Review of 'To Your Scattered Bodies Go' on 'GoodReads'
3 stars
Well, 2021 is the 50th anniversary of the publication of "To Your Scattered Bodies Go," which won the Hugo award for best novel, and was adapted twice for television. I suppose it is worth noting that the story was actually serialized in 1965/66, and was based on an unpublished manuscript from the 1950s.
So... does it hold up in 2021?
Sort of. As other reviewers here have noted, it's quite sexist. I would say that it is a product of its time, but the sexism here does bring to mind much of "Game of Thrones," which is a product of our time.
On the plus side, Farmer's pulpy prose zips along at a wonderful pace. The book is tightly plotted and readable. There's no filler here. Richard Francis Burton is the sort of good-at-everything protagonist that Farmer loved to write. Some might find that tiresome, but this moves the plot …
Well, 2021 is the 50th anniversary of the publication of "To Your Scattered Bodies Go," which won the Hugo award for best novel, and was adapted twice for television. I suppose it is worth noting that the story was actually serialized in 1965/66, and was based on an unpublished manuscript from the 1950s.
So... does it hold up in 2021?
Sort of. As other reviewers here have noted, it's quite sexist. I would say that it is a product of its time, but the sexism here does bring to mind much of "Game of Thrones," which is a product of our time.
On the plus side, Farmer's pulpy prose zips along at a wonderful pace. The book is tightly plotted and readable. There's no filler here. Richard Francis Burton is the sort of good-at-everything protagonist that Farmer loved to write. Some might find that tiresome, but this moves the plot along quickly.
I also appreciate Farmer's narrow world-building here. Literally, I mean. Though the titular planet houses thirty billion people, all of the communities are stuck in a narrow valley lined by impenetrable mountains. There is nowhere to go but up the river. This is Riverworld, and by God the characters are going to stay on the river. As I said, the plot moves along quickly.
I will likely revist the second book in the series. I last read it in the 1990s. My memory is that it has less sexism, but I could be wrong.
