• The Fabulous Riverboat

  • Riverworld Saga, Book 2
  • By: Philip José Farmer
  • Narrated by: Paul Hecht
  • Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins
  • 4.1 out of 5 stars (390 ratings)

Access a growing selection of included Audible Originals, audiobooks, and podcasts.
You will get an email reminder before your trial ends.
Audible Plus auto-renews for $7.95/mo after 30 days. Upgrade or cancel anytime.
The Fabulous Riverboat  By  cover art

The Fabulous Riverboat

By: Philip José Farmer
Narrated by: Paul Hecht
Try for $0.00

$7.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $17.19

Buy for $17.19

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

The second entry in the Riverworld series, The Fabulous Riverboat tells of a world where all of humanity has been mysteriously resurrected on the banks of one mighty river. Samuel Clemens (a.k.a.Mark Twain) is tasked with finding a fallen meteorite and using its ore to build a massive riverboat. But in order to succeed, he'll have to outwit some of history's most nefarious villains.
©1971 Philip José Farmer (P)2009 Recorded Books, LLC

What listeners say about The Fabulous Riverboat

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    180
  • 4 Stars
    113
  • 3 Stars
    70
  • 2 Stars
    19
  • 1 Stars
    8
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    159
  • 4 Stars
    74
  • 3 Stars
    41
  • 2 Stars
    7
  • 1 Stars
    4
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    146
  • 4 Stars
    68
  • 3 Stars
    53
  • 2 Stars
    13
  • 1 Stars
    6

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Good Follow-up

In this installment of the Riverworld series, Farmer goes for somewhat of a reboot. Instead of following Richard Burton, this book focuses on Samuel Clemens and his struggle to also reach the head of the world-spanning river. The motivation for this comes from another (or the same?) "Ethical", who tells Sam that he is one of twelve that must reach the river's head in order to unravel the mystery of the Riverworld.

The "Ethical" points Sam to an area where the materials to build a riverboat can be found, and here lies the bulk of the book- the struggle to build the Riverboat. This means dealing with some of histories baddies and the ills of society while overcoming the shortcomings of the world in which they are placed.

The book is a little slow in the beginning as it needs to build relationships set up the plot. However, once it becomes engrossing--and it does--the sense of adventure that was prevalent in the first book comes back in force. Part of this is due to another great reading by Paul Hecht, who uses just the right smattering of accents for the characters. In fact, the book finishes on such a high note, I again find myself wishing the third book were available for download.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Should have left the story alone

I loved the first book and was excited to read the followup. Everything that made book one a exciting, original, and thought provoking was replaced with boring character endless battles. After about four or five hours and repetition I had to give up. Maybe eventually something actually started to happen, but for me it wasn't worth the effort to listen to and was retroactively ruining the original story. It started reminding me of Dune. The first book was a masterpiece, after that it became a generic cash cow.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Longer, not better than the first part.

I wrote a review of the frist part of this series, "To Your Scattered Bodies Go". In a nutshell I found the book to have a great idea but to be too long and full of dated attitudes towards people and the world. Thsi second part has all of the same but is even longer - unnecessarily so.

The concept is that a world was created by a group of aliens that have been observing and recording mankind. Not the history but the very consciousnesses of the people of Earth. When people die they are reborn in new young bodies. There is no disease, people don't seem to age but they can be killed only to be reborn in 24 hours in another part of hte planet. The main feature of the planet is a monumental river that seems to encirle the whole world. But something is wrong. People question why the aliens do this and a rebel alien is helping a select group find out.

The main character here is Mark Twain. The parsonality is well written, he seems like mark twain. The other characters a re interesting as well. But, the events of the book tend to drone on one cataclysm after another, one rebuild after another while you are waiting for something else to happen. You get a sense of the goal of the book at the biginning: that Samuel Clemens (mark Twain) wants to build a Riverboat to explore the river. Well the book does not get to that. One problem arises after another as the characters build and rebuild a society for the sole purpose of building this riverboat. The author's main goal may be to show the character's frustration with this but he is also frustrating the reader.

Also as I mentioned about the frist book, there are no strong female characters. The only important women in this book are there as a love interest or source of frustration for the male characters. Samuel Clemen's wife appears but she is with another man and Clemen's can't let her go. This seems to be the only reason she is there.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Enthralled by the saga

An excellent melding of philosophy and science fiction. Sometimes falls into the usual adventure story plot but overall very enjoyable.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Fantastic series

This river World Series is epic. I love how it’s a combination of science-fiction and historical fiction. It really should be made into a movie series.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

this story aged badly

I was intrigued enough by the previous installment to pick up this follow-up plus had seen stuff adapted from it, but the race stuff in this book ages badly. On top of this, this is the least funny Samuel Clemens I have ever run across.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Thought provoking

Enjoyed this one. A microcosm of human development and they still made all the same mistakes. The choice of characters was great.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

5 stars on the book, 1star for audible.

Enjoying the story, of course Audible has to confuse next book in series in order to maximize profits. Maybe you pay for the correct book, maybe not. Either way, Audible makes $$$$$$$! you will eventually pay your way to the correct book. Publishers are leaches.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Unimpressive follow on

This book was a disappointment, especially compared to the first book. Too many things felt forced. The ending also either cried out for a sequel, or caused the reader to lose interest. For me, it was the latter.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

great series

been a philip Jose farmer fan for a while and still love his work. thanks!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!