We Are Legion (We Are Bob)

Bobiverse, Book 1

De: Dennis E. Taylor

Narrado por: Ray Porter

There's a reason We Are Legion (We Are Bob) was named Audible's Best Science Fiction Book of 2016: Its irresistibly irreverent wit! Bob Johansson has just sold his software company for a small fortune and is looking forward to a life of leisure. The first item on his to-do list: Spending his newfound windfall. On an urge to splurge, he signs up to have his head cryogenically preserved in case of death. Then he gets himself killed crossing the street. Waking up 117 years later, Bob discovers his mind has been uploaded into a sentient space probe with the ability to replicate itself. Bob and his clones are on a mission to find new homes for humanity and boldly go where no Bob has gone before.

Dennis E. Taylor’s hilarious novel sets the stage for the magnificent performance of Ray Porter, who revels in the brave new world of corpsicles, artificial intelligence, interstellar space probes, and space colonization in tantalizing detail.

We Are Legion (We Are Bob) is the first installment in the blockbuster Audible Original Bobiverse series - which has sold more than one million copies.

©2016 Dennis E. Taylor (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

If you're on the fence about whether to read this, get off and read it!

So, I've been seeing this book around for a long time. And for just as long I thought the title seemed stupid, and so I avoided looking at it. Even after I read the description, I thought it sounded derivative and uninteresting, so I still avoided reading it. And then for no apparent reason, Nathan Lowell recommended it. Now, if you have any sense, when the reigning master of must-read, different-than-anything-else Science Fiction tells you to read something, you sit up and pay attention.
As a happy coincidence, audible had it on sale for under $5 this week, although at this point I probably would have dropped a credit on it even if they hadn't.

This book was nothing like I expected. You really get to know the different variations of Bob, what their personalities are, how they relate to the others, etc. The technology is interesting, the story is interesting, and the whole book is a great deal of fun. I was really sorry when it was over. Rarely have my expectations been so overturned by a book. I will definitely read others in the series if they appear.

Get in touch with your inner geek

Dennis E. Taylor's We Are Legion (We Are Bob) is the opening salvo of the "Bobiverse" series. Bob is a successful software engineer in present day who splurges on cryopreservation only to be killed soon after in an auto accident. He is revived over a century later, but instead of receiving a healed, healthy body, he finds himself relegated to a machine intelligence owned by a theocratic government. At that point, the fun begins as his mission is to become an autonomous, immortal entity exploring and establishing potential future colony worlds in other star systems.

The sci-fi elements are in line with futuristic robotics, nanotechnology with 3D printing and self-replications. Having regarded the movie "Castaway" as a fantasy along with his engineering background, Bob rapidly adjusts to his "alone" situation and proceeds from there. The real draw of the story is the sheer "geek" appeal. This is not a "nerd" tale with lots of high level science and detailed calculations. Rather, all the nuances of "geekdom" are brought out with Bob cloning himself, taking on different personalities drawn from pop / geek cultural references from the late 20th and early 21st centuries. For example, he heads off to the home star of Spock (Star Trek) and names the planet he finds there as Vulcan. While humanity has thoroughly screwed themselves, he manages to save what's left, while still having fun to boot. Along the way, his solutions are inventive, creative, and fun.

The narration is quite well done with an easy going style reflective of Bob's personality and style. The range of voices is more than sufficient and the timing is well executed for maximum comedic effect.

For Fans of The Martian

This is a promising start to a new series--I wish I knew the exact name of the genre; it's sciencey sci-fi like The Martian. The author came up with a clever solution to the problem of lack of character development as happens when the protagonist is AI. I'll download the next installment. Narration is top notch.

Recommend.

Excellent plot-loved the story line details

This is a great story for the typical sci-fi story lover; especially someone who is familiar with 80's and 90's sci-fi TV references. The narrator does a great job playing multiple characters, using several different voices-the one from the Star Wars Admiral is awesome. I listened to this book and then went and saw Rogue One the same night and chuckled because the narrator could have been the actor on the screen. (if you listen to the book you'll now what I mean.) If you like books like Player One, Monster Hunters, Ancillary Justice, anything by John Scalzi, and TV shows like Battlestar Galactica, Dark Matter and The Expanse then I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy this book. And if you don't, Audible has that great return policy. I look forward to listening to the next book in the series!

Fun Book

Would you listen to We Are Legion (We Are Bob) again? Why?

Entertaining, humorous, and fun to listen to (narrator nailed it imho).

Which character – as performed by Ray Porter – was your favorite?

Bob! not saying much because many of the characters are a different version of Bob, but still Bob. I blame Bob.