Reading order
Riverworld reading order
- To Your Scattered Bodies Go1971
- The Fabulous Riverboat1971
- The Dark Design1977
- The Magic Labyrinth1980
- Gods of Riverworld1983
1
2
3
4
5- 7.77.7 / 10245 ratings
- Score
- 5 volumes
- Volumes
- 1971–1983
- Published
- about 30 h
- Reading time
- Completed
- Status
- Science fiction#104
- Genre
Quick answer
Affiliate link: buying through it supports BookRank at no extra cost to you.
Publication order
5 volumes1971–1983Completed
- Everyone who ever lived wakes up, young and naked, along the banks of an endless river on an unknown world.
- Among them are the explorer Richard Francis Burton, who sets out to find its source, and Mark Twain, who builds a riverboat.
- To Your Scattered Bodies Go won the Hugo Award and is the most read.
- The books form one story; the ratings stay close.
A plan for the whole series
5 volumes, 1,600 pages, about 30 hours. At 45 min a day that is about 6 weeks.
Share of volume 1’s readers who reach the last volume. Chance of reaching the last volume: medium
Stages
2 stages, with 1 short book from outside the series between them. You finish around December 11, 2026, 4 days later than in one go.
- Stage 117 habout 3 weeksby November 21, 2026
- Short breakThe Fire Next Time · James Baldwin · 120 pp. · score 8.8
- Stage 212 h16 daysby December 11, 2026
- The end of the series
We count 1.1 min per page, the pace of an average novel reader. Faster? Move the slider.
How this plan is calculated
The plan comes from the pages and ratings of each volume: we split the series into stages of about three weeks’ reading, size each break to the stage before it, and read the chance of finishing from how many readers rate the last volume compared with the first. How we work out the plan →
Every volume in order
Order checked by hand · Order and years: Wikidata (CC0). Spotted an error? Tell us. · Data updated October 29, 2026
Frequently asked questions
Which Riverworld book is the best?
By reader score, To Your Scattered Bodies Go (7.7/10). The lowest-rated is The Fabulous Riverboat (7.6/10).
Which Riverworld book is the longest?
“The Dark Design” is the longest at 456 pages; the shortest is “To Your Scattered Bodies Go” with 221 pages.
What should I read after Riverworld?
Other series by Philip José Farmer: World of Tiers, Dayworld trilogy.