The book is a little strange and the language is dated (cira 1960's - 1970's).
The story is about takes place sometime in the future, but never fully explains when in the future it takes place in. The story could take place in the 1980's or 2000's, the author never makes it clear to the reader. The sex is extremely softcore and with some references to homosexual acts, the story moves along at a semi-fast clip.
The charaters in the story are a strange assortment of good, bad and fence sitters
IF you can ignore the outdated langage and descriptions and don't mind some extremely (by today's standards) PG rated sex acts, then this book is for you.

An underground classic, a melding of sci-fi and erotica, this book is like no other you'll ever read. I read it 20 years ago, lent my second hand copy to someone, and never saw it again. Not for children, prudes, or the squeemish. If you think you've read it all, read this. You'll never forget it.

"The Maker of Universes" begins Philip Jose Farmer's "The World of Tiers" series of novels. "The World of Tiers" features a host of alternate universes, all "next door" to Earth and accessed through hidden gates, created and ruled by a decadent and technologically advanced race of Lords. This first novel opens with the Earthman Robert Wolff summoned to one of these parallel universes, to discover his Lordly heritage and to set right the evils of his world. Later installments introduce the human hero Kickaha and other members of Wolff's family. These books are fantasy yarns in the spirit of Edgar Rice Burroughs's John Carter of Mars adventures, and Farmer's Machiavellian family of Lords prefigures Corwin and relatives in Roger Zelazny's Amber chronicles. By comparison with these two siblings, "The World of Tiers" is certainly the runt of the litter. Farmer never fails to choose the trite cliche when confronted with a plot decision. The third novel in the series features the Lord Anana falling in love with the human Kickaha, overcome by his masculine charm, despite her "murderous" nature and previous disdain for lowly humans. No convincing argument for this transformation is presented, and it is clearly intended as a sop for Farmer's predominantly male audience. Similar teenage male pulp fiction conventions crowd the plot, never reworked artfully, and the action drags almost unbearably after several hundred pages. The story also suffers from an odd disjointedness; the characters in the novel periodically become possessed of vast knowledge concerning newly encountered races and cities, unbeknownst to the reader. A paragraph will suddenly contain a multitude of unintroduced terms and names with which the protagonist is intimately familiar, despite his complete ignorance of the landscape in the previous paragraph.

Readers who enjoy this style of fiction might derive a few afternoons of enjoyment from Farmer's "The World of Tiers." I'd much rather rejoin John Carter and the lovely Dejah Thoris on Barsoom, or travel with Corwin and Random through Shadow.

This first volume in the World of Tiers series features fast-paced, non-stop action/adventure from one of the finest practitioners of such in the fantasy genre. There's no time for character development or detailed scientific explanations in this one - once Robert Wolff hears that trumpet call and pops through a hole into another world, everybody's too busy swinging and ducking to philosophize much. But as with Farmer's truly brilliant Riverworld series, the extreme breadth of physical settings and social groups keeps readers constantly wondering what comes next. The whole adventure takes place on an other-dimensional world shaped like a giant wedding cake, with different societies existing on each tier, and the quest structure ensures constant movement from one locale to another. The plot is painfully simplistic, and quickly breaks down into a pattern of travel sequences followed by fight scenes, whereas more space could've been devoted to establishing motivations, and explaining various phenomena. The ending seems particularly rushed and the surprising twists are revealed so hastily they have almost no impact - by the time we know who's who and what's what, the book's already over. Of course there are plenty of other books in the series, so maybe this story is just the beginning, but having read just this first volume, I would not be quick to recommend this book to science fiction fans. Fantasy/adventure addicts should enjoy this book for Farmer's mastery of slam-bang action, but overall, it's really only a little better than average.

I have read this book series at least 3 times over the past two decades. This unique sci-fi/fantasy series is a great and fun read. Its too bad the last couple of the "newest" of the series were so horribly bad. I waited years for LAVALITE WORLD and it was for nothing!
Oh, well. The best of the series are book #1, 3 and 5.

This is the 5th book in the Riverworld series.

The main character is now only Burton, although the story does focus on other characters in his party for brief amounts of time.

The main plot here is having reached the tower and solved its mystery the party must now solve the mystery of a Renegade in control of the tower. The story centers on this and also the pleasures they take by using the almost god-like power of the computer in the tower.

This is a pretty good novel but the boring sequences from the last one are here in spades and now come in the form of intricate backgrounds of each of the characters. Also there is a strange weirdness you may feel while reading this because of the fact that the whole book 326 pages takes place in the tower in a relatively short period of time. This is where many other reviewers got the notion that the Author just threw this book in to make some cash.

Still it's exciting to follow Burton around without the hindrances of a huge amount of people and one thing I can say about this novel and the one previous is that towards the very end there is a point where everything is explained. It's kind the equivalent of the bad guy in Scooby Doo removing his mask and explaining why he "could have pulled it of if it weren't for those darn kids." And these points are very exciting and make you sit up and pay attention since basically this is exactly what you've been waiting to find out for 5 books.

Note: There is one very specific discrepancy I would like to point out. It's around page 28, and it's where the party is talking about living together because of the Renegade, Turpin asks Frigate if he's ever been in the slammer and Frigate replies only in his own personal one. THEN Burton thinks to himself that Frigates statement wasn't true because Frigate had been a prisoner several time including under Hermann Goring(this took place in To Your Scattered Bodies Go, and Burton was there also).....Well this is very strange because it was later revealed (in The Dark Design) that the Frigate that was in Goring's prison with Burton was not the same Frigate as the one in the tower currently! And Burton Knew this! So he should not have thought. Anyone that has read this far will know the story behind the two Frigates I don't want to reveal too much. But that's a pretty bid mistake.

----In regards to the other reviews of this series that I've written, I'd like to say a few words concerning the series as a whole...

Well over all I'd say this is a pretty good series. I could have used some editing in some places and some more info in others. But I have to say the feeling I had when I finished the last couple lines of the last book was a good one. I wanted there to be more after 5 books I was surprised and saddened that it ended. So unless you have nothing better to do go ahead read through this and skip over the stuff that is boring because believe me you won't be missing anything. Otherwise if your really bored you can just read every word of it, that's what I did the first two times I read the series.

I bet most people do not know that there ars seventeen volumes to the Thousand and One Arabian Nights. Or that Richard F Burton was the translator. Now you may be wondering what this has to do with The Gods of Riverworld, well I"ll tell you. Don't rush me. The connection for me is good old fashioned story telling. I believe that Mr. Farmer added a fifth book to the series for the same reason that Shahrazad told seventeens volumes of tales ----- becaue it's in the blood. Like a Dickens or a King or a Jordan, Mr. Farmer is passionate about his story and his characters. Now it's easy to complain that PJF is not a Updike or a Joyce, but so what, literary taste is subjective. Both Mailer and Vidal slam Updike's prose, but again so what. I feel it is ill considered to think that this book was just a slapped together effort just for the bucks. PJF has a great concept, aliens create humanity's souls/self consciousness and ressurect everyone who has ever lived. PJF has a great metaphysical question, the meaning of life/reality. PJF has the greatest characters, Richard Burton, Mark Twain, Prince John, Alice in Wonderland, Tom Turpin, Tom Mix, Jack the Ripper, Loga etc..PJF needed this last book to come full circle like T.S.Elliot tells us in Four Quarters.

"Old men ought to be explorers
Here or there does not matter
We must be still and still moving
Into another intensity
For a further union, a deeper communion
Through the dark cold and empty desolation,
The wave cry, the wind cry, the vast waters
Of the petrel and the porpoise. In my end is my beginning."

As other, less generous reviewers below note, this is not necessarily indispensible-- you can read the 4-book Riverworld series without reading this and feel completely satisfied with its denouement. But Farmer is always thought-provoking, and I was pleased to have read this additional (and unquestionably final) chapter in the saga. As Farmer so often does, here again he completely confounds expectations and reverses the "truth" of the previous books. Philosophizing here as in all his other works, he tackles themes that flow through his entire oeuvre-- morality, immortality, free will, theology... there's little he misses along the way. So, if the Riverworld series is your cup of tea, and the first four books pleased you, this is a solid bet-- don't miss it for the final pieces of the puzzle.

This book differs in a couple of ways from the earlier books in the RIVERWORLD series. Instead of focusing on a single character, this book shifts between several points of view. And as previous reviewers have noted, there are lengthy digressions inside the head of Peter J. Frigate, a thinly-disguised version of the series author. As far as plot goes, some of the characters have come up with a much better way to reach the tower at the end of the River--Instead of retracing the twisty path of the River over every inch of the globe, they will just build a dirigible and fly directly there. To make this possible, Farmer had to retroactively lower the mountains of Riverworld--This is rather lamely explained as an error of perspective. We also discover that there is something seriously wrong amongst the secret masters of Riverworld. It's apparent their agents among the resurrectees have lost communication with their bosses, and are desperately trying to re-establish it. Also, the spectre of permanent death has returned once more to humanity. Some of the characters seem a bit retro-70s now. Of course, it can be argued that their personalities ARE from the 1970s! :-) Reading it for the first time in two decades, I enjoyed the book, but it certainly didn't advance the storyline very much.

Farmer's third offering in the Riverworld series, while better than "The Fabulous Riverboat" does not hold a candle to "To Your Scattered Bodies Go". The lenghty sections on Frigate's dreams and thoughts certainly hurt the book. They provide no useful information on a character (Frigate) who is not even a main element in the story. Consequently, this detracts from the book. Also, it seems that every time the story gets some momentum, the author breaks away into some discussion of some topic using his characters to voice his own opinions and thoughts. Many writers do this but not so blatantly and to the extent that is done here. For me, I am completely uninterested in the writer's personal philosphies, thoughts and opinions on matters unrelated to the Riverworld series - I just want to read a good story.

"To Your Scattered Bodies Go" (the first book in the series) set up one of the best science fiction premises that I have read. The potential for a gripping series is lessened by the lack of momentum and sidetracking found in "The Dark Design".

The story is still good but is only slightly advanced in this 450 page book. Few new revelations are made. This book could have been easily decreased by about 150 pages with nothing important being lost.

"The Dark Design" is a lot like "The Godfather, Part II" -- when you first read it, you don't care much for it. But then as time passes and you think about it and/or re-read it, you realize that not only does it not stink, but it's probably the best in the series.

There's not much plot advancement in terms of the overall series, but what we DO have is an overall look at the Riverworld, Farmer's greatest creation. Think about it: you've been resurrected on a world where all your physical needs are taken care of, but there are almost no metal resources and the nearest answers are millions of miles of sailing away. What would everyday life be like in such a place? What would become of humanity? And what kind of person would seek those answers? This is why the various characterizations in the book fascinate me -- with dozens of characters in the book (and billions on the Riverworld), it's easy to forget what's so fascinating about the premise of Riverworld: every single inhabitant has at least one full lifetime behind them. (And to those who disagree, you at least have to admit that the Welsh poetry thesis defense story is priceless. :o) To those who complain that nothing interesting happens, I say that PLENTY of interesting things happen -- they simply happen to be subtle.

I'll admit to being biased -- I like subtlety and characterization in my novels. If you are a purely casual/surface level reader, or are simply impatient to see how things turn out, then you can safely skip this book and pick up "The Magic Labyrinth." You can pick up most of what plot development you missed, and you can always come back to this one later. But if you're patient, thoughtful, and want to find the real Riverworld, then this book is a must-read. ~DH

This book's subtitle unabashedly proclaims it to be "A Rationalization And Extrapolation Of The Split-Level Continuum", a bit of obfuscation which prepares us for this attempt to bring logical scientific analysis to the astounding world of Frank L. Baum's beloved Oz books. Whether such a thing should actually have been attempted is clearly a matter of taste, but it seems likely that fans of the Baum books who also enjoy science fiction will find this novel an amusing blend of wild fantasy and desperate rationalization. The hero is Hank Stover, a World War I veteran flier and barnstormer (and coincidentally, son of the legendary Dorothy), who flies his Jenny (a Curtiss JN-4H biplane) into a mysterious emerald haze and comes out in the wonderland described by his mother many years before. As might be expected, Farmer has to go to considerable lengths to explain the world of Oz, with its talking animals, sentient objects, warring witches, and diminutive inhabitants. He makes some "corrections" to the original Oz books, changes that he asserts Baum made in order to conform to the mores of the age, or the needs of the narrative, or even simple disbelief at Dorothy's eyewitness account. Even given these points, though, Farmer has to resort to some very shaky scientific assumptions, and there are many points which he simply has to call "magic", i.e., the result of a technology that is far beyond ours. Unfortunately, the biggest weakness of this novel is not the science, but the matter-of-fact way that Farmer relates this science fiction take on a classic fantasy -- with very little wonder and a minimum of enthusiasm. Instead, we get a straight-ahead action/adventure without any trace of humor or irony. By constantly trying to explain the principles behind the marvels, he robs the story of its magic (not literally, but emotionally), and by focusing on conflicts between Oz' various factions, he eliminates most of the fun as well. There's plenty of action and some interesting battle scenes, including one between two witches, and a fateful altercation between Glinda the Good and President Harding, but most of this book is pretty standard modern-meets-medieval stuff. Lacking the joy and innocent wonder of Baum's stories, this book seems destined to please readers who loved the Oz books as children, but outgrew them and turned to science fiction instead. They'd do better to re-read Baum's classics, since Farmer's Oz is not really such a wonderful place.

As a man who writes Oz books himself with points that are slightly more adult than Baum, Thompson, Neil, or Snow I can understand Farmer's desires a bit more than most. The reverent love he displays for Glinda in this book is some of the most moving work I've seen in my reading days. However Mr. Farmer seems to rely on a disillusioned childhood as his looking glass for Oz as there is no Ozma (Blasphemy!), Jack Pumpkinhead, or other characters after the Wizard of Oz in this story and he disregards some of Baum's own corrections to his stories to hold onto the idea 'scientiffic Oz' is a better place. The moral relativism and grays in this story depresses what could have been a beautiful trek through the magical land some of the science is as surreal as Baum's magic. I enjoyed the book truly and am glad I bought it but I think I'll stick with the Famous Forty myself for my reading pleasure. The story is...depressing

I like all Phillip Jose Farmer stories. I also like what he did with this. The original fantasy story is too kiddie oriented. I loved the Baum originals when I was young, but now I want something more adult. I wish there would be a remake of the Wizard of Oz in film that was adjusted for adults.

Found myself scanning to find an interesting plot. I must have missed something. I never could get into these varied stories. I've read Farmer's first five books in the series and I felt disappointed with "Tales of Riverworld." I hope someone else enjoys this book more than I did.

I am beginning to wonder if the previous reviewer actually read the same book that I did?

I found these stories to be amazingly good probably on my top three list of short stories.

I liked them all but my favorite has got to be(get name of story) Where Davy Crocket hoping to refight the Battle of the Alamo learns that there is no profit in revenge.

Also there is (get name of story) Where an actor pretending to be Robin of the Hood helps Julies Vern to recover his Utopia from Al Capone.

Now I realize that the two stories I've mentioned sound like a bad acid trip but you must keep in mind that all things are possible in Riverworld. Saint mingles with Sinner, Viking could fight Monguls, Elvis could run for president if he wanted to and these are just a few of the possibilities.

This book is quite a surprise for anyone who has read a lot of PJF's work. It involves a private eye, Heralde Child (a sort of proto-Christian leitmotif character who appears in - I'm ashamed that I can't remember - the Kirlian Quest series which either Farmer or Piers Anthony wrote) who becomes involved in a battle for the fate of humanity (really?) against monsters from another universe. Although the characters are true to the PJF model - they embody famous historical characters like the sadistic Gilles de Rais - the bizarre aspect is in the explicitly sexual scenes, as the monsters seek some sort of unifying catharsis through the expenditure of sexual energy. I only gave this three stars because, if I'd never read any of his other work I would have thought this was relatively badly written, but it is worth it if you're a fan. Some critics, such as Simon Flower, found it extremely worthwhile.

In this inter-dimensional fantasy, Jack, a college-age art student, falls in love with, and eventually has relations with, the thirteen-year-old physically challenged girl he was supposed to deliver to a medical clinic. If that simple fact doesn't send you off book-burning right from the start, then you might find some small entertainment value in this mildly interesting story. People and things are rarely what they seem in this convoluted, but still easy to follow book, starting with the girl, Tappy. Blind,(although doctors say there's nothing wrong with her eyes), and mute, (although she talks in her sleep), and all the while wearing a leg brace, Tappy eventually takes Jack on a hike up a mountain side, walks right into a large rock, and leads him through it into another world. There they encounter a race of primitives (who nonetheless have some useful technologies), as well as some helpful androids, who explain that Tappy is actually the human host for the Imago, a sentient being that promotes empathy for all life. This makes her supremely dangerous to the Gaol, a race of brutal conquerors who rule the galaxy, and who intend to continue ruling it by imprisoning Tappy. Although there are some slow spots in the first half of the book, there are also lots of twists and surprises; but as is often the case with fantasies, the successive shocks become less and less impressive as you go along. Anthony has a good eye for description, and Farmer's sections are quickly discernable by their more scientific rationalizations, so that as a whole the book reads pretty well. Perhaps instead of asking "Who are you?" the Caterpillar should be asking "Who is your target audience?" The sexual content guarantees that this book can't be recommended to young readers, despite the fact that the authors try to assuge Jack's guilt by showing his remorse, Tappy's need, and the effect of the Imago living inside of her. On the other hand, there's little in the way of truly deep philosophical thought or sophisticated scientific speculation to lure the more experienced adult readers. So while this is not in all ways a bad book, the number of people who will really just love it is probably very small.

Philip Jose Farmer's Dayworld Breakup is the conclusion of a trilogy begun by Dayworld and continued in Dayworld Rebel. In the classic Dayworld, Farmer describes a world where the population problem has been solved by allowing each person to only live one day a week; they spend the rest of the week as stone statues in "stoning booths", using no resources and taking up minimal space. In Dayworld Rebel, Farmer describes an effort to overthrow the Dayworld system. Dayworld Breakup takes up where Rebel left off, with hero Jefferson Caird on the roof of the apartment tower where he has just forced World Councilor Ananda to broadcast the truth to the residents of Dayworld. What follows is a high-speed thrill ride of chase scenes, narrow escapes, shoot-outs, hostage-taking, and wanton destruction as Caird and his trusted female companion Panthea Snick try to outwit the law and take over an underground organization. Unfortunately, the climax, where they chain themselves to the gorgonized body of Dayworld's organizer in the central plaza, is a considerable disappointment. The remaining third of the novel is rather slower, and considerably less interesting. The characters will already be familiar to readers of the Dayworld novels, but they are neither especially engaging nor particularly realistic. This isn't a problem during the slam-bang action sequences, but during the last third of the book, where the story turns psychological (again), it undercuts the reader's ability to care about the hero's condition. There's plenty of technology to interest science fiction readers, but don't expect to learn anything useful from this book. Farmer's pseudo-science is too far out to be of much practical interest. In the last analysis, Farmer's real strength is his imaginative ideas: a million-mile river populated by everyone who ever lived (Riverworld), a repressed man who falls in love with an alien insect (The Lovers), a future where people only live one day out of the week (Dayworld). But brilliant as the original concept behind Dayworld was, Dayworld Breakup has little to offer us in the way of ideas. Readers of the Dayworld series will want to read this book just to see how the story turns out (Dayworld Rebel just sort of stops in mid-stride), and science fiction fans who like plenty of action should be more than satisfied with this book. As for the rest... perhaps someday Farmer will write a series whose conclusion is equal to the promise of its beginning, but this isn't the one.

The first two books were decent (the first one was incredible). Books 3 and 4 are so ungodly boring and long-winded.

For example, nothing happens throughout the entire book until the last two or three chapters. In fact, the last two pages usually have the most action and revealed secrets! Ridiculous, in my opinion.

Read the FIRST book in this series - it's absolutely fantastic. Book 2 is decent. Books 3 and 4 are terrible and boring.

This is the 4th book in the Riverworld series.

These main characters are Burton and Clemens. The plot is that of the two Riverboats continuing their journeys up river and finally meeting and have a huge battle.

There are a lot of boring parts to this book. Especially in the beginning where there are two many dream sequences. So you may be skipping a bit in the beginning. After about the middle though, things get quite a bit more interesting and towards the end they are extremely exciting.

As stated before the discrepancies in this novel and the next one are enormous. The author leaves quite a few issues unanswered. Such as the fate of Kazz, Loghu, Tom Mix, Jack London, and Johnston, the crow killer.

One of the things I found most irritating about this book was that it seemed like the author had plenty of time to put in boring dream sequences but no time to clear up said issues for the sake of storyline completeness. Characters were literally there one chapter and gone the next. Without any written reference to them or why they were no longer in the main travelling party.

Still worth it for the great Riverboat battle at the end, but it's irritating how many main characters are killed off wantonly.

I gave this book 3 stars because once you get to the Riverboat Battle between Clemens and Prince John it's all exceptionally good with lots of action centering around your favorite characters.

Excuse me. Riverworld is one of the greatest series SF has to offer, not only because of the sheer scope of the novels, but mostly because of its MYSTERY, the big questions of why the ressurection happened and who is responsible for it. This is an extremely provoking idea. Don't try to tell me that you were BORED during sections of this book or others. Don't even think about saying that certain parts could have been skipped over. If you want to skip over parts, you shouldn't have read the series at all. If you cared an ounce about the questions the Riverworld saga is asking, about any of the bigger ideas, then you wouldn't skip over a word. Every part is important and relevant. If it wasn't, Philip Jose Farmer woudn't have written it. This is a fast-paced, novel, my friends, and don't try to say otherwise. But every novel needs background, even the fast-paced ones. If it didn't have any background, any explanation of character or character development, then the books would end up like those terrible action movies they put on TV. Besides, the characters are an important part of the series. They are (or were) famous people, and one interesting theme is how they interact with one another.

Basically, every part of a book is important if you are to understand parts later on in the book or in following books. As in all mystery novels, there are clues along the way to the solution. The clues keep you determined to solve the puzzle.

But I do agree that sometimes the journey can be more important than the destination. The fourth book seemed sort of a let down, in more ways than one. I thoroughly enjoyed the third book and was anticipating the fourth, in which the great quest would be completed and the answers at long last found. But the ending didn't satisfy me in the least. I closed the book feeling angry and wanting more. What I really wanted was the truth. I could not believe that the ending of the Magic Labyrinth was the true and complete solution to the Mystery. So many things remained unexplained. I'm hoping to find these in the fifth book, but I have doubts that they will be there.

I love this series, the ideas, the mixing of people from every time and place. But there is something terribly wrong lurking between the lines in the pages of the fourth book. Am I just missing something, perhaps a fifth book with a different solution, or has Philip Jose Farmer made a grave mistake?