All These Worlds by Dennis E. Taylor

Title: All These Worlds (Bobiverse #3)

Author: Dennis E. Taylor

Publisher: Worldbuilder Press 2017

Genre: Science Fiction

Pages: 336

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Speccy Fiction - Scifi with Spaceship or Space Station Setting; Cover Lover - X, Y, or Z in author’s name

Where I Got It: Our server

Being a sentient spaceship really should be more fun. But after spreading out through space for almost a century, Bob and his clones just can't stay out of trouble.

They've created enough colonies so humanity shouldn't go extinct. But political squabbles have a bad habit of dying hard, and the Brazilian probes are still trying to take out the competition. And the Bobs have picked a fight with an older, more powerful species with a large appetite and a short temper.

Still stinging from getting their collective butts kicked in their first encounter with the Others, the Bobs now face the prospect of a decisive final battle to defend Earth and its colonies. But the Bobs are less disciplined than a herd of cats, and some of the younger copies are more concerned with their own local problems than defeating the Others.

Yet salvation may come from an unlikely source. A couple of eighth-generation Bobs have found something out in deep space. All it will take to save the Earth and perhaps all of humanity is for them to get it to Sol - unless the Others arrive first.

And with this book, we come to the end of one arc in this series. I was definitely wanting to know what would happen with the Others, the Deltans, the last Earthlings, and every other random storyline. This book wraps many of those stories up with plausible endings. There’s no big deus ex machina here, just realistic space battles and human (Deltan, etc) failures and triumphs. I don’t think I love this series quite as much as J, but they are good fast-paced space centered scifi. The audio is well done and I can read one of these in a weekend while cleaning, organizing, or crafting. I will probably keep going after a short ear break.

Bobiverse

#1 We are Legion (We are Bob)
#2 For We are Many
#3 All These Worlds
#4 Heaven’s River
#5 Not Till We are Lost

Next up on the TBR pile:

For We are Many by Dennis E. Taylor

Title: For We are Many (We are Bob) (Bobiverse #2)

Author: Dennis E. Taylor

Publisher: Worldbuilder Press 2017

Genre: Science Fiction

Pages: 311

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: COYER

Where I Got It: Our server

Bob Johansson didn't believe in an afterlife, so waking up after being killed in a car accident was a shock. To add to the surprise, he is now a sentient computer and the controlling intelligence for a Von Neumann probe. 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. Bob left Earth anticipating a life of exploration and blissful solitude. Instead he's become a sky god to a primitive native species, the only hope for getting humanity to a new home, and possibly the only thing that can prevent every living thing in the local sphere from ending up as dinner.

I finally dove into the second book in the series. We jump right in with no hesitation. Immediately I was right back in each of the storylines from the various Bobs. We get to see what happens to the Deltans, people on Earth, and even encounter a newly discovered sentient life on another planet. These books are definitely a high-paced ride. A little less philosophy in this one and more action, but still highly enjoyable.

Bobiverse

#1 We are Legion (We are Bob)
#2 For We are Many
#3 All These Worlds
#4 Heaven’s River
#5 Not Till We are Lost

Next up on the TBR pile:

We are Legion by Dennis E. Taylor

Title: We are Legion (We are Bob) (Bobiverse #1)

Author: Dennis E. Taylor

Publisher: Ethan Ellenberg 2016

Genre: Science Fiction

Pages: 299

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: COYER

Where I Got It: Our server

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. Bob wakes up a century later to find that corpsicles have been declared to be without rights, and he is now the property of the state. He has been uploaded into computer hardware and is slated to be the controlling AI in an interstellar probe looking for habitable planets. The stakes are high: no less than the first claim to entire worlds. If he declines the honor, he'll be switched off, and they'll try again with someone else. If he accepts, he becomes a prime target. There are at least three other countries trying to get their own probes launched first, and they play dirty. The safest place for Bob is in space, heading away from Earth at top speed. Or so he thinks. Because the universe is full of nasties, and trespassers make them mad - very mad.

I finally (after years of J encouraging me) read the first of the Bobiverse books. it took me a few chapters to really get into the story, mostly until Bob dies. Once we enter into the world of the Bobiverse, I got sucked into the story. I really enjoyed following along to see all the different iterations of Bob. The narration gives them just enough distinct personalities to keep everyone straight. Ryker and Homer are my favorites hands-down. I love their enemies to friends relationship. I sped through the book during a few slow weekend days. There were so many interesting developments that I’m definitely going be continuing the series.

Bobiverse

#1 We are Legion (We are Bob)
#2 For We are Many
#3 All These Worlds
#4 Heaven’s River
#5 Not Till We are Lost

Next up on the TBR pile: