Book #345 of 2021: Gods of Riverworld by Philip José Farmer (Riverworld #5) This somewhat-vestigial sequel to the core Riverworld plot is actually an improvement over the past couple titles, although it’s still not great. Having finally reached the grand tower at the head of the river in the previous story, the remaining protagonists spend …
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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 …
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Book #309 of 2021: The Dark Design by Philip José Farmer (Riverworld #3) The longest, slowest, and most inscrutable Riverworld novel yet. Another decade has passed in this strange afterlife, although technology, politics, and culture don’t seem to have changed much in the meantime. The biggest recent development is that people are no longer resurrected …
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Book #297 of 2021: The Fabulous Riverboat by Philip José Farmer (Riverworld #2) It’s two decades later in the Riverworld, that strange place where everyone from earth’s history woke up restored to their 25-year-old bodies, which have not gotten any older in the meantime. (The children have likewise stopped aging after catching up to the …
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Book #286 of 2021: To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Philip José Farmer (Riverworld #1) This Hugo-winning tale from 1971 pitches an intriguing scenario: all humanoids who have ever lived on the earth — including neanderthals from the distant past and an alien who was visiting the planet in 2008 — are resurrected in the …
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