To Your Scattered Bodies Go
Written by Philip Jose Farmer
www.ink2quill.com

“To Your Scattered Bodies Go” is a scifi gem of a scifi novel written by American writer Philip Jose Farmer. It is the first book in “The Riverworld Series”. A man who aspired to write works the caliber of authors like Heinlein. The title of the novel is inspired from the poem, named Holy Sonnets, of the English poet, John Donne.

“To Your Scattered Bodies Go” starts with the protagonist, the British adventurer Richard Francis Burton, awakening in a dark room naked. He is floating on his back with people, lying on their backs also like him. As it turns out, he has died and has some how been reborn into a young body along with the rest of humanity. Everybody who has ever lived and died is suddenly reincarnated in their 30 year old bodies along some long river that stretched for thousands of miles. The story develops from there and turns out to be a journey of discover for Richard. He has as many question as us, the reader. There is one small advantage that Richard has that nearly all other people who reincarnated do not. He awakened early and experienced and witnessed humanity get dumped onto the River world. So he knew that some advanced intelligences was directing this reincarnation project of humanity, but he did not know why or how to escape the reincarnation cycle.

The planet or place humanity is stuck on is called Riverworld and this Riverworld is a place where people cannot die for good. They are simply reincarnated at some other part of Riverworld, brought back, initially naked, then, later on with a cloth for covering. Groups of people coalesce into communities and eventually towns and cities. A lot of the problems and pathologies from old Earth follow humanity into this new place. There is war, exploitation and cruelty. Unlike old Earth, money has no value but there is barter and pillage. In my opinion, the object of Riverworld reincarnation, for the individual, is to escape the reincarnation cycle. This is not a gift to humanity or any kind of ascension. This is a kind of farm.

This journey continues into the sequel novel where Sam Clemens, yes Mark Twain himself, builds a Riverboat to reach the end of the long River to get some answers. He spends his lives into acquiring resources and building a riverboat that will achieve his objective.

The Scifi Channel made a series based on these books but the stories were so different you cannot watch the TV series and have any clue about the books. I had never seen the topic of reincarnation treated in such a way in the scifi genre before so this was a fresh story for me. That is one of the things that make it such a good book. This story is a journey where, we the reader, are eager to follow along to its conclusion.

I loved the idea of having the protagonist be an adventurer from Britain. It really is a stereotype that fits well with the story. He is a wiz with languages and has a fairly good intelligence to survive and pursue the right goals. HIs life on Riverworld is a journey. For example, he does not seek power or the enslavement of others. He seeks answers and those kinds of protagonists often make the best ones. They are not weighted by vices, love of violence, excessive wealth, fame or any other delusion that promises fulfillment.

And, of course there is the drug that everybody on Riverworld gets with their food. The Dreamgum, as its called, is a strange drug. It is interesting though how everybody is given the Dreamgum for reasons not specified. Is it as a distraction or used to numb people? Or is it to reach different states of consciousness? People seem to use it for all the above. Some people even misuse it and become addicts. Others use it and commit serious crimes, so the effects of Dreamgum are so varied and very controversial.

This is an interesting story that explores life and consciousness after death. It explores humanity’s fate in the grand scheme of things and how it just might be possible that more advanced intelligences exploit the less intelligent ones. It also hints at the possibility that more advanced intelligences can evolve themselves into a box with no way out. Some great thinkers have called intelligence and the reliance on it to be a deathtrap for the human species. This story hints at that and I don’t think it’s a theme that is told enough in stories, especially the scifi genre.

I won’t give away any spoilers but the ending is a very good lead in to the next book called “The Fabulous Riverboat”.

Written by John Ink2Quill

I2Q Blogs / The Written Medium ink2quill / john / quill / scifi / Twain /