The Fabulous Riverboat

The Fabulous Riverboat by Philip José Farmer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Newly resurrected with all of humanity on an alien planet, Sam Clemens attempts to build a steamboat to find The River's end.

This is the sequel to To Your Scattered Bodies Go, and it doesn't really live up to the original. Sam Clemens has always dreamed of being the captain of a riverboat, and when a meteor strikes Riverworld he suddenly has access to the rare metals to make his own. But to make his dream a reality, he must strike a deal with a devil in the form of the  Plantagenet king, the treacherous John Lackland. (You know, Prince John the phony king of England.)

Not so cute and cuddly in real life.
Less thumbsucking.
More murder.

Not only that, but the sudden presence of metals in Riverworld creates a trading economy, which naturally leads to nationalism, imperialism, an arms race, and racial tensions (on a positive note, there is also a new Magna Carta aimed once again at keeping Lackland in line). In To Your Scattered Bodies Go, the afterlife aftermath all had to do with the Holocaust; in The Fabulous Riverboat it is instead the consequences of anti-black racism and slavery's legacy in America. One of the tiny kingdoms is led by a black nationalist who believes that segregation is the only way to achieve peace.

All of these conflicts are enough to obscure Sam's real reason for building the riverboat: to find the River's end and thwart the alien Ethical's shadowy plan for humanity. Along the way, the identities of six of the Twelve anointed are revealed (what do you bet that none of the other six will be female, either?) Sam has doubts about his role in all of this, and he's also longing for his beloved wife, Livy.

I had a moment of happy chills when Sam gets introduced to a legendary archer known for his wiles (spoilery link), but the feeling disappeared as soon as he did. This book is more of a slog than the first, mainly because it's all political maneuvering and Sam is a less compelling protagonist than Sir Richard Burton. Once again there are only a few women, and those on the margins. (If this book had been written a mere ten or more years later than it was, I think that Farmer would have corrected this flaw.)

Still, I'm intrigued enough by Farmer's world to continue with the series, just to see what will happen after the Twelve confront the Ethicals. Will humanity get a second chance, freed from its giant prison? Or will the vast project simply get shut down? Will the Twelve ever find each other? Will women ever not be considered property in a science fiction novel? Sigh.

Quotable Scene:
"You were the world's greatest humorist," Lothar said. "Have you changed a great deal since you we're resurrected?"
"What's that got to do with it?" Sam said. "A humorist is a man whose soul is black, black, but who turns his curdles of darkness into explosions of light. But when the light dies out, the black returns."

And just because I adore Peter Ustinov's voice performance so much and since this gif is so perfect:

To Your Scattered Bodies Go

To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Philip José Farmer

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What would happen if all of humanity was inexplicably resurrected after death on a vast alien world?

A frequent daydream of mine is to imagine "If I was suddenly transported back in time..." Farmer's daydream has a fantastic variation on the theme of time travel: Every human being who ever lived (including Da Vinci, Genghis Khan, Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln, Oscar Wilde, Cleopatra, Hitler, Elizabeth I - plus the billions of mere rank and filers from every era and region) suddenly wakes up in a vast world dominated by impassable mountains and a giant River. With every physical need provided for, obviously resurrected humanity starts over with new wars and slavery, just to keep things interesting.

The new world is a mystery that one man wants to solve: Sir Richard Francis Burton caught a glimpse behind the curtain of Riverworld before resurrection and is determined to interrogate the man behind the curtain. He explores the endless River with a small group of companions and slowly begins to understand that Riverworld is no supernaturally created afterlife. In fact, the designers may have dark plans for humanity. Half the fun of reading this book is learning more about the Riverworld, so I won't say more about the plot or specifics of the world.

In choosing historical figures, Farmer shows perfect taste: the talented polyglot explorer Richard Francis Burton (1821–1890), Nazi Reichsmarschall Herman Göring (1893–1946), and Alice Liddell Hargreaves (1852–1934). Burton is a fascinating character, full of contradictions, and Farmer obviously knows a lot about his eventful life. Göring, too, is given depth and interest beyond that of a Nazi sociopath. The only shortcoming is Hargreaves, who gets a fairly perfunctory treatment as a love interest (most of the women seem to be here merely to be admired for their figures). The women are frequently lumped in with the property (you know: food, tobacco, women), though you can tell Farmer attempts to give them some credit for action and independent thought. Sexism is a common problem of old-school science fiction, though Farmer is not as bad as some.

It's a fascinating book, and I highly recommend it to fans of classic science fiction. If you enjoyed Larry Nivens' Ringworld or Alfred Bester's The Stars My Destination, you'll love To Your Scattered Bodies Go. It's not necessary to know about Sir Richard Burton's real life, but he's such a fascinating character you'll probably want to pick up one of the biographies about him by either Edward Rice or Byron Farwell.

Next up: Farmer's sequel, The Fabulous Riverboat, starring Samuel Clemens!

Quotable:

"Burton, despite the scoffings of his twentieth-century friends, believed steadfastly in most of the superstitions he had nourished on Earth. He often laughed at the superstitions of others, but he knew that some numbers held good fortune for him, that silver placed on his eyes would rejuvenate his body when it was tired and would help his second sight, the perception that warned him ahead of time of evil situations." - 199