Order of Book Series
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Riverworld Books in Order

Riverworld contains 8 books, published between 1971 and 1992. The first book is To Your Scattered Bodies Go (1971) and the newest is The Merry Men of the Riverworld (1992). Publication order is the reading order below.

Books
8
Published
1971–1992
Pages on record
1,856 in 6 of 8 books
Reading time
31–46 hours

Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 1,856 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 6 of 8 titles with a page count on record.

See all 8 books in order Printable Riverworld checklist

Riverworld is a science fiction series by Philip José Farmer, an American author who lived from 1918 to 2009. The Riverworld is an artificial or heavily terraformed planet on which every human and pre-human who ever lived has been resurrected. The novels and several shorter works examine how resurrected people from different cultures and eras interact, with a quasi-religious underlying theme and the motives of the unknown intelligences behind the planet. The five novels date from 1971 to 1983, opening with To Your Scattered Bodies Go (1971). The catalogue lists 8 titles to 1992, with Farmer credited on 6 and John Gregory Betancourt on 2, and subjects record a 1972 Hugo Award for best novel.

How many Riverworld books are there?

Riverworld has 8 books, released between 1971 and 1992.

Riverworld Books in Publication Order

The table lists all 8 Riverworld books in the order they were published, with the release year, the page count where one is on record, and how many independent book listings confirm each title. Catalogue data as of September 2026.

  1. Cover of To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Philip José Farmer, book 1 of the Riverworld series (1971)
  2. Cover of The Fabulous Riverboat by Philip José Farmer, book 2 of the Riverworld series (1971)
  3. Cover of The Dark Design by Philip José Farmer, book 3 of the Riverworld series (1977)
  4. Cover of The Magic Labyrinth by Philip José Farmer, book 4 of the Riverworld series (1980)
  5. Cover of River of Eternity by Philip José Farmer, book 6 of the Riverworld series (1983)
  1. 1
    To Your Scattered Bodies Go1971 · 220 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1971220
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  2. 2
    The Fabulous Riverboat1971 · 234 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1971234
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  3. 3
    The Dark Design1977 · 450 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1977450
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  4. 4
    The Magic Labyrinth1980 · 398 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1980398
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  5. 5
    Gods of Riverworld1983 · 349 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1983349
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  6. 6
    River of Eternity1983 · 205 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1983205
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  7. 7
    Human Spirit, Beetle Spirit1992 · confirmed 2/4
    1992–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  8. 8
    The Merry Men of the Riverworld1992 · confirmed 2/4
    1992–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK

Do you have to read Riverworld books in order?

You should read the Riverworld books in publication order, the order of the numbered table above. The catalogue does not record whether each Riverworld book also stands alone.

Where to start with Riverworld

Start with To Your Scattered Bodies Go (1971), the earliest published title.

What is the newest Riverworld book?

The Merry Men of the Riverworld (1992) is the newest Riverworld book released so far.

Is there a new Riverworld book coming?

No next Riverworld book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.

Awards Riverworld has won

Wikidata records 1 award and 5 nominations for Riverworld. Each row states whether the title won or was shortlisted, and the year the award was given.

Riverworld at a glance

No recent titles
The newest Riverworld title on record dates from 1992, 34 years ago. No later title is catalogued.
Release pace
Riverworld books have appeared about one every 3 years on average.
Length
1,856 pages across the 6 of 8 books with a recorded length, a median of 292 pages each.
Busiest decade
Most Riverworld books, 3 of 8, were published in the 1980s.
Attribution
Of the 8 titles, 6 are credited to Philip José Farmer and 2 to John Gregory Betancourt.

What the Riverworld books are about

5 of the 8 Riverworld books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: science fiction is tagged on 5 of 5. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.

  • Science fiction 5 of 5 books
  • Fiction in English 2 of 5 books
  • Award:hugo_award=1972 1 of 5 books
  • Award:hugo_award=novel 1 of 5 books
  • Hugo Award Winner 1 of 5 books
  • Time travel 1 of 5 books
  • Travel 1 of 5 books

Other series by Philip José Farmer

The series linked below has its own reading-order page.