To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Riverworld Saga, Book 1

By: Philip José Farmer

Narrated by: Paul Hecht

Length: 7 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

All those who ever lived on Earth have found themselves resurrected—healthy, young, and naked as newborns—on the grassy banks of a mighty river, in a world unknown. Miraculously provided with food, but with no clues to the meaning of their strange new afterlife, billions of people from every period of Earth's history—and prehistory—must start again.

Sir Richard Francis Burton would be the first to glimpse the incredible way-station, a link between worlds. This forbidden sight would spur the renowned 19th century explorer to uncover the truth.

Along with a remarkable group of compatriots, including Alice Liddell Hargreaves (the Victorian girl who was the inspiration for Alice in Wonderland), an English-speaking Neanderthal, a WWII Holocaust survivor, and a wise extraterrestrial, Burton sets sail on the magnificent river. His mission: to confront humankind's mysterious benefactors, and learn the true purpose—innocent or evil—of the Riverworld....

Winner of the Hugo Award

©1971 Philip José Farmer (P)2000 Recorded Books

Critic reviews

• Hugo Award, Best Novel, 1972

"One of the most imaginative worlds in science fiction." (Booklist)

Mildly Entertaining.

If I had borrowed this book I would not have finished it. I paid for it, so I saw it through to the end. It was long winded, over detailed, and lacking in good character building. If condensed, I think it would make a good short story, given more work be applied to building the characters.

Good Classic Sci-Fi

Any additional comments?

This was a interesting Sci-Fi story. It's a classic and ends in a very open way, however I'm not sure if I want to know the answer to the question posed at the end as to me it was more philosophical and rhetorical, however the journey to that point was well written.

The drugs and free love ideas of the book do date it a bit, but they are not too pronounced, so I can live with them.

A fascinating sci fi after life

So what if there is a benevolent afterlife, how could you tell it was good?

Netflix?!?

Great sifi-adventure story. Would love to see a “true to story” adaptation of this book.

Don't judge this story on the TV movies.

If you could sum up To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Riverworld Saga, Book 1 in three words, what would they be?

Timeless SCI-FI Classic.
I'd always heard the Riverworld books were fantastic. Before investing the time in the books I watched the Riverworld movie on Sci-Fy. It really turned me away from reading the books for many many years. Recently I broke down and listened to the book instead. WOW. Fantastic story and characters. I can't believe anyone could read the books, be a fan, and come up with a movie adaptation like the ones that have been made. Total garbage and criminal to original material. The Riverworld idea really is cool. It neither challenges or supports religious beliefs but instead presents a really interesting approach to explaining the human condition and dealing with afterlife. Like much of the literature from the 60's and 70's it tries to blend in contemporary social issues, but Riverworld does it in a timeless manner. The story is a great, short listen and gives you a great intro to the extensive material for a low investment in time. It's unpredictable, suspenseful, and paints great characters out of historical personalities in a unique way I haven't seen done in many other SCI FI books (but honestly I'm not the most well read/listened in sci-fi-fi fiction).

Who was your favorite character and why?

Burton is a great Protagonist. Obvious choice but it's probably why so much SteamPunk culture steals from Farmer's portrayal of Burton.

Have you listened to any of Paul Hecht’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yeah he does a great job. Lots of foreign accents that aren't obvious and seamlessly convincing.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

yes. I got it to cover a 4 hour car trip, and when I arrived I listened straight through in the hotel room.

Any additional comments?

try this audio book. It's worth it.

Great concept, dated writing.

I read this book because the idea of historical figures returning to life and all meeting one another was intriguing. Several other writers also referred to this author and series as having inspired their work. Since I liked their work, I thought I might like this. The idea is good but I don't care too much for the writing. Farmer's pacing is off, it often duels on or returns to a certain theme too often. Events happen that make it seem as though the story will go into a certain direction but it doesn't. It goes back to where it was and stays there for several more chapters. When it ended, I just felt that it could have ended a lot faster.

Also, though this is a symptom of the time in which the book was written, it has no strong female characters. It also objectifies women too much. This is a world in which all people who died return to life young and vigorous. There is no disease, and no pregnancy. But this seems only to be a licence for women to become even more of an object of sexual and emotional desire than in the "real" world. Furthermore, we never see the situation from a woman's point of view. The story starts with an interesting female character in the form of Alice Liddle Hargreaves (the girl who inspires Alice in Wonderland) but she never develops as a character and literally disappears for the last third of the book. She's just there as a sort of mental torture for the lead (male) character Richard Burton. Interestingly enough, I also read the second book in this series, "The Fabulous Riverboat", and there is a female character there who seems to be there only to be out of reach of that book's main character Mark Twain.

I read the second part of the series because I found the idea so strong. But it was hard to relate to the events and characters in either book. I am going to read the third part only because I want to see where the story should already have gotten.

Fantastic World

Philip Jos? Farmer is a master of creating worlds, and Riverworld's probing of history and religion, mixed with a world of seemingly endless life is a perfect example. The only drawback is the other books in the series haven't been released yet- Let alone The World of Tiers series.

To your scattered bodies go

This was a great story from a classic sci-fi author. I highly recommend it. The only negative for me at the time is that part 2 wasn't yet available.

40 years later and still a great book

I loved this book at 15 and it is still great. Farmer's sociological and historical background gives a level of detail that I just love. To tell the truth I remember book #2 is the best of the lot, an opinion seconded in a recent conversation with an old friend with whom I discussed the book with 40 years ago. Neither of us is satisfied with Farmer's series ending, but the journey itself is so great that I don't really care about the ending all that much.

Excellent reding of an intriguing novel

This first part of the series has been available for several years now and I wonder why, given the many positive reviews and requests, none of the other books in the series have been recorded. Unfortunately Audible has a reputation for leaving loyal listeners in the lurch with unfinished series. Does anyone there actually read the reviews? When you have a ready and willing audience why not capitalise on it? That way everyone profits. So please! When you have started recording a series of books get all of their recordings finished!