The Dark Design

The Dark Design is a science fiction novel by Philip José Farmer published in 1977. The book is the third novel in the Riverworld series, the sequel to The Fabulous Riverboat, and followed up by The Magic Labyrinth.

Review

Good

• It's nice that there is finally a strong female character in the series.

Bad

• The lengthy prose about a Bedouin who farted was juvenile.
• The discussion Peter Frigate has with Richard Burton about the definition of science fiction was a bit dull and self-serving. It would make more sense had Farmer written it as a non-fiction article.
• The way Burton's party robbed the Babylonians was quite anti-climactic.

Ugly

• The first strong female character in the series is tortured and raped. Yes, it's only a hallucination from the dream gum, but it's still in there.

Links

    https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/Riverworld