For We Are Many (Bobiverse Book 2)

I am reading science fiction for 35 years started with Asimov. The Bob series is clearly the most innovative i came across for a long time. Also the suspense is amazing. If you look for stuff that ain't flat you got it right there.

I eagerly awaited this installment of the action in the "Bobverse". The story continued with some great new twists. I can't wait to see where the "Bob's" go from here.....I just hope the wait Isn't too long

LOVE the bobiverse series, great sci fi read. Wonderfully narrated as well; I bought the paperbacks to accompany the audible versions I could continue the story when I wasn't listening on my commute. Definitely recommend for anyone who likes science fiction.

The Von Neumann probe entered the K class star system scanning for Jovians and for ore in the Kuiper bodies, seeing if any planets were tidally locked in the comfort zone.. Okay, I've seen enough outer space specials to know what those things are and why they're important. But what I want from a sci fi story is something that breaks the mold. Like instead of a 'Jovian' body, maybe there's some screwy thing happening with dark matter/energy that's doing something odd with gravity or there's some other more creative reason why a planet isn't getting pelted with space debris. I guess my point is that I didn't really find much of substance past the sci fi buzzwords and the series is far less speculative sci fi than I at first thought and has become almost entirely a YA space adventure series. And the lack of substance runs much deeper than just distilling astronomy down to a handful of jargon. *minor spoilers follow*

So in a galaxy of 100-400 billion stars, where so little about even the milky way is understood that there's not even an accurate figure on the *number* of stars, let alone their properties.. why is it that chapter after chapter is devoted to flint tools and raising pigs in space!? And look, I realize that by relying on 'subspace' that the Bobiverse is not exactly 'hard' science fiction. But if you're trying to feed the remnants of the human race whose arable land is being destroyed by nuclear winter, you don't breed animals on a space farm. Do you know how calorie intensive it is to feed an animal for years, only to eat them? Just feed the starving Earthlings whatever the pigs are being fed and give them some B-12 shots.. Look, my problem is twofold-- first, chapter after chapter dealing with the primative Deltans sucked because the anthropological concepts were at a patheticly low level for the amount of time devoted to them. And the same goes with the politics of Earth. Which I was fine with in book one because I didn't think the series would be about politics, but instead about the stars. It's completely fine in my opinion to treat some things in a shallow way if you're *cataloguing* star systems and there's a ton of variety. But chapter after chapter devoted to the 'primative' deltans and the naively simplistic Earth squabbling.. frankly, they were both covered in an embarassingly inept way. And worse, it's gonna continue into *a third book*! I was positive the Deltan arc would be finished by the end of book one, and I'm shocked it's still taking up so much time. And my second problem is this: why in the hell am I reading about pigs and flint when The Others are out there?!? The Bobiverse has become storyline A, then storyline B, then storyline C, then back to A, then all the Bobs get together for a virtual beer in a virtual pub and tell super lame jokes with their very dry sense of humor, then it's back to the grind of gorilloids and VEHEMENT and oooh that's interesting, one planet has a Kraken. I kept waiting for Mario to pop in and say, "Hey, other Bobs! Pull your digital thumbs out of your virtual.. ; I just solved the Fermi Paradox! And the sh is about to get real." You'd think that since The Others were in Book 1, that they'd be the entire focus of Book 2, but that's really not the case. I assume they're the focus of Book 3, but from what I've read of them they're about as fleshed out as the Deltans or the political garbage of Earth. I think Dennis Taylor could have easily added some more realistic scientific, anthropological, and political elements and not sacrificed the fun of Bob's personality. Though honestly, I'm getting very sick of Bob telling non-jokes and all the other Bobs chuckling like smug douches at a cocktail party. I keep waiting for an unhinged Bob clone, but that would require a bit of depth and I'm finding that the more I read, the more cliched every part becomes. But I'll still read a book 3

Good read. Breezy and in many instances exciting. Good sci-fi. I enjoyed the space opera elements and the humor was irreverent and quirky. It's a good second installment and looking forward to the conclusion.

The second chapter of the Bobiverse series continues to build on a unique storyline. A great blend of classical and contemporary sci-fi with just enough pop culture references.

Taylor's universe is well thought out and quite immersive.

Looking forward to the next chapter.

How many Bob books can Dennis Taylor write? How many stories about the universe are there? The only limit is the human imagination encapsulated in Mr. Taylor's brain. This is brilliant story telling that may end only when Bob finally tires and retires with a coffee and cigar.

I love the concept, which is excellently delivered. Very nerdy I agree, but some of the stereotypes could be played down a little of the londer geek who later in life makes it big. All in all, I can't wait until the next book. I finished this second installment over easter as quickly as possible, regretting it immediately and not savouring it more.

This second installment is an excellent continuation to the series, and is IMHO even better than the original. Bob’s family tree gets more branches, and each fleshes out the story in a meaningful way. I look forward to the next iterations of Bob !

How many Bob books can Dennis Taylor write? How many stories about the universe are there? The only limit is the human imagination encapsulated in Mr. Taylor's brain. This is brilliant story telling that may end only when Bob finally tires and retires with a coffee and cigar.

I love the concept, which is excellently delivered. Very nerdy I agree, but some of the stereotypes could be played down a little of the londer geek who later in life makes it big. All in all, I can't wait until the next book. I finished this second installment over easter as quickly as possible, regretting it immediately and not savouring it more.

This second installment is an excellent continuation to the series, and is IMHO even better than the original. Bob’s family tree gets more branches, and each fleshes out the story in a meaningful way. I look forward to the next iterations of Bob !

Solid fun Sci Fi Read. Interesting take on AI, and politics. The reading of the Audio version also adds a lot to the story. Having read both of the first two books I am anxiously awaiting the third installment

I personally like this series. The bobs are funny and the story is good. Just enough action and personal interaction to keep you reading page after page. Remember science fiction not science fact. Just have fun and enjoy the bobverse

After finishing book 1 of the Bobiverae series, I jumped right into this follow up. I am extremely impressed. The effort of weaving together so many narrative threads is impressive, and I felt engaged throughtout in all of the story lines. I cannot wait for book 3

While the first book introduced us to the technology of a future as a probe and the concept of replication of one's self into new probes with the same memories but new personalities. The 2nd book shows us the minutia of living your life as a replicant, as you simultaneously stop alien invaders, improve yourself, work with various other sentient beings, and try to become a little more "real".

This book is genius! It combines theoretical science with science fiction and gives us a strong moral character that I/we can identify with. I agree with 99% of what Bob and his descendants do. So, either this book was written about me, or Dennis E Taylor is one hell of a writer. I suspect the latter.

The sheer scope and scale of the things going on and the ability to shift between 1st person voices is astoundingly good. It hurt me to read, "END BOOK TWO". I love this story so much and cannot wait for the next book.

Book Two is a very satisfying sequel to the first Bobverse book. I particularly recommend springing for the audio add-on, which exhibits all of the same excellent charm and nuance that made the first audiobook so fun.

A suitable follow up to the excellent first novel in the series. The multiple plot lines have gotten a little harder to keep straight and the the division between good and evil has gotten a little more black and white, but the slow build of dramatic tension is impressive.

The Bobs continue to provide stimulating thought, and another new planet with intelligible life provides an opportunity to reflect on our own. I enjoy Taylor's writing, but it's hard to see how he will take the story of the Bobs too much further without me losing track of all the Bobs and their exploits.

Drat, I'm hooked on another "series". I count my blessings that I didn't discover We Are Legion until a couple of months ago, so my wait for the sequel of that on (For We Are Many) was only a couple of weeks. For We Are Many picks up where We Are Legion left off. The Bobs (self reproducing von Neuman probes and clone AI's of the original human Bob who meets his untimely end early on in book 1) must deal with what's left of humanity on dying planet earth, find new worlds for them to populate, and deal with the Others, who are the imminent and seemingly unstoppable menace to mankind, the Bobs and the universe as a whole. This book too leaves you wishing Book 3 was at hand.

I invested in the mp3 CDs of both books as well as the Kindle version of We Are Legion. Ray Porter does a fantastic job reading this book aloud and I highly recommend the audio books. They are wonderfully entertaining. Ray manages to make each of the Bobs come alive.

Best of all, I can listen to these books with my teenager kids in the car. No graphic sex, violence or strong language - unlike the Expanse series by James S A Corey, which I truly love, but can't share with my kids for a few more years. To my recollection, the F bomb is only dropped twice in both Bob-o-verse books - and in context, the use is somewhat justified.

If you liked Ready Player One (Will Wheaton did a great job reading that one), you should like this.

Thank you Dennis E Taylor!

I discovered and finished the first book right before this one came out. Then read this one in a few days. I read almost exclusively sci-fi and read about a book a month. Have always preferred fairly dystopian, dark stuff. These books have a great balance of serious storyline and a lighthearted side that makes them incredibly enjoyable reads. I'm bummed that I have to now wait for the next one!

Uploaded intelligences explore the universe, gradually becoming subtly less human. As an exploration of an alien existence, the subjective experience of Van Neuman proble, cool idea.

But:

The author has zero capability to step into the shoes of anyone he disagrees with on any issue whatsoever, let alone into the shoes of a villain.

The good guys are excessively good. The Christians are unreasonably bad. The bad guys are unreasonably insane. Too many technologies incompatible with known physics. You are allowed one such technology, plus ftl. Everyone can easily accelerate very large masses to very close to the speed of light, and there are plenty of bad guys around, but illogically, planet busting is somehow seldom done, and requires enormous effort. In a universe where random joes can accelerate very large masses to ninety nine percent of the speed of light, random joes could bust planets and it would be very difficult to stop them.

The good guys are caricature progressives, who deeply care about all conscious beings, including far away strangers, The bad guys are insane malicious - what progressives think racists are. The Christians just want to stop anyone from having fun. All bad guys are basically zombie killers with no sane motivations. No good guys have any moral flaws at all.