be wrong, yet you do it anyway. Sometimes you're right and sometimes you're wrong. Really, predicting the future isn't the point but observing human behavior because science fiction--the best science fiction--isn't just about doo hickeys and gadets. It's about human behavior. If Phil Farmer's Rvierworld books are a bit dated, it's because the author wrote the first installment (before it was a novel) in 1966. The only thing that's kept the novel interesting is 1)Farmer's fascinating concept and 2) The general quality of the writing. Sure, it's not the generic formularic writing we've come to expect--it's actually got something missing from much modern writing--character. That said, the concept and execution are terrific. Sir Richard Francis Burton author of The Arabian Nights and well known explorer is our hero. He dies on the first page. He awakens to what he believes is the afterlife where he sees millions of other bodies suspended in what appears to be hibernation. The next thing he knows he's been resurrected with all of humanity (and one alien creature)along the banks of a great river. His journey is dictated by his exploring nature; he plans to get to the mouth of the river and discover who has resurrected humanity and why. The journey allows him to encounter many historical figures and some ordinary folks as well (including a well disguised Phil Farmer). While the series went on a bit too long (Farmer clearly relished the concept and the challenges it presented), the first three books are like a ride down white rapids and just as fun. Their also full of interesting ideas, characters and strong narratives. The last two books in the series drag out a bit but are still worth searching out to provide closure for the series. I'm usually not much of a fan of series books--it's usually a case of the author having one great idea and dragging it on as long as possible. Farmer's first three books are an exception to this rule and are well written journeys.
| 
