Riverworld and Other Stories [Paperback]

Philip Jose Farmer (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Berkley Books, New York (1982)
• ASIN: B0027TS1M6
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I wish I could give this book more than 5 stars...., March 25, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Riverworld and Other Stories (Riverworld Saga) (Paperback)

I am an admitted Science Fiction junkie, but as far as the Phillip Jose Farmer "Riverworld" series is concerned, likes and dislikes of a particular genre do not enter into it. I bought the first book in the series, "To Your Scattered Bodies Go" on a whim, and began it suspiciously as I do any new book or author. Before I had finished a single page, I was completely immersed in Farmer's world, and I devoured the book whole within two days. Two days later, I found myselef back at the bookstore, racing to the shelf and praying that nobody had bought the next book in the series.

Shortly thereafter, a colleague asked if I had read anything good lately, and I forced the book on him as a fanatic would force a religious text to a prospective believer... and within a week the Riverworld books were tearing through my friends, my family, my girlfriend, and suddenly everyone was buying and reading them, and a whole lot of people were constantly demanding of each other how soon they could borrow the next book in the series, and if delayed, running out and buying a copy.

I have become immersed in many many books before - series like Tolkien's Ring Cycle have drawn me deeply into them, but - and I realize that many will consider this blasphemy- I believe the Riverworld cycle to be far superior.

I will end this review by addressing the plot of the series, or at least the most basic concept: Everyone (with a few exceptions I will not explain) who has ever lived and died on planet Earth wakes up at the exact same moment, naked as the day they were born, and in the body they posessed at age 25, lying on the banks of a vast and winding river bordered on both banks by towering and unsurpassable mountains.

20th century Americans wake up next to pre-historic homo sapiens, next to 14th Century English lords, next to 8th century AD Mongol warlords... The entire spectrum of the human race - EVERYBODY - waking up alive after their deaths, regardless of their religious beliefs, together in this strange land.

Through 'Grails', huge mysterious mushroom shaped mechanical devices spaced evenly one kilometer apart down the length of the River, every human need is provided for; food, drink, cigars, liquor and even marijuana - but this planet is not Heaven, nor is it anything as obvious as what one would expect from any hackneyed twilight-zone episode scenario.

Ordinary people from all periods of human history are the main characters in these novels, as are famous historical figures like the legendary English explorer Sir Richard Burton, or even notorious villains such as King John Lackland and Herman Goering.

As a friend of mine crassly but accurately put it after reading the first book series - "If that stupid Dianetics book could become the basis for a religion, why couldn't this?" - I think I saw the same sentiments echoed in another review on this site, and I don't know about that, but if the concepts Farmer outlined in these novels were a metaphysical reality, I for one would feel better about going to church on Sundays... buy these books and believe; not in a religion, but in ridiculously good writing.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Please Reissue This....I'm Begging You!, October 22, 2000

By 

El Kabong - See all my reviews

This review is from: Riverworld and Other Stories (The Gregg Press science fiction series) (Hardcover)

First things first. Phil Farmer is not always the most elegant writer - often, his prose is clumsy and his characters wooden. In all likelihood, you won't like everything you read by him. He's best known for labyrinthine series (Riverworld, Dayworld, World of Tiers) and 'fictional histories' of iconic characters such as Sherlock Holmes, Tarzan & Doc Savage, which may or may not be your cup of tea. Okay, enough with the caveats: on the plus side of the ledger, he's an unduplicable and inspired madman with no fear and no restraints upon his literary curiosity. I can't think of anyone even remotely like him, ever. We desperately need more writers in his imaginative weight-class....he may be audacious and outrageous, but he never shatters taboos simply to shock and tittilate (as so many Celebrated Prose Stylists do), but simply to see what might emerge from behind this or that Forbidden Curtain. This paperback, long out of print (WHY??), is not only my favorite Farmer, but one of all time favorite books by anyone. It's the initial Riverworld novella which preceded the series (which incidentally works beautifully as a standalone work - in fact, it's so powerfully surreal and magical that the subsequent series might disappoint you, as it did me), along with a number of Farmer's most unforgettably deranged short stories, many of which sping from premises which would never have occured to anyone BUT Farmer (i.e., 'The Jungle Rot Kid On The Nod' came from Farmer's asking himself: what if WILLIAM Burroughs, rather than Edgar Rice, had written Tarzan?) Usually, in a collection of this type, the novella is the centrepiece and the rest is filler; here, nearly every single collected work is equally indelible. A couple of these stories -'JC on the Dude Ranch', 'The Leaser of Two Evils', 'The Phantom of the Sewer', and the two mentioned previously- have been etched permanently in my mind since I first read them over 25 years ago. (And though I've read quite a bit of Farmer since then, none of it has ever quite equalled this incredible collection - though there've been some close calls.) I'm sure that among sf aficionados, this early version of RIVERWORLD might be considered a nonessential larval-stage curiosity - there never seems to be a shortage of RIVERWORLD novels in print, and that may be keeping this neither-fish-nor-fowl book locked away in obscurity. But please trust me on this one - RIVERWORLD AND OTHER STORIES is Phil Farmer's single greatest collection/definitive statement, and the world needs to see it back in print as soon as possible.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars J. C. On The Dude Ranch, July 27, 2005

By 

Thomas F. Stockman "tstockma" (Colorado) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Riverworld and Other Stories (The Gregg Press science fiction series) (Hardcover)

This is one of the best short stories I have ever read! Five stars on humor, this story is a stand-out in this collection.

Prurient, obscene even, Christians should not read this story, but not being Christian myself, J. C. On The Dude Ranch is one of the funniest things ever set to print. Silverberg coulda done Siddhartha vs. Yama with the same plot.

This is not an anti-Christ tract, it's just a hilarious albeit dirty story. Satan appears and is properly vilified, Jesus is definately a Good Guy.

But Christians probably ought not read this story, unless looking for ungodly targets to be pissed off at.