The Fabulous Riverboat - Philip Jose Farmer Book Review

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"The Fabulous Riverboat"
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Review Summary

This is the sequel to Farmer's work To Your Scattered Bodies Go. The main character is Samuel Clemens aka Mark Twain. In the Riverworld series, everyong who ever lived has been inexplicably reborn on the shores of a river which doubles back and forth over an entire planet. Food is automatically provided for them. Samuel Clemens' quest is to create a riverboat and go sailing down the river. The problem is, there really isn't that kind of technology around. However, he is determined.

Clemens founds a kingdom and begins focusing on advancing technology. With the aid of a mysterious stranger, he manages to find needed metal deposits. However, to get his kingdom off the ground, Clements had to make alliances with some very untrustworthy people. A lot of the plot ends up focusing on the conflicts with nearby kingdoms on the river and his wariness of a political powerplay from elements within his own kingdom. With all these troubles cropping up, he has a lot of difficulty getting the work on his riverboat finished, but that always remains his central goal.
Isaac Brown, Resident Scholar

Detailed literary breakdown of The Fabulous Riverboat

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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
Descript. of chases or violence - 30%
planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 30%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20%
Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 20%

Tone of book - very upbeat
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - science fiction story
Political power play Yes
Political plotlets - preventing/managing clash/war between govts/kingdoms
Tech./$$$/Info hunt Yes
Stealing/recovering/destroying - method of transportation
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book

Main Character
Identity: - Male
Profession/status: - writer
Age: - 20's-30's
Eccentric: Yes - eccentric
How sensitive is this character? - middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence - Very much smarter than other characters
Physique - healthy but a geeky weakling

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 20's-30's
Profession/status: - Prince/Nobleman/King
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - an average amount
How sensitive is this character? - mean, arrogant
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - average physique

Setting
Terrain - Water
A substantial portion of this book takes place on a non-Earth planetary body: - humans in a primitive/fantasy society - empty, or nearly empty world
Planet outside solar system? Yes

Style
Person? - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - moderately detailed references to deaths
scientific jargon? (SF only) - none/very little science jargon needed
Sex in book? Yes
What kind of sex: - vague references only
How much dialogue? - significantly more descript than dialog

Most similar books to The Fabulous Riverboat
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter Miller Jr.
Forge of Heaven by C.J. Cherryh
Star of Gypsies by Robert Silverberg
Shadow World - Starbridge 3 by A.C. Crispin
Foreigner: A Novel of First Contact by C.J. Cherryh

Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s).

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