The Riverworld provides an amazing setting for timeless, philosophical science fiction, and at the hands of it's creator (Farmer) there should be no doubts that each book in the series manages to refine this concept.

Therefore I was surprised to find this book to be a rather dull and uninspiring account of the building of the boat mentioned in the title. Farmer at least manages to create a both entertaining and sympathetic sidekick in Joe Miller, but on the whole, this novel lacks everything that made [b:To Your Scattered Bodies Go|189147|To Your Scattered Bodies Go (Riverworld 1)|Philip José Farmer|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172548591s/189147.jpg|3171254] worthwile.