All These Worlds: Bobiverse, Book 3

After book two, I went into Book 3 with some reservations.Dennis Taylor definitely delivers in Book 3.I have the advantage or the disadvantage of writing this review after a lot of other folks (as opposed to the Others) have written reviews.Here is a quick summary (without spoilers). Bob learns to embrace what he has become, and not what he was. The Bob-i-verse is all about doing whatever you want without time constraints and few physical limitations. Bob is no longer human, and in this book he embraces what he might be in all of its variegated forms.By the end of the book, the major plot issues (minus one) from the previous books have been addressed in a final way, and you are reasonably happy with where the author leaves things off.While there could be further books in the Bob-i-verse, it seems unlikely, and as a reader, I am fine with where things are left.A little more meaty review follows.** Beware good reader, spoilers this way lie **Now to respond to a few criticisms of the book by other reviewers.(1) The timeline is confusing. Yes, you're right. It certainly can be. I listened to the audiobook version and did not have a piece of paper handy to write down times and events, but that probably would have been useful. At times, I had to stop the book audio and think, "that does not make sense in light of last chapter," and then realize that the events of the last chapter did not happen yet for the Bob in this chapter. Given that there were several hundred Bobs by the end of the book and they were spread across several thousand cubic light-years, it would have been tough to portray unless Dennis had done it "Game of Thrones" style. A few chapters are done that way, the ones surrounding the battle at Earth include several chapters that occur near simultaneously.(2) The battle with the Others and the final solution of the Others is anti-climactic. Um, you have not sold me on this one. The entire book leads up to the big battle in Sol, and in a way, Bob is both clever and lucky to win against the Others in Sol. Bob's cheaty knowledge of physics comes to the rescue, and Dennis does remind us repeatedly that the Others are very arrogant. The Bobs very nearly lost the battle for Sol.As to the final destruction of the Others in their home system, the "Hail Mary" play is telegraphed in an early chapter, and every so often we return to the pair of Bobs on the crazy mission. We know that the Others have only colonized one system, and if that system can be wiped out then they are done.The solution, hurl planets into their sun at true relativistic speeds and cause a nova, is a fairly clean, scientific approach as opposed to space opera, but it makes sense in light of the Bob-i-verse, and Dennis did leave us some hints in the earlier books.(3) Bob would not just abandon humanity at the end of the book. Yes, that seemed a bit implausible to me too. That said, all the Bobs did not leave humanity. Some stayed around to patrol the skies around the colonies. Some continued to work on biospheres. Other Bobs raised families. All in all, it seemed reasonable that some of the Bobs would head out to explore new worlds.Those were the main objections I saw.In this book, the Others are beaten at Sol (barely), and their home system is destroyed by causing their sun to nova.Bob moves on from Eden after living for twenty years as a Deltan in an android body. Once his last Deltan friend dies, Bob is ready to move on from mortality. Bob's lack of a family as a human drives him to seek closure for the family need in the early part of his immortality. This arc made sense to me.There is only one additional replicant made, and that is one of Bob's human sweethearts. The book explains that serving mankind in the afterlife seems like a burden. So, ipso facto, no one wants to become a replicant.I'm not sure that I buy that. Dennis deals with religion obliquely and mostly negatively. If you eliminate a religious afterlife then my gut says that many, many people would seek to live on as replicants. No strike, no foul though.There were plenty of Bobs by the end of the book.Yes, true, Dennis never did eliminate the evil Brazilian replicants. Yes, that is an annoying, hanging thread, but the Bob-i-verse is robust and more than able to deal with the one annoying antagonist.At the end of the book, in the final Moot, the Bobs essentially agree that they no longer feel obligated to defend humanity. It is a non-binding resolution, just a general feeling that is codified and passed along to the human colonies. Still, at the end of the book, there are still many Bobs working on helping humans out.The last scene is of original Bob visiting the ice covered glacier that was Las Vegas and bidding farewell to Bill and Will, his first copies.By the end of the final chapter, Dennis had closed out the Bob-i-verse, and I was OK with saying good-bye.That is a fine way to end a trilogy.Well done Dennis!

This is a fun, fast read that you can’t take too serious, but it’s still written well, and has a great sense of humor with a unique approach to one of those stories that’s being told these days.

I enjoyed this series a lot, but after book one, it became a jumble of the same insane scenarios, BOBS dealing with the same people, same backstage, same human greed, and nothing was done; he even declined to defend himself on multiple occasions.

Taylor’s inventive mind takes us on a frolic across the galaxy while exploring some serious questions. What makes a person a person? What makes life worth living? What would you do if you had all the time in the world? I enjoyed all three books thoroughly.

I was recommended to read the Bobiverse series by a friend. He was not wrong. The books are fantastic. Each chapter is only 2 or 3 pages long that cover the various subplots. I read each book in one day since I could not put them down. Very, very highly recommended.

Book 3 wraps up some story arcs while leaving the door open for new ones. Many, many years have passed since Book 2. I think we’re on 8th generation Bobs now, but most of our time is spent with the original Bobs. Bridgette has made a big choice that affects humanity, followed by another one that affects the Bobs. There’s still very few female characters in this story but I have hopes the next book will get us a few more.The heat between the Bobs (and humanity) and the Others has ramped up. Looks like we need to put an end to their aggression! But the Others are way more advanced than the Bobs, so it’s going to be a tough fight. However, the Bobs put a sooner-rather-than-later target on their backs as they swoop in and save another species before the Others can do their destructive thing. I really liked some of the questions the rescue of the Pav brings up. Like they had no say in the matter – if it should be done or how it should be done. A lot of that was due to time constraints, but it makes me think of Star Trek and the moral issues of ‘interfering’ with less tech advanced species.Meanwhile, there’s a big plan to deal with the Others. Icarus and Daedalus (some later generation Bobs) are central to that plan. It was cool to see what a Bob Hero looks like on such a big scale. Speaking of heroes, there’s still Medeiros, the Brazilian probe, to deal with. Despite how that turns out in this book, I have a small hope we see Medeiros one more time, but for a redemption story.I liked the jaunt over to Poseidon where the government has become a rather invasive and controlling force. While this was a small part of the story, I couldn’t help but think of some of the passive surveillance modern human societies deal with. Over all, it was a fun addition to the series. 4.5/5 stars.The Narration: Ray Porter continues to do Bob justice. My only tiny quibble is that I still have trouble keeping all the Bobs straight when several are in the same conversation. Still loving Bridgette’s accent. I really like Bob’s serious nature, with all the big decisions made in this book. Bob’s emotional response to saying goodbye to the Deltans was also done very well. The pacing was perfect & there were no tech issues with the recording. 4.5/5 stars.

This is one of the most enjoyablable stories I've read in a long time. I highly recommend it.

Ok

The Fen will either love this series or hate it. I enjoyed all three books and found time to chuckle at all the nods to various authors/movies as well as the cheerfully swiped plot devices. Great literature? Maybe not, but lots of fun.

章立てが短いので読み易いです辞書に載っていない単語（造語）も時折出て来ますが既刊の翻訳版を読んでいれば容易に理解できると思います翻訳版を待てないファンにお薦めです

While thoroughly enthralling, the various 'Bob's end this series being both cold, steely and calculating; yet prone to truly irrational emotional fits of bloodthirsty passion and rage.This flip flopping between emotion and logic ruling at times makes each 'Bob' feel more human, while making me want to flip their quantum cube and scream at them for being so stupid.Two key decisions really spoiled the character for me as portrayed to be this ultimate project manager type, well versed in efficiency and diplomacy.1. After FTL communications... they were still installing 'Bob's directly on to combat ships. Despite the number of times this led to a Bob dying. This seemed ridiculously wasteful as well as unnecessarily dangerous. Modern warfare already involves people using telepresence to fly combat drones. With FTL comms, this is no longer necessary.2. Wanton and unnecessary destruction. There comes a point where they find the ridiculous value in hijacking a spaceship. So vapourising everything after committing genocide (and they did this multiple times through the books) felt both wasteful and completely counter to their project manager persona. While reacting to obliterating an entire solar system with a 'Yeeeehaw! Aint that gonna befuddle some minds lawl" felt at odds with the minor guilt at having committed genocide.But this aside. A gripping end to the trilogy. It can get overly reductive, but that only adds to the feeling of entering the mind of a quasi-god figure realising they're a quasi-god.

I have enjoyed all 3 books in this series, the premise is intriguing and executed very well, I just find it all a little dated in it's delivery.The tone for me is too paternalistic, with a worrying lack of human diversity on show and a dated colonial attitude.It worries me that the Bob's seem unaware of the lack of difference in their expansion plans to save humanity and that of the Others. The rampant gobbling of resources to save humanity makes me think VEHEMENT may have been right even if I would not have gone about it in same fashion.Worth a read but could have been so much better if not written like we were still in 1940s.

A very funny, poignant and interesting series of books. The Bobs bring warmth and humour with their variations of personalities with each clone. They face highly ethical and difficult decisions as they take on the role as protectors of humanity. At times they are faced with a prejudice questioning their role in the universe.Is replicant a person or a tool to be used to serve? If they are not a tool as shown by the Bobs, can they be trusted to make decisions on the future of humanity? When does religion stop evolution and encourages paranoia to the extent that they spiral into a planet wide war resulting in wiping out the majority of the planet's population. Should religion be allowed to grow?I don't often write reviews but I have not enjoyed a series of books as much in quite sometime.