This would be conflict and tension enough for many writers, but not for Taylor - on top of everything else a near-unstoppable existential threat makes itself known, to the terror of the Bobs and their human friends. We also got some huge adversary here. I mean, a Dyson Sphere! So cool! Can't wait to see more of that. in motion. Obviously, there’s a third book and with the protagonist’s nature, this might just be a longer series.

The greatest blow, however, was what happened to Homer in Sol. Not only did the creator of the replicant-ism turn on his own creation, he was so cruel about it! Poor Homer killed himself (which I fully understand but still mourned heavily) and I was sooo rooting for the whole revenge thing Ryker pulled. So a story where a contemporary human is turned into an AI and has AI like abilities, while familiar is already pretty interesting to me. The fact that Dennis E Taylor wants to tell the story of a modern human becoming a self replicating Von Neumann probe opens up the entire universe and allows the reader to experience it from a perspective we understand and can relate to - the "lovable geek". Salvation could come from something of an unlikely source. Some eighth generation Bobs have discovered something in deep space. Getting to Sol first is the key to saving the Earth, and possibly all of humanity. But they have to beat the Others there.One of the things I loved about this book was all of the research and effort Taylor took to get the Science right. The lecture Bob attends in Vegas called "Exploring the Galaxy" is frequently quoted to remind us that this concept is grounded in Science. Eventually the entire universe will be explored by self replicating probes. Combining this idea with a relatable human personality was a brilliant premise and I can't wait to see where the series goes. Mind flashes the alarm! Cacophony of buzzing sounds fills the boy's head and every single warning light goes off! 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. I have seen this setting in many Sci-Fi novels, but never as the driving force for a series. It must be extremely difficult to write a novel out of such a confining perspective and still integrate so much suspension and wit into it. It certainly helps that the Bobs can multiply and that the worldbuilding and technobabble take some room in the opening novel. Bob is the safest in space, going away from planet Earth at top speed. That is what he thinks, anyway. The universe has many nasty things in them. Trespassers make them angry, very angry.

We follow a number of Bobs all over different solar systems that watch the Deltans (that's Bob#1), finding new planets, even other sentient species, a number help humanity out of sol so we don't die out ... and some make less positive encounters. It blew me away that almost two hundred years after Shatner first famously didn’t actually say, “Beam me up, Scotty,” people still knew Star Trek. Now that’s a franchise." In 2036, the USA elected an over-the-top, unapologetic fundamentalist president named Andrew Handel. Yes, that Handel. During his term, he tried to ban election of non-Christians to any public post, and tried to remove the constitutional separation between church and state. He was nominated, supported, and elected based on his religious views, rather than on his political or fiscal expertise. And of course, he appointed persons of similar persuasion to every post he could manage, in some cases blatantly ignoring laws and procedures. He and his cronies rammed through far-right policies with no thought for consequences. In a number of cases, when challenged on the results, he declared that God would not allow their just cause to fail. He eventually brought the USA to its knees in an economic collapse that made the 2008 recession look like a picnic in the park.Here's the thing: the writing in these books takes you deep into the mind of (you guessed it): Bob. A man whose consciousness has been turned into a supercomputer. Bob is not an exceptionally interesting guy. He's basically your typical Star Wars/Star Trek fan, works-an-office-job kind of guy, with an affinity for just general nerd culture. He's really not that exciting to read about. He's not terrible, just honestly he would probably never be considered on anybody's favorite character list. Away from the only, poor single, Bob technobabble focus towards more characterizations, interactions with real humans, implications, and open questions about consciousness, love, and immortality with a little portion of apocalypse and space warfare. So Bob goes to space and multiplies, giving the reader the unique ability to see the development on several different fronts (Bob's "immortality" is kind of helpful too).

Oh, and Bob is dead. For reals this time. But his mind, personality, and memories have been used to create a self-replicating AI. Do you feel like a holiday from the world? Do you feel like like you need to read something fun, something easy to race through, something that will immerse you in an interesting and entertaining universe? If so, Dennis E. Taylor's Bobiverse series should be your next reading destination. As far as the comedy goes I noticed about 1/3 of the way through I hadn't laughed once where at a similar point in We are Legion I had enjoyed plenty of hilarity. Unfortunately We are Many never produced a laugh out loud moment and I credit most of the "wry amusement" I got from the book to Porter's performance and not Taylor's writing. Because of the narrator Bob's sarcastic voice, it manages to stay lighthearted even when heavy things happen (Earth is having a really tough time in 2127). It's a fun exploration of space, technology and one man's unique personality ... or perhaps not quite so unique, since he can create new copies of himself once he's out exploring the stars. The story is told from the various "Bobs" points of view.I discovered this book blessed (?) some of the Bobs, (most especially Howard), with defined human feeling. Even though the Bobs are all clones of the original Bob and they have his memory, once they set off on their own, they develop their own personalities, and they get to name themselves. In Howard's case, that seems to include the development of feelings towards a few humans, and this portion of the story touched my heart so much, I can't even.