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)

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.

I was completely enthralled.

After he died, the famous 19th century explorer Sir Richard Francis Burton wasn???t surprised to find that what the Christian priests had taught about the Resurrection wasn???t true. But he was totally bewildered by what actually happened. He woke up young, hairless, naked, and turning in midair (as if on a spit) in the middle of 37 billion other young, hairless, naked and rotating humans. Soon after waking, the bodies ??? all the people over the age of five who had ever lived ??? plunged to the ground and began their new lives together in a giant river valley... Is this Heaven, Hell, Purgatory, or is it some huge social experiment being run by aliens? Most of the humans, happy that their basic needs are being met, are content to just be living again. Some people see this as an opportunity to seize the power and wealth that they had, or never obtained, on Earth. But Sir Richard just wants to know what???s going on. He seems to be the only person who got a glimpse behind the scenes of their new home and, not only does he resent being manipulated, but his curiosity is insatiable. So, he and a few companions set out to explore the Riverworld and, they hope, to discover the source of the river and find some answers. Richard Francis Burton, a fascinating and scandalous man in real life, is the perfect character to explore the Riverworld. Philip Jose Farmer???s depiction of Burton, and several other real historical figures, is superb, though occasionally teachy when Farmer periodically interjects an encyclopedic-sounding aside about a character???s life. It???s hilarious to watch Burton learn about 20th-century history and interact with some of its denizens. The best aspect of TYSBG is its original premise ??? the idea of all of humanity spread out, generally in chronological order, along a giant river which can be traveled, like a human timeline.TYSBG, written in 1971, is creative, exciting, fast-paced, and totally absorbing. I was completely enthralled.

New world for me

I enjoyed being in a new world of writing. not usually for me. narration great

Surpirsingly Interesting.

A well-written and interesting take on a non-traditional look at life after death and the search for meaning.

Great story

Great story very well done , read the book years ago still holds up today will read all Jose
Books

Great classic

Thrilling and imaginative. Dear publisher & Audible: please release the rest of the Riverworld series very soon.

Creativity

The creativity in the book is amazing. It’s so well written, I just wish it was talked about more

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.