Dayworld Rebel (Dayworld Trilogy, II) (U.K.) [Import] [Paperback]

Philip Jose Farmer (Author), Chris Foss (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 1988

Trade paperback. Second book in the "Dayworld" trilogy, which also includes "Dayworld" (1985) and "Dayworld Breakup" (1990).

Product Details

• Paperback: 301 pages
• Publisher: London: Grafton; 1st British paperback edition (July 1, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0246133627
• ISBN-13: 978-0246133625
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Second in Dayworld Series: 2-1/2 Stars, 314 pages, Publ 1987, May 14, 2006

By 

Antinomian (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Dayworld Rebel (Dayworld Trilogy, II) (Hardcover)

Philip Jose Farmer wrote the first short story of this concept in 1972. This novel follows up on the first Dayworld novel. It is not as good. He hooks up with other daybreakers in the woods of New Jersey (somehow suburban sprawl hasn't made it to this overpopulated world, but then that's sort of the point of the plot, PLOT SPOILER AHEAD: the overpopulation is just a government hoax. The other is ANOTHER PLOT SPOILER AHEAD, is the government is holding back an elixir (actually a living entity, bacteria or something) that prolongs life by a factor of 7. So the `stoning' process is no longer needed; there's no overpopulation, and people can now live 7 times longer. It's not clear why the government is withholding this anti-aging element, but dayworld rebel's goal is to get it out to the people. If you've read this review this far, IMHO, this is just about all you need to know. To read the book, is just adding a lot of words to sift through for the same information. Unfortunately in this case, the joy is not in the ride in getting to the end of the book, or the series for that matter, but in getting to the end.

My recommendation if you've read this far, is that you now know all you need to know about Dayworld. Skip reading this novel, and if you have not already done so, progress to reading the authors Riverworld series, starting with To Your Scattered Bodies Go. It even won a Hugo award so you can't go too wrong there.

2.0 out of 5 stars Maybe for Young Adults but Disappointing for Adults, October 6, 2009

By 

Grey Wolffe "Zeb Kantrowitz" (North Waltham, MA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dayworld Rebel (Dayworld Trilogy, II) (Mass Market Paperback)

PJF is famous for his Riverworld series, and rightly so. It is one of the most original of all SciFic series and has both great detail and characterization. Keeping that in mind, this series (Dayworld) appears to be an afterthought by Farmer that he wrote as an exercise. The basis of the 'world situation' is that only one-seventh of the population is awake at anytime (each has their own 'Day') to save on resources. That makes the lifespan of the average eighty year old 570 years. But since life is so tightly controlled it doesn't matter.

There are few explanations as to how the government works and how the cities are supplied or how 'work' is determined. In other words, the society the Farmer has set-up has more holes in it than a road in Iraq. Because the background is so bare it's hard to care about the characters and their problems. Sadly, this is not an engaging series and though this is the second of the trilogy (usually the 'weak' sister) it does nothing to make you want to read the final book. Truly a waste of a great talent.

Zeb Kantrowitz

4.0 out of 5 stars Great follow-up to Dayworld, December 28, 2008

By 

Lynos - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dayworld Rebel (Dayworld Trilogy, II) (Mass Market Paperback)

Philip Jose Farmer's Dayworld Rebel takes the world created in Dayworld - A quasi-dystopia where the government forces the people to cryogenically freeze themselves for six days of the week in order to fight overpopulation and dwindling resources - and expands it.

The protagonist, called by many names in Dayworld and a few others here, is a daybreaker (meaning he doesn't "stone" himself and doesn't limit himself to living in one day). While in Dayworld we watched him work in the service of the subversive "Immers", here he is much more of a lone wolf. after being on the verge of a mental breakdown at the end of the first novel, here he escapes to the woods of New Jersey from the facility he was held in and joins a group of other colorful daybreakers.

The novel is more large in scope and byzantine than its predecessor, and it offers some very interesting ideas about interference of government in our lives and issues of privacy and identity. Also, where the first novel took place entirely in Manhattan, this one takes us to a very different Los Angeles, where most of its action takes place.

I first read Dayworld many years ago and only recently discovered that there were not one but two sequels - obviously much less popular than the original. Nevertheless, the Dayworld concept is genius and Dayworld Rebel does what a good sequel should do - expand its world and its themes and give us a similar yet different adventure. Recommended.