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A review by ozgipsy
All These Worlds by Dennis E. Taylor
4.0
Good to be back in the Bobiverse
The third instalment of Dennis E Taylor's Bobiverse series is another epic chapter in the tale kicked off in [b:We Are Legion (We Are Bob)|35283002|We Are Legion (We Are Bob) (Bobiverse, #1)|Dennis E. Taylor|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1496665389l/35283002._SX50_.jpg|52752877]. This time, the universe is fully realized. Many of the technologies and adventures started in the first two books are now a solid part of the panorama.
Evoking the Age of Discovery, the Bobiverse is now a sprawling province covering many star systems, planets and colonies. As well as the remaining 14 million refugees desperate to leave earth. The technology has grown to enable communications, light travel speed, building artificial colonies, and seeding the human race into new worlds.
The result is a series of stand-alone tales all linked by Bobnet and the community of the Bobs. These tales touch on many of the essential elements of humanity and our common history. Complex interpersonal relationships, life, death, revolution, war, and suffering.
Bob is a good narrator. While immature and playful, he is also basically honest, acts with good intentions and is sincere in his efforts to improve the societies around him.
Tales of Humanity
Bob's engineer mindset, combined with computational processing power, resourcefulness and immortality provides a narrative framework for exploring many themes at once. The underlying theme that binds it together is Bob's increasing awareness of his immortality. The understanding that everyone and everything around him will die.
This plays out not only in his interpersonal relationships with women, friends, and his relatives. But also in his relationships with civilisations and the human colonies. More than anything else, Bob begins to assume the role of the architect. Providing subtle advances to various civilisations here and there, designing worlds and environments, preserving lifeforms for seeding future planets with, and using technology to solve problems across all of them.
Antagonists and search for meaning
It is his many adversaries that define who Bob is. He remains dedicated to the early 21st century values of liberty and individual choice, especially in the ace of totalitarianism. Moreover, his two major antagonists, The Others and the Brazillian probes provide a counterpoint to this.
Both of these are dedicated to their own survival at any cost, whereas Bob has been selfless up to now. An adventurer trying hard to expand his knowledge and create societies that can grow and prosper.
By the end of this book the Bobs have manufacturing hubs, weaponry, an adventurer determined to scour the existing human planets, a biologist dedicated to recording and studying all life, and over 500 exploring Bobs travelling throughout the universe.
I anticipate this series delving more and more into the existential and philosophical issues around defining life, balancing competing values, and the weight of responsibility that comes from being a new and superior species of human.
Recommendation
By the end of book three, the Bobiverse is a sprawling reality that can carry so many stand-alone stories, as well as the continuing central narrative. I am following the audiobook series of these books due to the amazing performances by Ray Porter.
In my Audiobook experience, he is a peerless voice actor for science fiction work specifically. His voices are notably different, and he is able to differentiate each character and make them memorable.
I have enjoyed this entertainment experience a lot and I fully recommend taking the journey yourself.
The third instalment of Dennis E Taylor's Bobiverse series is another epic chapter in the tale kicked off in [b:We Are Legion (We Are Bob)|35283002|We Are Legion (We Are Bob) (Bobiverse, #1)|Dennis E. Taylor|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1496665389l/35283002._SX50_.jpg|52752877]. This time, the universe is fully realized. Many of the technologies and adventures started in the first two books are now a solid part of the panorama.
Evoking the Age of Discovery, the Bobiverse is now a sprawling province covering many star systems, planets and colonies. As well as the remaining 14 million refugees desperate to leave earth. The technology has grown to enable communications, light travel speed, building artificial colonies, and seeding the human race into new worlds.
The result is a series of stand-alone tales all linked by Bobnet and the community of the Bobs. These tales touch on many of the essential elements of humanity and our common history. Complex interpersonal relationships, life, death, revolution, war, and suffering.
Bob is a good narrator. While immature and playful, he is also basically honest, acts with good intentions and is sincere in his efforts to improve the societies around him.
Tales of Humanity
Bob's engineer mindset, combined with computational processing power, resourcefulness and immortality provides a narrative framework for exploring many themes at once. The underlying theme that binds it together is Bob's increasing awareness of his immortality. The understanding that everyone and everything around him will die.
This plays out not only in his interpersonal relationships with women, friends, and his relatives. But also in his relationships with civilisations and the human colonies. More than anything else, Bob begins to assume the role of the architect. Providing subtle advances to various civilisations here and there, designing worlds and environments, preserving lifeforms for seeding future planets with, and using technology to solve problems across all of them.
Antagonists and search for meaning
It is his many adversaries that define who Bob is. He remains dedicated to the early 21st century values of liberty and individual choice, especially in the ace of totalitarianism. Moreover, his two major antagonists, The Others and the Brazillian probes provide a counterpoint to this.
Both of these are dedicated to their own survival at any cost, whereas Bob has been selfless up to now. An adventurer trying hard to expand his knowledge and create societies that can grow and prosper.
By the end of this book the Bobs have manufacturing hubs, weaponry, an adventurer determined to scour the existing human planets, a biologist dedicated to recording and studying all life, and over 500 exploring Bobs travelling throughout the universe.
I anticipate this series delving more and more into the existential and philosophical issues around defining life, balancing competing values, and the weight of responsibility that comes from being a new and superior species of human.
Recommendation
By the end of book three, the Bobiverse is a sprawling reality that can carry so many stand-alone stories, as well as the continuing central narrative. I am following the audiobook series of these books due to the amazing performances by Ray Porter.
In my Audiobook experience, he is a peerless voice actor for science fiction work specifically. His voices are notably different, and he is able to differentiate each character and make them memorable.
I have enjoyed this entertainment experience a lot and I fully recommend taking the journey yourself.