To Your Scattered Bodies Go - Philip José Farmer

   1971; 211 pages.  Book 1 (out of 5) of the Riverworld series.   New Author? : Yes.  Genre : Science Fiction; Space Opera.  Overall Rating : 7*/10.

    Ah yes, the Afterlife.  Nobody on Earth has been there and back, yet everybody seems to have their own idea about what it’s like.  The atheists say there is no such thing.  You just cease to be.  The agnostics are pretty sure they aren’t sure about anything concerning it.

    The Christian's view is that everyone walks around on clouds, in long white robes, playing a harp, and shining their halo.  In Hell it's the opposite, everyone is naked and in everlasting torment.  It’s not clear what this implies about people down here who live in nudist colonies, but it doesn’t seem promising.

    The Jewish view is that their people will all sleep in the ground until Yahweh reestablishes His Kingdom on Earth.  At least they’ll be well-rested when that blessed day arrives.

    Then there are the New Agers, who go along with some of the Eastern religions and believe that we’ll all be reincarnated time and time again, at least until we become one with the Universe.  I don’t know if we’d get to choose what form of life we can come back to Earth as, but if so, I’ve always wanted to live the life of a dung beetle, at least once, just to see what it’s like.

    The fact is nobody knows for sure.  Therefore, the odds are that the Afterlife, assuming it exists, will most likely be different from any of the above-mentioned theories.

    That’s what To Your Scattered Bodies Go is all about.

What’s To Like...

    To Your Scattered Bodies Go is the first book Philip José Farmer’s “Riverworld” series, wherein every human that has ever lived on Earth is resurrected to a new world simultaneously.  This includes “subhumans” (Neanderthals), and a couple of extraterrestrials who came here, wreaked havoc, and died here at some point in the near future.   Everyone is deposited along a giant river that snakes back and forth across the entire planet, girded by steep, tall mountain cliffs that cannot be climbed.

    I liked the world-building.  Those resurrected are all magically about 25 years old again, and in perfect health.  They are completely hairless, the males are all circumcised, and the females are all virgins, at least to begin with.  Those who died between the ages of 5 and 25 come back at the age they perished, and for now, the fate of anyone who died before they turned five is unknown.  There are no animals in this strange new world, and the food is supplied by strange canisters, nicknamed “grails”, which magically fill up with food and drink twice a day at mushroom-shaped structures called “grailstations”.

    There are a plethora of historical references in the storyline.  The main protagonist, Richard Francis Burton, is real (Wiki him), and is just as controversial here as he was in real life.  I recognized some of the other characters that really lived, most notably the Nazi Hermann Göring and Alice Liddell, from whom Lewis Carroll modeled the title character in Alice in Wonderland.  Our heroes  also meet a bunch of obscure “peoples” such as the Frisians and the Sarmatians.  Yeah, Wiki those, too.  I’m proud to say I already knew about the “lost state of Franklin.”

    This is a book for adults.  There are only a few cusswords; but rape, murder, and child molestation all occur, albeit off-screen.  Since no one gets pregnant, the sex is plentiful and mostly off-stage, but going to the bathroom isn’t, particularly if you were once a caveman.  Besides sustenance, the grails also supply things like bourbon, pipe tobacco, cigars, cigarettes, marijuana, and some way-kewl “psychedelic chewing gum”.  That last one leads to some curious situations.  And Richard Francis Burton is apparently bisexual, which also happens to be historically accurate.

    The book's main storyline is Burton’s quest to understand why everyone suddenly popped up here on Riverworld and who is responsible for it.  It’s rather obvious this isn’t heaven, purgatory, or hell.  It is quickly established that those resurrected can die again, only to be reborn somewhere else on the planet.  Someone’s magically filling the grails to feed the entire population, so there’s some sort of Superior Intelligence manipulating things.  For what reason would they create Riverworld?  Perhaps the answer lies at the origin of the great river itself, wherever that is.

Kewlest New Word...

Riparian (adj.) : related to or situated on the banks of a river.

Others : Profligately (adv.) Close-Haul (adj., nautical); “Deep in one’s cups” (phrase).

Excerpts...

    The child did not seem to be disturbed by the dead man.  She had been curious about the first corpse, instead of horrified by its burned appearance.

    “If she really is an ancient Gaul,” Frigate said, “she may be used to seeing charred bodies.  If I remember correctly, the Gauls burned sacrifices alive in big wicker baskets at religious ceremonies.  I don’t remember what god or goddess the ceremonies were in honor of.  I wish I had a library to refer to.  Do you think we’ll ever have one here?  I think I would go nuts if I didn’t have a book to read.”

    “That remains to be seen,” Burton said.  “If we’re not provided with a library, we’ll make our own.”  (pg. 44)

    Burton had never heard of two dying in the same place and at the same time being resurrected together.  The process of selection of area for the new life was random – or so he had always thought.

    One such occurrence could conceivably take place, although the probabilities were one in twenty million.  But two such, one immediately after the other, was a miracle.

    Burton did not believe in miracles.  Nothing happened that could not be explained by physical principles – if you knew all the facts.  (pg. 169)

“There are no secrets among the dead.  ... or among the ex-dead, either.”  (pg. 56)

    The quibbles were minor.  For starters, several new characters (such as Galeazzi, Rocco, and Brontich) pop into Burton’s little clique with little or no introduction.  They stay for a short time, then disappear again, making me wonder why they were ever needed.  Perhaps they have more significant parts to play in the sequels.

    The ending doesn’t really tie up any plot threads, although it does stop at a logical spot in the action, so that’s okay.  I actually picked up To Your Scattered Bodies Go as part of a two-book “bundle” at the used-book store, so I’ll probably be reading the sequel in the not-too-distant future.  Peeking ahead, I note that Sam Clemens (“Mark Twain”) appears to be the main protagonist in the next book, and that’s something to look forward to.

    Overall, I found To Your Scattered Bodies Go to be a satisfying read.  It seemed like a mash-up of classical 1950’s Sci-Fi and modern-day Space Opera.  That made for some clunky spots, but it kept me entertained.  And hey, any story where Hermann Göring undergoes some significant character-development is worth examining.

    7 Stars.  FYI, the titular To Your Scattered Bodies Go comes from a sonnet written by the highbrow poet John Donne:

     At the round earth's imagin'd corners, blow
    Your trumpets, angels, and arise, arise
    From death, you numberless infinities
    Of souls, and to your scattered bodies go.