I love this series. Bob is Everyman+, a former factory maintenance man who is thrust into the role of Admiral of the Fleet for Bob's Saucer Repair. His motley crew grows every book. After 26 of them readers wouldn't be blamed if they felt like their favorite characters weren't getting enough time on stage. So what does Jerry do? He makes Book 27 a trifecta - a collection of three stories with different characters to narrate each. Brilliant!
In this book, we start with the search for Zelda. She's the bot that Topper has been seeking for years. That's a typical Bob-centered story. But wait, it gets better.
The middle story follows the search for the True Squirrels, and Joshua (or Jossi) tells the story. Mr Boyd has him narrate in a similar but different style from Bob's narration.
The third story is the mission to find the home of the "Small people" who left thousands of years ago. This one is narrated by Dingus, and Mr Boyd finds yet another narrative voice for this part of the story.
I don't know whether this will be a recurring theme, but it's certainly an effective way to deal with a huge cast of characters when they can't all get into the same scene. I often lament to myself that I don't see John as often as we did in the early books. I see him in my mind as Robert Sean Leonard, who played James Wilson on House MD. No logic for it, but that's who I see. This isn't a complaint about the books. When you have a big cast somebody is going to miss their favorites sometimes. Authors have enough trouble telling the story without having to deal with our michegas.
I always want to read the next book right after I finish one. Pace yourself, Jerry Boyd, and I'll practice patience myself.