Rating: 
Summary: ok, but needs lots of editing
Review: both book 3 and 4 should have 100 pages ripped out of them. Much higher quality product then. And really very little would be lost. "explanation" at end is a bit goofy, but ok. The war and the tower were pretty decent overall.
Rating: 
Summary: Please Read This Review
Review: Excuse me. Riverworld is one of the greatest series SF has to offer, not only because of the sheer scope of the novels, but mostly because of its MYSTERY, the big questions of why the ressurection happened and who is responsible for it. This is an extremely provoking idea. Don't try to tell me that you were BORED during sections of this book or others. Don't even think about saying that certain parts could have been skipped over. If you want to skip over parts, you shouldn't have read the series at all. If you cared an ounce about the questions the Riverworld saga is asking, about any of the bigger ideas, then you wouldn't skip over a word. Every part is important and relevant. If it wasn't, Philip Jose Farmer woudn't have written it. This is a fast-paced, novel, my friends, and don't try to say otherwise. But every novel needs background, even the fast-paced ones. If it didn't have any background, any explanation of character or character development, then the books would end up like those terrible action movies they put on TV. Besides, the characters are an important part of the series. They are (or were) famous people, and one interesting theme is how they interact with one another. Basically, every part of a book is important if you are to understand parts later on in the book or in following books. As in all mystery novels, there are clues along the way to the solution. The clues keep you determined to solve the puzzle. But I do agree that sometimes the journey can be more important than the destination. The fourth book seemed sort of a let down, in more ways than one. I thoroughly enjoyed the third book and was anticipating the fourth, in which the great quest would be completed and the answers at long last found. But the ending didn't satisfy me in the least. I closed the book feeling angry and wanting more. What I really wanted was the truth. I could not believe that the ending of the Magic Labyrinth was the true and complete solution to the Mystery. So many things remained unexplained. I'm hoping to find these in the fifth book, but I have doubts that they will be there. I love this series, the ideas, the mixing of people from every time and place. But there is something terribly wrong lurking between the lines in the pages of the fourth book. Am I just missing something, perhaps a fifth book with a different solution, or has Philip Jose Farmer made a grave mistake?
Rating: 
Summary: A poor conclusion to a wonderful beginning
Review: For a series that started so promising, the "end" was quite a disapointment. PJF again makes a mockery of the characters which were established earlier, having them engage in completely non-sensical behavior given who they are and what they are doing. He kills off a bunch of characters to establish "suspense", introduce a bunch of new characters you couldn't care less about, and then has to make up a last-ditch obstacle to extract any action for a climax - which might have worked but for the fact he has to waste pages and pages extemporizing about the background which he apparently couldn't figure out who to reveal in any other way. PJF tries to set up a cliff-hanger ending, but I, t least, was so uninterested the characters, I really didn't care what happened to them. The first book in this series was wonderful, but the ending is almost insultingly bad...
Rating:
Summary: Coasting to the finish
Review: I read this conclusion (more or less) to the series when it first came out in 1980. Now that I'm 23 years older, it just doesn't work as well for me as it did then. I still give Farmer an A+ for the audacity of the whole Riverworld concept, but the writing is just plain clunky. I'd also dispute his assertion that all loose ends are neatly tied up. But it's an acceptable end to a remarkable SF series.
Rating:
Summary: Coasting to the finish
Review: I read this conclusion (more or less) to the series when it first came out in 1980. Now that I'm 23 years older, it just doesn't work as well for me as it did then. I still give Farmer an A+ for the audacity of the whole Riverworld concept, but the writing is just plain clunky. I'd also dispute his assertion that all loose ends are neatly tied up. But it's an acceptable end to a remarkable SF series.
Rating:
Summary: A great work of literature
Review: Philip Jose Farmer brings the story lines of the other three books together in a great science fiction novel. The reasons behind the resurection are finally revealed, but unfortunatly, many of the books most intriguing characters are killed off. Battle scenes are rich in description and it is a must have for Riverworld fans.
Rating:
Summary: Bad - not good.
Review: The first two books were decent (the first one was incredible). Books 3 and 4 are so ungodly boring and long-winded. For example, nothing happens throughout the entire book until the last two or three chapters. In fact, the last two pages usually have the most action and revealed secrets! Ridiculous, in my opinion. Read the FIRST book in this series - it's absolutely fantastic. Book 2 is decent. Books 3 and 4 are terrible and boring.
Rating:
Summary: Bad - not good.
Review: The first two books were decent (the first one was incredible). Books 3 and 4 are so ungodly boring and long-winded. For example, nothing happens throughout the entire book until the last two or three chapters. In fact, the last two pages usually have the most action and revealed secrets! Ridiculous, in my opinion. Read the FIRST book in this series - it's absolutely fantastic. Book 2 is decent. Books 3 and 4 are terrible and boring.
Rating:
Summary: Uneven - with Great Potential Left Unfulfilled
Review: The Magic Labyrinth is the fourth of Farmer's five volume Riverworld series, and was originally the final book in the series. Here all the various quests of those travelling to the headwaters of the river end for better or worse. Here to, the mysteries of the Riverworld planet and how and why all humanity was resurrected there are revealed.
This is a most uneven book. There are episodes of thrilling action and adventure, and long sections of mind-numbing boredom. There are characters who have been well developed throughout the books, and others that are barely sketched out, but still are central to the action. The writing is often barely competent, yet many of the ideas presented are still fascinating.
The strongest part of the book is its middle, which recounts the final drama of a forty-year, up river chase of two rival riverboats. The first boat, The Rex, captained by King John Lackland, who stole it from Sam Clemens, is pursued by The Not For Hire, the boat Clemens built to chase down his hated enemy. Clemens' quest for the headwaters of the river, to storm the mysterious tower there that may contain the answers to this world's riddles, has been subsumed by his thirst for revenge against King John. Most of the action of the book takes place when these two mighty boats, both heavily armed and manned by crews of Earth's famous and near famous, have their final clash. Two great set pieces have French ace George Guynemer, and German ace Werner Voss fighting a last fantastic dogfight over the river, and an awe-inspiring fencing duel to end all duels between Cyrano de Bergerac and Sir Richard Francis Burton. It is here that Farmer works his grand concept for all that it is worth, and shines.
The quality of the book drops sharply after the resolution of this battle. A handful of survivors continue on to complete the quest to the great tower at the end of the river. Several in this final group are not characters who were previously fleshed out, but new characters who have hardly been lined at all by the author, and with whom the reader feels little connection. Almost the whole last fourth of the book is composed of chapter after chapter of explanations of the how, why and who of the creation of Riverworld and the resurrection of 36 billion humans there. These explanatory chapters are stilted, as the information is delivered like a lecture from a perfectly dull professor. After reading through four books to get to the big revelations, this lame technique is a real let down.
This book and series suffer from great potential, unfulfilled. The concept on which Riverworld is based had promise as a grand epic masterpiece of sci-fi. It began well, but faltered and fell with books three and four. Though I contemplated giving this book only two stars, for its occasional flashes of brilliance I will give it three.
Rating:
Summary: Better then the 3rd book, but still somewhat questionable
Review: This is the 4th book in the Riverworld series. These main characters are Burton and Clemens. The plot is that of the two Riverboats continuing their journeys up river and finally meeting and have a huge battle. There are a lot of boring parts to this book. Especially in the beginning where there are two many dream sequences. So you may be skipping a bit in the beginning. After about the middle though, things get quite a bit more interesting and towards the end they are extremely exciting. As stated before the discrepancies in this novel and the next one are enormous. The author leaves quite a few issues unanswered. Such as the fate of Kazz, Loghu, Tom Mix, Jack London, and Johnston, the crow killer. One of the things I found most irritating about this book was that it seemed like the author had plenty of time to put in boring dream sequences but no time to clear up said issues for the sake of storyline completeness. Characters were literally there one chapter and gone the next. Without any written reference to them or why they were no longer in the main travelling party. Still worth it for the great Riverboat battle at the end, but it's irritating how many main characters are killed off wantonly. I gave this book 3 stars because once you get to the Riverboat Battle between Clemens and Prince John it's all exceptionally good with lots of action centering around your favorite characters.
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