Viagem Para Além da Morte

Viagem para Além da Morte (Riverworld, #2: The Fabulous Riverboat) é o segundo volume da série de Philip José Farmer iniciada com Mundo sem Morte (To Your Scattered Bodies Go), publicado na Colecção Argonauta com o nº 263 e considerada como uma das mais importantes obras de ficção-científica de todos os tempos, laureada com o prémio Hugo.

Um dia, todos os mortos da Terra despertam para uma nova vida num novo mundo - o Mundo do Rio - assim chamado porque a sua superfície é rasgada por um rio aparentemente sem fim, em cujas margens a humanidade ressuscitada se vê sujeita a uma vida primitiva e brutal, bem distante daquela que as religiões diziam existir para além da morte.
Mas teria sido sobrenatural essa ressurreição Ou tratar-se-ia simplesmente obra da super-ciência de super-criaturas desconhecidas? Qual o seu objectivo?

Eis as perguntas a que algumas das figuras mais conhecidas da História dos povos, das artes, das letras, das ciências, se dispõem a encontrar resposta. De Sir Richard Burton, o autor de As Mil e Uma Noites, até Herman Göering. De Samuel L. Clemens (aka) Mark Twain até o célebre Cyrano de Bergerac; passando pelo famigerado e ardiloso João-Sem-Terra e por Odysseus. Por homens pré-históricos de há um milhão de anos atrás e por homens do futuro... todos juntos para descobrir o tremendo mistério do Mundo do Rio!

In To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip José Farmer introduces readers to the awesome Riverworld, a planet that had been carved into one large river on whose shores all of humanity throughout the ages has seemingly been resurrected. In The Fabulous Riverboat, Farmer tells the tale of one person whose is uniquely suited to find the river's headwaters, riverboat captain and famous Earthly author Sam Clemens (a.k.a. Mark Twain). Clemens has been visited by "X," a mysterious being who claims to be a rebel among the group that created Riverworld. X tells Clemens where he can find a large deposit of iron and other materials that Clemens can use to build the greatest riverboat ever seen. Since there is virtually no metal on the planet, it will also give Clemens an unbeatable edge when it comes to battling the various warlike societies that dominate the Riverworld.
But Clemens is not alone in his quest for the iron, which arrives on the planet in the form of a giant meteorite. In fact, Clemens is besieged on all sides by forces determined to seize the precious ore, leading him to make a deadly pact with one of history's most notorious villains, John Lackland. Lackland's crimes during his reign as king of England were so hideous that no other English monarch will ever carry his name, and he's up to equally nefarious tricks on Riverworld. However, Clemens has a guardian angel in the form of Joe Miller, a giant subhuman with a big nose, a serious lisp, and a cutting wit. Miller has also been to the very headwaters of the river, where he saw a mysterious tower in the middle of the North Sea and where the creators of Riverworld are thought to reside. He will be an invaluable ally in completing the riverboat and sailing to the headwaters, but even an 800-pound giant may not be enough to help Clemens fulfill X's mission. --Craig E. Engler.

Aventura / Ficção científica / História / Jovem adulto / Literatura Estrangeira / Romance / Suspense e Mistério