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The five books in the series are as follows :
The Riverworld is a planet, where the landscape has been sculpted to consist of one enormous river that loops down one hemisphere and up the other. The banks of the 2.5 km wide and enormously deep river move onto a wide plain on each side and then climb to hills and then an impenetrable mountain range, leaving a roughly 15 km wide and 32 million kilometre long valley (Books I and II, Book III states the river is 16.09 million km long). The weather is absolutely controlled; there are no seasons, and daily variations are metronomic. There is no animal or insect life other than fish, and there is limited variety in the lush vegetation.
The whole of humanity from the time of early humans through to the early 21st century appear to have been resurrected along the banks of the river, an estimated thirty-five to thirty-seven billion people ("thirty-six billion, six million, nine thousand, six hundred and thirty-seven"). Everyone has the same body they possessed at the age of twenty-five, and further aging does not seem to occur. No children under the age of five were resurrected; those children older than 5 grow on Riverworld to the age of about 25, then no further aging occurs. All the people are healthy and free from congenital or other defects. There is no disease. Should an individual die on Riverworld they will soon find themselves once again reincarnated, whole in body, somewhere else along the banks of the river; some people utilize the "Suicide Express" to travel randomly. The people are provided with food and occasional other treats, but otherwise, apparently, left to their own devices.
The reason behind the existence of Riverworld is initially a complete mystery. In Farmer's books a number of historical figures - including Sir Richard Burton, Alice Hargreaves, Samuel Clemens, John I of England, Mozart, and Hermann GöringHermann Wilhelm Goring (also spelled Hermann Goering in English) ( January 12, 1893 — October 15, 1946) was a prominent and early member of the Nazi party, founder of the Gestapo, and one of the main architects of Nazi Germany. He is often quoted from the - interact with fictional characters in a quest to discover the purpose behind the creation of Riverworld and their reincarnation. Another character, Peter Jairus FrigateA fictionalized version of the science fiction author Phillip Jose Farmer which appeared in his Riverworld series of novels. Fictional characters., bears a striking resemblance to Farmergrasshopper bait in his alfalfa field. For notable people whose family name is Farmer see the List of people by name. Note that the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19 fighter aircraft had the NATO reporting name of Farmer . A farmer is a person who is engaged in agr himself.
Since the publication of the original books, several authors have used to Riverworld setting for their own stories.
The Fabulous Riverboat, amongst other threads, portrays Göring as a missionary of the Church of the Second Chance, a peaceful religion.
Since all the languages of mankind are represented in Riverworld, EsperantoEsperanto is a planned ( constructed) international auxiliary language. The name derives from the pseudonym (Dr. Esperanto) under which L. Zamenhof published the language in 1887. See Esperanto history. His intention was to create an easy-to-learn languag spreads as a common tongue.