Riverworld V: Gods of Riverworld by Philip Jose Farmer

When a series of novels like the Riverworld series by Philip Jose Farmer concludes, we are often left wanting to read even more. We want to know what happens next to the characters we’ve followed and read about over the course of several novels, and to the planet they’ve lived on. Rarely do we get such a chance, unless the author decides to continue on writing a different series featuring one or more of the characters, or other authors write short stories or novels based on what’s come previously, like with the Dune novels. But at least as far back as the third book in the Riverworld series (The Dark Design), Farmer pondered in the Preface about the possibility of writing a fifth, and maybe even a sixth, Riverworld novel, despite its “conclusion” with the fourth one, The Magic Labyrinth. Does Gods of Riverworld equal or match the quality of writing of the rest of the series? Are all of the lingering questions answered, and have all of the remaining loose ends been tied up? Read on to find out!

Riverworld V: Gods of Riverworld takes up the story of what happens to the explorer, author, poet, anthropologist, and linguist Sir Richard Burton and his diverse band of followers a few weeks after the supposed final resolution and revelations of The Magic Labyrinth. I have not mentioned much nor have I focused on most of Burton’s group before, with the exceptions of Alice Pleasance Liddell Hargreaves (the Alice whom Lewis Carrol immortalized in Alice In Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass), the alien Monat, and the science fiction author (who Farmer loosely based upon himself) Peter Jarius Frigate, but they played important roles in the fourth book, and continue to do so in Gods of Riverworld.

Besides these characters, the other ones who become major players in Gods of Riverworld are Loga, the renegade Ethical; Li Po, the famous 8th century Chinese poet, swordsman, adventurer, drunkard, and lover, whom many still call China’s best poet of all time; Tom Turpin, African American ragtime pioneer who sets up his own land with resurrected people of his choice; Aphra Behn, 15th century writer and spy, the first Englishwoman to make a living as a writer; Nur ed-Din el-Musaphir, 11th century Sufi wise man, adventurer, and philosopher; and Jean Marcelin de Marbot, 17th century warrior, on whom Sir Arthur Conan Doyle based his Brigadier Gerard stories.

Burton and his pals have made it to the world-within-a-world that is the headquarters of the Ethicals, the god-like aliens who are behind the scheme to resurrect over thirty billion of Earth’s population, from various periods in our history, in the name of a grand experiment. They have learned a lot about the reasons behind the experiment from Monat and Loga, but still have many unanswered questions. When Loga is killed, Burton and his followers realize that someone else is in the headquarters with them, intent on stopping them from finding out any more. Can they figure out who their adversary is and stop him/her before anyone else dies?

As with the entire series, we are treated/subjected to (whatever your opinion might be) the philosophies and POVs of Burton and the other characters on the meaning of life, religion, sex, racism, and everything else under the sun. Personally, liked reading as much about these interesting characters as I could, so I could learn more about their motivations, and about them as people. Other people who’ve read the entire series, though, believe that it could have greatly benefited from being edited down a great bit. I didn’t mind, because that’s how Farmer is/was as an author–delighting in probing into life’s deep questions and causing his readers to think about them as they also enjoyed some of the science fiction field’s best writing.

I probably enjoyed reading the first half of the novel the most. That’s because Burton and his friends travel all over the Tower’s immense reaches, to explore it, learn more about it, and to try to ascertain the Snark’s hiding place. Also, I liked the part when they figured out that the Computer, while denying them access to some of the answers they wanted, still allowed them great powers. They could bring to life people they knew from their past life on Earth, or that they meet on Riverworld, for instance. Also, they created their own unique habitats: Alice creates Wonderland, Frigate an antebellum plantation in the Jurassic, Burton an Arabian Nights, and Turpin creates Turpinville, a gold-plated fantasy red light district in which he is the undisputed Boss.

The entire novel is pretty good, though it gets bogged down here and there with pondering on subjects like wathans (artificially created “souls” that everyone who has ever lived has), and what finally makes it possible for certain people who have attained certain levels of “goodness” to eventually Go On. I found this to be similar to what the Buddhists believe will happen to those who achieve nirvana, and get absorbed into the cosmic consciousness, or Oversoul. Determining who can Go On is the main purpose of the entire Riverworld and Gardenworld (Gardenworld being a planet set aside for those under age 5) experiments.

Is Philip Jose Farmer’s Gods of Riverworld successful? Is it as good as the rest of the series? Ultimately, I’d answer with a “Yes, but…” to these two questions. The series is epic in its nature and scope, and Farmer’s ability to sustain the wonder he builds in his readers and their love for the characters he writes about makes the series IMHO one of SF’s best-ever. Like I said, though, not everyone thinks like I do about it, believing it could benefited by greater editorial control, to rein in Farmer’s philosophizing to a greater degree–to each his/her own. What are your views/opinions about the series and Gods of Riverworld? Please leave your comments below!