For We Are Many

Absolutely enthralling!

A highly competent and entertaining follow on to We Are Bob. Bob has expanded his cadre and further sentient life is found. Is it friendly or not? You'll need to read for yourself to find out. The humour carries on from the first book, despite some of the topics being up there at extinction level! Quite a feat to carry off. And if you know your comedy programmes you'll laugh at the multitude of references.

The narration was excellent again. The story is gaining momentum and there's definitely a sensation of rooting for team Bob. There's lot of metalwork being harvested here and flung around in the form of drones and new ships.

The conclusion to this book sets up a great opportunity for the next book to excel. I do hope, despite the first two books being excellent, there's no desire to milk this to a series of unending books, hopefully it'll keep tight and rich and give us more of what we've enjoyed to date.

9 of 9 people found this review helpful

BRILLIANT!

Just like the first "Bobiverse" book, I, loved this one too. indeed, I'd been on the edge of my seat for weeks waiting for it, and wasn't at all disappointed.

This is the sort of book I dream of - wonderful story - genuinely imaginative, creative, and absolutely took me to places I would have never got under my own steam.

The writing flows beautifully, and has a lot of humour to it. The author drops in lots of pleasing references to classic SciFi which is fun.

The story takes us on stage two of the journey out into the universe (Bobiverse), meeting new lifeforms, challenges, perils, and gold old-fashioned bad-tempered humans. It's clever and thought-provoking. But mostly it's fun. Listening to this makes me smile.

I just loved this and can't wait for the next in the series.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

Repetitive and tedious first half

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Overall the story is still compelling, so worth a read.

If you’ve listened to books by Dennis E. Taylor before, how does this one compare?

The previous book seemed a little more varied and fast paced.

Which scene did you most enjoy?

I did enjoy the conflict with the others finally spilling over into a conflict, though I suspect the meat of the story was left for the next instalment.

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

The funeral scene actually made me shed a manly tear.

Any additional comments?

The first half of the book was a little too repetitive and tedious due to what was essentially a repetition of chores, looking after colonies and client species. When finally a conflict broke out, I could not get enough of it.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

Too Damn Short

What did you like most about For We Are Many?

Unlike many other book series by other authors, Taylor was able to make his second book just as good as the first (something becoming less and less common).

The only problem I have with the Bob books is their length. Please make them longer Dennis!

Who was your favorite character and why?

Bob, but I'm not sure which one. ;)

What does Ray Porter bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

Porter does a great job overall but I couldn't help but feel that it was a rushed job - probably something beyond his control.

There were "dropouts", where it is very clear editing and splicing had occurred. Though it's a small price to pay to get the long-awaited sequel quicker, later listeners may have bigger problems with it when more books in the series are available.

Porter also sometimes seems to stumble over his words probably for the same reason given above.

Apart from these minor annoyances (and they are minor), Porter rendered yet another excellent narration, helping to bring the story and characters to life.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes, and unfortunately it was short enough to do that.

Any additional comments?

This is a small minor point, (as an Irishman I am used to this from both American and English movies and audios), but the Irish character has a strange accent that sounds a cross between Belfast, Donegal, and Galway; not at all authentic. It is a difficult accent to master though so the narrator is given a "pass" on that (it's better than most Hollywood A-listers can do).

If I may now get downright petty: the plural of the Irish/Gaelic word for chair "cathaoireacha" is said to be uttered by a Wicklow barman. Wicklow is in the province of Leinster but "cathaoireacha" is pronounced in a Munster Irish dialect and not a Leinster dialect - yes it's petty I know but as a Gaelic speaker, I'm very protective of my native tongue.

Although I mentioned that I do give full kudos and applause to the narrator, Ray Porter, though, as he obviously researched the proper pronunciation and did an excellent job in his Munster pronunciation. Well done sir!

I realize that anyone reading this review may get the impression that I have nothing but criticisms for this work but, because the book has such a good story and was narrated so well I thought it was only fair to highlight the problems I had with it as well.

Rest assured that if you listened to the first book and enjoyed it then you will love this second one. If you haven't heard the first book, you should!

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Superb! Best Sci-Fi series in a long time

I picked up the original book out of curiosity. A sentient time-travailing Von Neumann probe? 'The Martian' is my favourite book and I've listened to it more than two dozen times, so when I came across this I thought 'why not?' and gave the Bobiverse books a try. Oh My Lord. I am so glad I did. Such a unique subject and a totally original idea. Bob himself is brilliantly written and voiced by both Denis and Ray. The adventure is completely out of this world and introduces so many fascinating topics and ideas that it is simply mind-blowing. All carried along on an exciting and engaging story. I absolutely can not wait for the third book.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Disappointing follow up to a great first book

Any additional comments?

I struggled to finish this book after listening to the first in the series avidly. There weren't enough new ideas or plot developments to sustain my interest and the endless repetition of phrases such as "I frame-jacked to save a few milliseconds" is becoming annoying.

With so many Bob's now in existance, and so few voices to differentiate them, it is also hard to follow the "character" development - to the point where I gave up trying. I'm not sure I missed much.

Disappointingly it feels like this book was rushed out to capitalise on the success of We Are Legion. I dont think I'll be listening to the third.

6 of 7 people found this review helpful

Less of a novel, more of a vivid stream of consciousness

This writer has a vivid imagination, of that there is no doubt. But have you ever had a friend who insists on using a paragraph, when a sentence will do? This is that friend.

They are passionate about everything they say, certainly most of it is interesting, you just want to give them the gift of inner editing so they get to the point quicker. That's this book, and the one before.

In both books, I think a sum total of 5-10 interesting plot points happen, which is not great because character is action. There's not a lot of that here and, because of that, the writer openly and conveniently bases his characters on well known characters from popular fiction. In other words, he cheats.

If this were made into a 2-hour movie, you'd be grateful to not read this book. The strict rules of scriptwriting will have filtered out the writer' sometimes tedious (however vivid) stream of consciousness and overly pedantic imagination where not a lot happens in space. Maybe that's his point.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

weaker than the first book

Narration was good. I felt the plot lacked a direction. Still worth having a read but not a classic.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Disappointed

I was looking forward to the second book but after working my way through it I was disappointed.
I really enjoyed the first book and wish I had left it at that.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

A simple pleasure.

Dennis E. Taylor did a good job with this second book in the series. You do need to read the first one to make sense out of the events and engage with the main characters.

While "We are Legion" was an easy and perfect listen for those who are new to the science fiction theme, in this book the author expands the universe and its quirks.

The logic of the science fiction needs you to suspend disbelief every now and then, but the idea of the world in the hands of artificial intelligence is refreshing, and the whole yarn is told in in a joyful way which will keep you interested till the last pages.

Once again, characters are full of personality, colour and they shine with humour. You really do have to love Bob. He makes your ribs tickle. I only have one niggle, at times it is hard to keep track of all the Bobs and therefore I think this book might an easier read than listen...

Ray Porter's narration is steady. He wonderfully delivers on many voices and I hope to come across more of his work.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful