Itemize Based On Books The Magic Labyrinth (Riverworld #4)
| Title | : | The Magic Labyrinth (Riverworld #4) |
| Author | : | Philip José Farmer |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | First Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 416 pages |
| Published | : | July 28th 1998 by Del Rey (first published 1980) |
| Categories | : | Science Fiction. Fiction. Fantasy |
Ilustration To Books The Magic Labyrinth (Riverworld #4)
At the end of The Fabulous Riverboat, Sam Clemens finally set out in the great iron riverboat Not for Hire to reach the headwaters of the massive river on whose shores humanity has been resurrected. After 33 years on the river, Clemens and his crew--including the giant subhuman Joe Miller--are finally near the end of their journey, and only one obstacle remains: the evil Earthly king, John Lackland. John is waiting just upriver in the Rex Grandissimus, the first riverboat that Sam constructed and the one that John and his crew hijacked, and he's hell-bent on sinking Sam's boat (and vice versa). Complicating the battle is the fact that both ships likely contain agents of the Ethicals, the group of advanced beings who created Riverworld for reasons unknown. One or more of the Ethicals themselves may even be on board, as are various humans that the rebel Ethical, known as the Mysterious Stranger (but known to Clemens simply as X), enlisted in his cause, which may or may not lead to humanity's salvation.The battle is set to take place along the shores populated by members of the Church of the Second Chance, a group that believes they must attain ethical perfection in order to proceed to the next phase of existence. The Second Chancers are not violent, but their charismatic leader, La Viro, may attempt to sink one or both of the iron ships in order to prevent the battle. Among the Second Chancers is former Nazi officer Hermann Goring, who had a run-in with Sir Richard Francis Burton in the first Riverworld novel, To Your Scattered Bodies Go. Burton and his companions--among them several people who were contacted by the Mysterious Stranger--are reluctantly serving on John's boat in order to reach the headwaters of the river. But will any of the humans working for X survive the coming battle? And if so, how can they possibly hope to penetrate the tower in the North Sea where the Ethicals are thought to reside? And what could lowly humans hope to do against a race so advanced that they can reshape entire planets and resurrect all of humanity? --Craig E. Engler
Point Books Conducive To The Magic Labyrinth (Riverworld #4)
| Original Title: | The Magic Labyrinth |
| ISBN: | 0345419707 (ISBN13: 9780345419705) |
| Edition Language: | English URL http://www.pjfarmer.com/ |
| Series: | Riverworld #4 |
| Characters: | Richard Francis Burton, Hermann Göring, Samuel L. Clemens |
Rating Based On Books The Magic Labyrinth (Riverworld #4)
Ratings: 3.71 From 4255 Users | 128 ReviewsCrit Based On Books The Magic Labyrinth (Riverworld #4)
Well freaking finally. And then my questions were still not answered. Ugh! It's a great concept but PJF is a product of his times in a bad way.Goes on a bit in the middle, and the ending is a bit lame, but nevertheless a good read.
One more to go..
Keeping up the good level from book #3, "The Magic Labyrinth" brings together most open threads from previous books, most characters (even a forgotten Hermann Göring) and delivers what-looks-like a satisfying explanation when approaching the end.Strangely enough, the very end of the novel remains open somehow. It's easy for us to believe it now, almost 40-some years after, fully knowing that a fifth book exists. I wonder how it must've felt in 1980, when 50 pages before the end you thought this
Was this a case of "hey, you wrote a trilogy, they sold well, write another"? I dont know, but I could not finish the book. It went off on so many tangents while somehow moving forward at no more of a glacial pace, introducing characters seemingly at random and then ignoring them. Perhaps it all wrapped itself together by the end. I made it about 25-30% through before I put it down.
OMG we finally get to the end, the goal we've been waiting for!!!1!1!0 Why isn't it more interesting? I think because there's not really a great story here. The end, the Tower, the commend center, whatever it is expected to be, is mostly McGuffin and little substance. So, like the rest of the story after the initial Great Idea book, the ride is pretty good: neither disappointing nor exciting. But I can't help but wish there was more to it. Nonetheless, I'll read through book 5 (just started),
It was an incredibly long slough, but finally there is a Riverworld book with a reasonably satisfying ending. This book thankfully mostly-satisfactorily wraps up the stories of Sam Clemens and Richard Burton and their quest to the tower. That said, this book and particularly the previous book, The Dark Design, have some serious problems, and really should have been edited down to a much smaller, single volume.(view spoiler)[One of the biggest problems is that Farmer has long and boring
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