We Are Legion
Ratings636
Average rating4.2
Was annoyed by Bob and he was inescapable. Future earth geopolitics very silly. Plot itself is not that new or fresh or interesting. Critique of theocratic states lacked finesse.
meh?
I'd heard a lot of good things about this, and it was just fine for me. There wasn't enough action or character building to really keep me interested. I dunno if I'll pick up the second at some point
4.5 stars - really enjoyed this one. Fun, entertaining, interesting plot. Excited to read the others!
This is a bit of a romp as Dennis Taylor serves up some serious fun.
Bob is a successful software and systems engineer. He sells his company for a gazillion bucks, signs into a cryo company to have his body frozen for future revival in the case of his death, and looks forward to a life of luxury and leisure. That afternoon he gets fatally run over at a pedestrian crossing.
Spoiler-free gap here.
Much much later Bob's mind has been uploaded into the control system of a space ship exploring the universe. The ship has replicator machines and can duplicate itself, including Bob. So he makes a bunch more spaceships, each of them controlled by another Bob. It's the interaction of the Bobs where things become funny. Imagine identical twins in a pub, except more of them.
Solid 4★!
Really fun little space romp with a charismatic MC and tons, and I mean TONS, of pop culture references. Really almost Martian-esque.
I listened to the audiobook while crocheting, and ngl, this story works so well as an audiobook with only one narrator, since like 90% of the characters are (more or less) the same person. I don't think this is a spoiler. It's literally in the title.
Anyhoo. This was fairly short, it was sweet, it made me laugh on occasion, I'm sure I'll return to the Bobiverse in the future when I find myself in more craft-related need of background noise!
Surprising
I initially was expecting some sort of Murderbot-esque cyberpunk tale of a dystopian future. In some ways it was , but with so many pop culture references. This book covers so many modern scifi styles, it's really pretty clever. As Bob himself would tell you. A strangely cosy sci fi political dystopian tale about an engineer and his brush with eternal life.
Overall Rating - 8/10
Plot - 7/10 Characters - 8/10 Concepts - 9/10 Prose - 6/10 Theme - 8/10 Narration - 8/10 Enjoyment - 9/10
This was such a fun adventure! I was starting to drift towards a reading slump and definitely took me out. Definitely check it out if you enjoyed The Martian or Project Hail Mary!
This was such a fun adventure! I was starting to drift towards a reading slump and definitely took me out. Definitely check it out if you enjoyed The Martian or Project Hail Mary!
Extremely easy to read, nerdy in all the right ways. Really innovative and creative use of a bunch of different Sci Fi ideas and concepts.
Would make a pretty fun animated series.
It was okay...
I found the first half of the book pretty good, I was very invested during Bob's training and the resulting debate about humanity when resurrected as a computer program, but once the story got into space it got dull and boring very quickly.
From the several branching stories in space, I only got invested in the Delta system, which also became boring really fast. Once Bob started interacting with the residents of that system they completely lost me. I find interesting this idea to be the start of religion in society, but I don't believe that Bob could invent a translator in so little time.
The story in Sol was annoying because humans are so selfish, that they didn't deserve to be rescued. In that regard, I liked the contrast between the Delta system and Earth, where the cavemen were more civilized than the technology advance society.
The other stories were so vague that I couldn't get invested, and the technological progress done by Bill was so handwavy that it gave me movie magic feelings.
From the first half of the book, I got the feeling of this book is a hard sci-fi story exploring the technology and ethical problems that are encountered during space exploration.
But instead, I got half a book where that's the case and half a book where they ignore the first part and it becomes a comedy that doesn't take itself seriously enough.
I actually really enjoyed this one. I'd put it in the same category as something like “A Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet”: a quick, nice read. Nothing too challenging idea-wise, and it's not going to win any awards for innovation in the genre, but I don't regret reading it. A great book for a vacation read, I think, and the different Bobs let it sample a couple of different genres in a neat enough way.
Это пример той самой фантастики, из-за которой жанр не может пойти в массы. Я слышала, что это юмористическое фэнтези, но юмор здесь напоминает скорее “Теорию большого взрыва” - отсылки на гик-культуру, научные теории и все подобное, что нужно гуглить.
Начинается книга с нашего мира, когда Боб заключает сделку с криокомпанией и, конечно же, эта сделка скоро вступает в силу. Далее герой пробуждается уже в другом мире и участвует в некой "гонке умов", чтобы выжить. И тут, не смотря на интересную идею, и начинаются проблемы. Автор не показывает происходящее интересно - он показывает умную и точную машину, которая хочет делать фантастические штуки и шутить, пока ему рассказывают о новом мире. Религия вырвалась вперед и в международных отношениях остро стоит вопрос об использовании ядерного оружия. Но во всем этом абсолютно не чувствуется напряженная обстановка, в том числе потому, что главный герой Марти Сью. А во второй половине сюжет превращается в научную работу "Как инженер с помощью клонов может захватить мир". Боб находит новую расу и, чтобы не распинаться о том, как это скучно, просто скажу, что в цикле об Эндере это представлено намного интереснее.
It's funny to see all these nerds writing books now. Yet another book just full of references to pop culture. On the other hand, this book (unlike, e.g., ready player one) feels better in terms of actual science (be it pop science or not). It feels sort of like a mix between two Stephenson's books - Fall and Seven eves. Just written in much lighter style. I enjoyed it quite a lot, and I am looking forward to the next books in the series :)
This book is exceptionally good. It took me years to read it because no library near me carried it but I eventually found the form on the library site for them to procure it and books 2 and 3 in the series. Well worth the wait. The concept is very interesting and I like the idea of a Star Trek v'ger style ship but instead of gaining sentience, it was a human in a computer. I can't wait to see where the series goes and how this ramps up to a true ‘Bobiverse'.
Absolute greatest short but falls shot at the end
This begins on a bang. And I love how the exploration is done. But after 70% felt the story is going nowhere and repeating the same. Hopefully we get something amazing in second book. Still this is a very good read. Bobs are amazing
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
---
WHAT'S WE ARE LEGION (WE ARE BOB) ABOUT?
Bob Johansson is a nerd—he's both into SF and actual space travel, and the technology we're developing to study space—he's also come into some pretty good money by selling off his software company. Just as you start to like the guy, he's killed in a freak accident—and he wakes up 117 years in the future.
Between cryogenics not really working out the way anyone intended, some change in governmental policies, and a bunch of other stuff better described in the book—Bob finds himself as a sentient AI, a possession of a post-USA government. Assuming he functions well enough to pass some training, Bob's destined to control a space probe—one capable of making duplicates of itself (himself?).
Bob and his clones are charged with finding new planets for humans to colonize—a task made urgent after events that happen after the initial launch.
THE TONE
What I haven't said anything about there is the tone—this is a comedy. There's interstellar travel, combat, death, destruction, and the threat of human extinction—but Bob and his clones are a hoot and they'll keep you grinning and chuckling throughout.
It's not a comedy like Adams—it's more along the lines of John Scalzi or Scott Meyer—there's a decent plot and a mostly serious story with actual stakes—but the characters are ridiculous and/or consistently funny and quirky.
HOW WAS THE NARRATION?
I thought the description I read for this book had promise, but I wasn't sure I wanted to give it a try until I saw that Ray Porter was narrating it. A no-longer active book blogger had told me Porter was her favorite narrator, and I thought he did a fantastic job with Winslow's The Dawn Patrol. His involvement convinced me.
I'm so glad it did—he was great. I think I would've enjoyed this with most narrators or in text form, but something about Porter's narration and characterization of the clones added just the right element to an already fun book. Part of the conceit of the book is that the clones have slight (but noticeable)-to-significant variations in personality. I think making some of those with the slight variations noticeably different in the first-person narration is a great achievement—it's hard to describe, I realize. You need to hear it for yourself.
SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT WE ARE LEGION (WE ARE BOB)?
I don't have a lot to say about this, sadly, it's one of those I wish I could say a lot about. I had a lot of fun listening to it, and couldn't wait to get back to it when I walked away.
It had just the right amount of seriousness to keep it from being nothing but jokes, and you really got invested in all/almost all the clones—that level of investment in AIs is rare for me. Bob (well, the Bob that woke up an AI) and his several clones are nothing but fun.
I spent most of the book thinking that as much fun I was having, I probably wouldn't continue. But by the time I finished, I knew I'd be back for more. I've read/listened to a little more SF this year than I normally do, and it's books like this that are fueling that.
Originally posted at irresponsiblereader.com.
This was SO fun! Loved it! Enough logistics to make it plausible, enough emotional content to make it “human”. I'm excited for the next one! :D
ReRead. still love it. :)
Cool ideas and setup for a sci fi series, but has a hit or miss sense of humor that didn't always work for me