Heaven's River
Ratings269
Average rating4.1
A longer book this time, and in some ways more enjoyable than the previous, while worse in others
The fractures and factioning of the bobiverse was almost a hindrance to the main story of the book, and are responsible for it losing a star. While they were a necessary driving force for parts of the book, they still felt like convenient "hands of the author."
The exploration of the megastructure gave me flashbacks to ringworld, and I would have honestly liked to spend more time there.
Heaven's River is a good book, and I'd still recommend it to anyone who enjoyed the first three in the Bobiverse series. That said, it didn't quite hit the same highs as the earlier ones for me. While there's plenty to like—especially the mega-structure plot—it just felt like it dragged in places.
The Manny action scenes in Real were a nice change of pace from the usual Bobiverse formula. But do we really needed 25 of them? At first, they were exciting, but after a while, it was just the same thing on repeat: another close call, another narrow escape, and then the same thing again a few chapters later. It wasn't a dealbreaker, but it did make the book feel much longer than it needed to be.
The Civil War arc had some cool ideas and a lot of promise, but it didn't go deep enough into politics, which was a missed opportunity. There was so much potential for exploring the dynamics there, but it felt like it barely scratched the surface.
All in all, it's not a bad book, still Bob in spirit. If you've been following the series, you'll still find plenty to enjoy, but it's definitely not as strong as the earlier ones. For me, it was just too long and repetitive to fully love.
This one is interesting because if you've read the other Bobiverse books it starts of feeling very different, and perhaps in a worrying way. But boy oh boy, it gets there in the end and I can't wait for the next one. Don't be turned off by the premise at the beginning like I almost was!
The saga of Bob continues to delight. Not much more of a review is required. If you've read the first three, then you should read this one. If you haven't go read those right now.
The final book in the original ‘trilogy' left things open-ended, with one of the early Bobs having disappeared while off exploring deep space. This book follows up on that, and it is more focused than the first three books as a result. What has happened becomes clear early on, and we're off to the titular setting, which has a resemblance to that of an earlier sci-fi classic (Ringworld). The bulk of the book deals with this, exploring an alien culture that's different from that of humans, but not dramatically so, but where the mystery is how the whole thing has been set up.
Original Bob is the main character here, but there are segments involving other Bobs as they assist him, and a major subplot about a schism within the Bobiverse that is left open for future volumes. (Like The Hitchiker's Guide, ‘trilogy' is becoming an increasingly inaccurate term). There, the focus is on how the Bobs have diverged over what are now 24 generations, and it's not just the antagonists who illustrate this, with others having picked up minor interests of the original and made them the focus of their lives.
But, at least for now, that's background, with the hunt for Bender and the exploration of the alien setting taking up the bulk of the page count. There's inventiveness here, and plenty of action, all of it in the easy-going style that the books favour. It's perhaps difficult to maintain the high pace and freshness of the first book over a set of four, and this is perhaps not quite up to the standard of the preceding three volumes, but it's still effective at finding new things to do without, to my mind, falling into repetition.
The bobiverse series is some of the best, fun reading I've done in a while. The books just move so quick and the whole thing is just a blast. I love the universe created and the ideas brought about by the technologies involved. Can't wait for the next one.
Not sure it was worth powering through
I loved the other Bobiverse books. So fun, so interesting, so goofy. This one bored the crap out me until about three-quarters of the way through. Then it got better but, ultimately, maybe wasn't worth the time it took to read.
You know any series that starts with a book called [b:We Are Legion (We Are Bob) 32109569 We Are Legion (We Are Bob) (Bobiverse, #1) Dennis E. Taylor https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1474344826l/32109569.SY75.jpg 52752877] is going to be fun, this entry in the series continued this fun tone. It was a little slower than previous books and the jokes were spaced further apart, giving more time to consider the more serious questions raised. The previous three books all had a serious side to them, but if you just came for the laughs you may not appreciated the less wacky feel of this book. I enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to book 5.
Probably the last in this series that I'll bother reading. Entertaining enough but nothing really special in it to recommend it.
Dennis E Taylor has done it again! While this book might not have been my favorite in the series, it was nevertheless a five star experience to return to the Bobiverse and accompany the replicants on a new adventure. Heaven's River focuses on two main plot lines, and I found both compelling. The ending of the book suggests there will be more installments in the series to come, which is GREAT news as far as I'm concerned. I would love to listen to hundreds of hours of Ray Porter reading this series.
I found the main plotline quite boring and somewhat predictable.
Nowhere near as enjoyable as the first three.
Spends way too much time on a single plotline instead of running multiple threads across the book.
Executive Summary: An unexpected but welcome addition to the Bobiverse. I felt it started a bit slow but really picked up as the book went along. I'm looking forward to the next one.Audiobook: Ray Porter once again does a great job. I'm glad they were able to get him to continue on with this series. He does a variety of voices that really add that extra something such that I'll always do it in audio. Which is good since it's an audible exclusive.Full ReviewWhen [b:All These Worlds 35506021 All These Worlds (Bobiverse, #3) Dennis E. Taylor https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1498271736l/35506021.SY75.jpg 54144690] came out three years ago I thought it was a satisfying but rushed conclusion. I didn't need there to be a fourth book, but I was happy to pick one up.This book has one main plot and one major subplot. Initially I found the subplot far more interesting and the main plot was rather slow. As the book went out things evened out though and my interest in the main plot grew.I feel like some of the plot points weren't really wrapped up to my satisfaction, but that probably just sets things up for the next book.Overall like the previous books I found this a lot of geeky fun. I'll be curious to see where he's going to take things from here.
This book is amazing. Story took a different turn than the previous ones, different but not unfamiliar. All and all very enjoyable setting, engaging story, satisfying journey.
