Sweet, more Bobiverse. As you might be aware from my previous review (on this page though you may have to have a little search for it), I really enjoyed the first book, and I enjoyed this one even more.
It follows the various sets of Bobs, continuuing the multiple plot streams from the first book. There are Bobs trying to run the Earth and help the remaining population evacuate, Bobs running the new colony worlds, Bobs investigating the galaxy-eating "others" enemy and a few Bobs who just head off to go play space tourist. I've been a little tempted to map out the genealogy and what they're up to, as I did find myself losing track slightly of which Bob was where and doing what.
That is partly the problem with all of the Bobs being clones of each other. There's a weird tension between first and third person perspective, where each Bob is "I", but also the other. It means that sometimes they can feel a little bit similar, and results in some unfortunate repetition. I don't think we need to know every time that they have a coffee.
However, this book greatly improves on the problem of the first one, in which there didn't feel like significant conflict to deal with. The first book was very much a setting up for the series, which meant the Bobs came across as a little overpowered and untouchable. This book makes the environment they're working in a lot more difficult to cope with, and it feels like they suffer some real losses.
I was pleased to finally see some more of the "others", especially as they gave us an opportunity to see space fights. The strategies in this are something that I really enjoy, and I'd love to see this run a little deeper, in a similar manner to Weber's Honorverse.
There are also a few interesting little setups towards the end of the book that point us a little in the direction of the plot of the third, and I'll be curious to see what Taylor does with them. It's definitely a series I'm going to stick with.
Highly recommended.
Tagged: Book Science fiction Post-humans Novel Audio