Book #321 of 2021:
The Magic Labyrinth by Philip José Farmer (Riverworld #4)
This 1980 sci-fi finale is honestly worse than the miserable third volume, although it picks up slightly for its closing stretch, in which the tower at the headwaters of the river is finally reached and breached. Not that that goal has ever been grounded in any clear motivation to explain why multiple people have spent over a half-century now in seeking it! Most of the novel is again nominally geared around that vague quest, minus a long diversion for the inevitable Samuel Clemens / King John battle, but we also have to sit through interminable passages of stream-of-consciousness philosophical musings and pointless backstories, telling us what every minor character did both back on earth and thus far in the resurrected afterlife. As usual, author Philip José Farmer seems particularly preoccupied by bringing in notable historical personalities rather than creating original protagonists, though they are developed so poorly beyond the simple presentation of biography that it often feels like a kid playing with action figures.
This is a series centered on mysteries, and a number of answers are provided here. But many still are not, and those we get are fairly dull and uninspired given all the build-up beforehand. Furthermore, several proposed resolutions aren’t even necessarily the truth, merely idle conjectures with no more evidence than we’ve had all along, despite how they’re received. For an intended conclusion, this book never manages to offer definitive compelling closure on any such open topics.
While I’m nitpicking, I hate all the tossed-off details about the luxury of Sam’s riverboat too, like its ten pianos and closed-circuit security cameras, which fly in the face of everything we’ve heard about this resource-strapped setting and civilization created from scratch. And I loathe that we have yet another redemption story for the Nazi leader Hermann Göring, arguing that his earthly crimes are forgivable and he’s worth readers investing in as a reformed soul.
So, am I going to continue on to Gods of Riverworld, the loose sequel to this main quartet? I don’t know. I remember it being weaker yet, and based on how the rest of the entries have failed to live up to my childhood recollections, I can’t say that I’m in a hurry to be underwhelmed further. On the other hand, my morbid curiosity may just get the better of me.
[Content warning for racism including slurs, ableism including slurs, sexism, fatphobia, incest, and rape.]
★☆☆☆☆
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