To Your Scattered Bodies Go (1971)

2.5 stars. This was a fun page-turner that I gobbled down in the first two days of the year, but I didn't find much value beyond the entertainment. I have no desire to read the second book or the rest of the series, because so many questions were left unanswered and I sense Farmer's main source of tension is going to be these mysteries. Since the main drive of the plot is the sci-fi concept, I suppose it is a testament to Farmer's style that he kept my attention while providing relatively little psychological depth to the characters. The breadth of history Farmer uses to compose his strange world is exciting in its potential, but ultimately falls short and remains a gimmick -- we don't really learn all that much history and various cultures are differentiated poorly. I was also turned off by the casual misogyny throughout. All women were objects without any depth. I found it hard to believe that on the first day of their resurrection everyone just decided to start banging whoever they could find despite the fact that they are naked, confused, unsheltered, and surrounded by strangers. Even the women seemed resigned to finding a sex partner in the very first days of this strange new existence. Finding a woman to share a man's hut was a nearly constant detail surrounding every character with agency at every stage of the plot; it seemed very gratuitous.

It sort of reminded me of Sir Patrick Stewart's amazing cameo in "Extras", where he plays a sex-obsessed version of himself. He has written an idiotic script he wants others to read in which the main character can control the world with his mind, but all he does with his power is cause women's clothes to fall off. Stewart titters on and on as he imagines the naked bodies in his unproduced film: "and then I see everything. I see it all!" Farmer too seems a bit obsessed with everybody being nakey.

The best thing about this short novel was putting Richard Burton on my radar. What a fascinating historical figure. I was aware of him and his Arabian Nights, but I had no idea the extent of his adventurous life. I want to read a biography or historical narrative about him now. ( )

2.5 stars. This was a fun page-turner that I gobbled down in the first two days of the year, but I didn't find much value beyond the entertainment. I have no desire to read the second book or the rest of the series, because so many questions were left unanswered and I sense Farmer's main source of tension is going to be these mysteries. Since the main drive of the plot is the sci-fi concept, I suppose it is a testament to Farmer's style that he kept my attention while providing relatively little psychological depth to the characters. The breadth of history Farmer uses to compose his strange world is exciting in its potential, but ultimately falls short and remains a gimmick -- we don't really learn all that much history and various cultures are differentiated poorly. I was also turned off by the casual misogyny throughout. All women were objects without any depth. I found it hard to believe that on the first day of their resurrection everyone just decided to start banging whoever they could find despite the fact that they are naked, confused, unsheltered, and surrounded by strangers. Even the women seemed resigned to finding a sex partner in the very first days of this strange new existence. Finding a woman to share a man's hut was a nearly constant detail surrounding every character with agency at every stage of the plot; it seemed very gratuitous.

It sort of reminded me of Sir Patrick Stewart's amazing cameo in "Extras", where he plays a sex-obsessed version of himself. He has written an idiotic script he wants others to read in which the main character can control the world with his mind, but all he does with his power is cause women's clothes to fall off. Stewart titters on and on as he imagines the naked bodies in his unproduced film: "and then I see everything. I see it all!" Farmer too seems a bit obsessed with everybody being nakey.

The best thing about this short novel was putting Richard Burton on my radar. What a fascinating historical figure. I was aware of him and his Arabian Nights, but I had no idea the extent of his adventurous life. I want to read a biography or historical narrative about him now. ( )

Science Fiction

Why was this a big deal? Not diggin' it. ( )

Shortly after his death in 1890, British explorer, linguist, and writer Richard Francis Burton reawakens in a massive chamber filled with bodies suspended in mid-air. He is then confronted by men in a flying craft who fire upon him, knocking him unconscious.

Burton and many others from the chamber are revived, hairless and naked, along the shores of a massive river in what at first appears to be paradise. Although for some, it does not resemble the afterlife as described by their religious doctrine.

It is soon learned that they had been resurrected from different eras of Earth's history from Neanderthal through the 21st century—including an extraterrestrial from Tau Ceti who died on Earth in 2008.

Each is equipped with a container, later called a “grail,” tethered to his or her wrist. As they explore this pastoral land, noticably devoid of animal and insect life, the people discover large rocks every few miles. These "grailstones" provide supplies including many of the familiar foods and beverages of Earth as well as cigarettes, marijuana, and a “dream gum” that induces everything from hallucinations to loss of sexual inhibitions.

For mutual protection, Burton forms a group consisting of a Neanderthal who calls himself Kazz, a 20th century science fiction writer named Peter Frigate, the famous Victorian-era aristocrat Alice Liddell-Hargreaves, and Monat, the alien from Tau Ceti.

Eventually, Burton and his group build a crude sailboat and make their way down the river until, after a lengthy battle, they are captured and brought into a village ruled by none other than former Nazi leader Hermann Göring and Tullus Hostilius, the third King of Rome. Burton leads a successful escape from the village during which, Göring is killed—albeit temporarily. Almost everyone who dies on the river world is eventually resurrected elsewhere.

More importantly, Burton and company capture an agent of the “Ethicals,” the scientifically advanced beings who modified the planet onto which they resurrected millons of Earth’s dead. However, the man commits suicide before providing any helpful information.

Burton, now a target of the Ethicals, continues his quest to uncover their true motives—even if he has to die nearly a thousand deaths to do so.

To Your Scattered Bodies Go (1971) is the first book in Philip Jose Farmer's groundbreaking magnum opus Riverworld saga, which continued with The Fabulous Riverboat (1971), The Dark Design (1977), The Magic Labrynth (1980), Gods of Riverworld (1983), River of Eternity (1983) and a few anthologies. Each book introduces true figures from Earth history including Richard Francis Burton, Alice Hargreaves, Samuel Clemens, Tom Mix, Mozart, Cyrano de Bergerac, Jack London, Marcellin Marbot, King John of England, Baron Lothar Siegfried von Richthofen, and others.

No science fiction reader's journey should be considered complete without a journey to Farmer's Riverworld. ( )