To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Philip José Farmer
I really wanted to like this book. Before I started listening to it, all I knew was that it was the first in a series by a science fiction “master” whom I hadn’t read before. It starts out a little dry, but the narrator did a good job, so even though the description of the pre-resurrection holding cell didn’t really make any sense, I kept listening.
This book has a fascinating premise. A varied assortment of people are resurrected in new, fit bodies on an alien plain. They have metal cylinders taped to their wrists, which the main characters intuit will fill with food when they place them on depressions on stone mushrooms. I wanted to keep reading to have these puzzles solved. Why were they there? What lies beyond the river? Will they have to create a city? Is the world finite?
Alas, I could not continue, as the writing bothered me too much. The descriptions reminded me of a person who understands the purpose and inner workings of transformers and thermocouplings, but cannot fathom the purpose and workings of birthday parties. Inanimate objecs in this novel are described with loving detail, but without analogies, so they were difficult for me to picture. Women and girls are described in terms of appearance. Men are described in terms of their functionality, even to the point of whether or not their skin can be used to make weapons. I kept thinking the narrator was an autistic serial killer; not savvy enough socially to be a serial killer, but less caring about other people than the average autistic person.
I never for an instant believed that the narrator was Sir Francis Burton, and I rolled my eyes that the first person he meets happens to know (and relate, in a clumsy “as-you-know-Bob” chunk of exposition) a synopsis of his biography. Ditto for the one woman they meet, and the alien. Also, Burton seems to have a magical ability where the people near him figure things out quickly and remain rational, while anyone away from him doesn’t. Other people fight for food, but Burton’s group, including the caveman, wait patiently, knowing somehow that they’ll be able to get more.
Like I said, I wanted to like this. I gave it more than my test 100 pages or 45 minutes of audiobook, waiting for the story to get going. I wanted to be inspired by one of the classic masters of science fiction. But I never felt like the author cared about his characters, and they were so flat that I couldn’t care either. If I’m going to read a book without characters, I’ll just read non-fiction.
