We Are Legion (We Are Bob) (Bobiverse Book 1)

Product Information

If you were looking for something light and fun with a surprisingly good story you could do a lot worse then spending 10 hours with Bob. This is one of those books you read for shits & giggles – is this a universal saying? Its fun escapism that should not be overanalysed. Nothing makes space exploration more exciting than encountering intelligent and technologically superior alien beings and facing imminent danger from its discovery. How will the Bobs successfully counter this overwhelmingly menacing enemy? I guess I will need to wait for Book 3 to find out, which fortunately will be released pretty soon. Bob and his copies have been spreading out from Earth for 40 years now, looking for habitable planets. But that's the only part of the plan that's still in one piece. A system-wide war has killed off 99.9% of the human race; nuclear winter is slowly making the Earth uninhabitable; a radical group wants to finish the job on the remnants of humanity; the Brazilian space probes are still out there, still trying to blow up the competition; And the Bobs have discovered a spacefaring species that sees all other life as food. When I saw this audiobook I thought it might have been a self published "Church of the Subgenius" tribute SF

To say this is good science fiction is like saying Neil Peart is a drummer: technically true but far from wholly accurate.

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Berg, Guido (December 12, 2019). " "ChaosKatrin" aus Kolkwitz für Youlius-Award 2020 nominiert". www.otz.de. This is the first book in Dennis E. Taylor's 'Bobiverse' series and as the story begins Bob Johansson, a friendly thirty-one year old geek and software engineer, has just sold his company and become fabulously rich. Looking forward to a lifetime of doing as he pleases he visits a geek-con in Las Vegas, steps out on the street and gets fatally run down by a car.

It's fun at times, and the author tries to pull emotion out of the readers at times, but I just really didn't find myself caring that much. And again, NEITHER BOOKS HAD AN ENDING. It just drops off. In addition, the universe that has been portrayed in the book is both fascinating and complex at the same time, from the Earth and its problems all the way to the other star systems. The plot also combines survival tactics against several other human factions to scientific discovery and space exploration. The setting splits the narration to different strands that are all linked. Even though this might be somehow confusing, the pay-off is a richer storyline, and one that you will be totally invested in. The author has alsoRay Porter does an excellent job on the audio with this one. Kudos to him for making this book interesting when the subject matter was a bit dry for me. A fun and funny but unspectacular space opera elevated by a clever narrating voice(s) and unique set-up. FOR WE ARE MANY (Bobiverse #2), in my opinion was even better than the first book and Ray Porter plays a large part in that. One of the finer points that is explored through the story is the humanity of the Bobs. It's one of the reasons why I hated The Faith so much and why I was full of Schadenfreude when (and how) Ryker and one other Bob got rid of the obnoxious Faith-President with a political move and the people of the colony voted for a secular democracy! :D

Following the adventures of the multiplicity of curious, thoughtful Bobs is a reading experience I encourage you to have. The future of humanity can be threatened, Bobs can be dying in droves at the hands of enemy probes, and there will still be time for a sly joke, an amusing Sci-Fi reference, or a reflection on the nature of human (and post-human) life. I recognized Dr. Landers’ voice. The word was “missiles.” Um. Ways in which a sentence beginning with the word “missiles” could be a good thing… Nope. I got nuthin’." The terraforming story on Vulcan involves a bit of a love story for one of the Bob AIs, something I wasn’t expecting. It’s not overdone, and it is a natural issue to arise when immortal AI personalities interact with humans, though some dismissively label them “ephemerals.” I actually found this storyline quite moving, which was an added bonus from a book where I was mostly expecting light-hearted space adventure. Audiobook: Ray Porter once again does a good job here. He's speaks clearly at a good volume and with good inflection. He does a few voices, though as most of the characters are variations of Bob, he doesn't go too crazy with it.Bob Johansson has just sold his software company and is looking forward to a life of leisure. There are places to go, books to read, and movies to watch. So it's a little unfair when he gets himself killed crossing the street. Anyway, that is just laying the groundwork for the main part of the story, which is that Bob is now a bodiless AI, or replicant, that has been revived along with several other candidates for an urgent project by one faction of the current US government to seed the stars for humanity while competing with other rival nations. It turns out that most AIs turn insane when they understand their new situation, but Bob seems to have a better temperament for accepting his new existence as an AI that essentially controls a collection of servitors, etc. The choice is elegant — either accept the assignment to pilot a fleet of Von Neumann machines to seed new stars with colonies, or be shut off permanently.

Robert Johansson, more affectionately known as Bob, was an engineer in the 21st century who signed up for having his head cryogenically preserved upon his death for future resuscitation into a new body. In a strange ironic twist of fate, Bob died within 24 hours of doing so and woke up a bit more than a century later. What he didn't expect was that his new body will be in the form of a computer program; Bob has become a replicant. His mission was to be the artificial intelligence manning interstellar probes to search for habitable planets and it turns out that America was not the only country who wanted to lay claim to being the first to seek out new worlds.The initial premise of the series, (self replicating Von Neumann probes based on a human personality) was a big part of my love for the first book. Now that Taylor has to deliver on the premise and not just introduce it, the flaws in his writing become much more apparent. This book feels rushed and in desperate need of a good editor. The frequent, unforced humour of book 1 is gone and while the plot certainly moves forward in book 2, it is far from what I was hoping for. I was particularly interested in the Archimedes storyline and it felt like this part of the story was mostly glossed over. We have some new elements added for future volumes but nothing that fills me with anticipation for book 3. Real humans and love are already complicated enough, but as soon as androids, AIs, or copies of real humans get involved, it gets even more hard(ware)core or soft(ware)core, depending on the personal preferences. And don´t forget the nasty, conservative, intolerant relatives. This aspect will be examined in more detail in the third part of the series and has some unique thoughts that are the most outstanding elements of the series besides the many multiple mini me with evolving personalities, the consequences of digital immortality on society in general, and the ethical aspect of uplifting. Although they are more of an easygoing side plot without as many philosophical and societal questions, in contrast to how relationships will evolve as soon as mind uploading runs smoothly and any kind of body, gender, or animal can be chosen to mate with. How naughty, but as long as it´s safe, sane, and consensual, who am I to judge. Cough cough. So seductively fluffy and soft…