April 2026: "We Are Legion" by Dennis E. Taylor > Likes and Comments

Our April book will be We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor

Discussion will open April 1st, so you can start reading it now if you would like.
Until the 1st, if you want to discuss any story specifics while it is fresh, just use Spoiler tags. After the 1st you'll only need them when it's a true spoiler.
Otherwise until then you can discuss generalities like your progress, if you're liking it, other books by the author, etc.

2016, 383 pages, 4.26 stars
$8.99 Kindle, $11+ print, should be at library

"Bob Johansson has just sold his software company and is looking forward to a life of leisure. There are places to go, books to read, and movies to watch. So it's a little unfair when he gets himself killed crossing the street.

Bob wakes up a century later to find that corpsicles have been declared to be without rights, and he is now the property of the state. He has been uploaded into computer hardware and is slated to be the controlling AI in an interstellar probe looking for habitable planets. The stakes are high: no less than the first claim to entire worlds. If he declines the honor, he'll be switched off, and they'll try again with someone else. If he accepts, he becomes a prime target. There are at least three other countries trying to get their own probes launched first, and they play dirty.

The safest place for Bob is in space, heading away from Earth at top speed. Or so he thinks. Because the universe is full of nasties, and trespassers make them mad - very mad."

I actually found a paperback copy at my tiny library. Couldn’t find an ebook and didn’t think they would have a physical copy. Glad I checked!

This sounds like a fun book.

I need to get my hands on this, discussion opens in 5 days!

I thought it was at the library, I even added a note in the description. Maybe that is wrong? I can't find it at mine. Thankfully it's "free" with Kindle Unlimited. The regular Kindle version is 8.99.

I am starting this tonight!

I got a copy at the library. I was actually surprised they had it.

I will start tonight too. I hate to stop my Carl the Dungeon Crawler This Inevitable Ruin midway but that's how it goes sometimes!

I started it! Another pleasant surprise. I went into it as blind as possible (no blur re-reading) and I am so happy it's a cryo story. I love those. It's going pretty quickly.

Nancy I have a feeling it's just going to be the two of us discussing it even though 15 people voted for it. SMH

I didn't vote at all, and for now I don't plan on reading it, but I'm stilll very curious about this book so I'm super interested in the discussion

Cool you can come by anytime, even years later lol. Just know there will be spoilers! We don't hide them in the discussions once the discussion is open. (We just uncheck the add to my update feed option so spoilers don't show up in anyone's feeds.)

Oh wait, this is actually for April, I thought Earth Abides was April since everybody was reading that and this May!
yeah, makes sense then!

Haha! We're all over the place.

I may join, just late, since I just started a new (though short) book yesterday.

How's the humor so far?

I left off at ch 36 last night. Not sure how far along you are yet so I will wait a day to post anything spoilery.

I didn’t re-read the blurb either but remembered it involved cryo.

Totally forgot to chime in here. Let me start by saying I would Bobify myself if I lived in this universe.

I read this earlier this year (the whole series actually). It was the number one recommendation after DCC. At first I was confused, because the Bobiverse is *nothing* like DCC in my opinion. Once I got halfway through, I was hooked.

I fully enjoyed the weird mix of science, fiction, anthropology and philosophy. It's got jokes, but it's not joke-y, if that makes sense.

I was also impressed with the author's ability to not have to tell me all the time which Bob was talking. Especially after book one, you just immediately get a feel for who is who.

It has a huge amount of world building that all just makes sense. The basic interstellar science checks out...of course the fiction part of it is pure fantasy, but the book makes its own rules and then follows them, which doesn't always happen!

I really enjoyed it.

My friends are harassing me to join in and read this. I will put a request to my library; they will have to get it from another library in the state. I will chime in after a while.

Haha. That would be me and Nancy.

I think you'll like it though! It's going pretty quickly for me, at about 40%. I may read for my lunch break today.

Jennifer wrote: "My friends are harassing me to join in and read this. I will put a request to my library; they will have to get it from another library in the state. I will chime in after a while."

I don’t recall it being harassment. I plead innocent!

I have 25 pages left. Normally I would have kept reading but had to stop.

I finished!

I hope that a country or countries wouldn’t sacrifice humanity or the earth or solar system because they have a childish attitude of if I can’t have it, no one else can.

It was getting a little tedious going back and forth with Bob-1 and Riker. I liked finding out what all the other Bob’s were doing and what they discovered.

I am not sure how I feel about Bob-1 interfering with the Deltans. Let nature and evolution take its course and be observers. I get it, he is not a scientist and he took a liking to them.

Jim wrote: "I fully enjoyed the weird mix of science, fiction, anthropology and philosophy. It's got jokes, but it's not joke-y, if that makes sense...."

Yes! I liked the little bit of humor that didn’t become silly.

About when Nancy finished I started, how far back I am!

I really enjoy it so far, the writing style is good, but we'll see where decapitation takes us.

I just got the next book at the library!

I gotta say I really like the pop-culture references in this book.
Mentioning Farscape really got to my heart, I never would have expected it, especially considering the release date.
But mentioning Short Circuit got to my memory lane, that movie basically informed my whole idea of a robot for the rest of my life.

I finished!

I also get a kick out of some of the pop culture references because it's the same things I grew up liking. He even named the cat Spike. (Though I hate it when fictional characters give cats milk, spreading a dangerous myth. Typical.)

It's interesting to think of the different versions of one person. As if they were clones that had different upbringings but had the same core from nature. I noticed a tendency to prefer the original Bob and had to ask myself is it because he is the first one we met? The original? The most likable? I've noticed in books we have a strong tendency to grow an attachment to the first characters we meet, and the rest are more expendable.

I agree with Jim that there are jokes but it isn't jokey. It's not a funny book. It just has characters who sometimes find things amusing.

Re: the Deltans. To me the enemy of life is suffering, and if you can minimize that it's a good thing. I could not stand by and watch someone die. I don't want them to let the Deltans die but I also don't want them to kill the Gorilloids. I'd aim for a less violent form of protection and also a way to help the Gorilloids get the nutrition they need. The problem is that nature is so complicated that you mess with one thing you just don't really know what impact it could have. It's a really risky endeavor to "play god" that way.

Here's my question - what's the point of that part of the story? It's one of the most interesting parts, but I am wondering how it fits into the story overall. I certainly hope they don't end up putting humans there. The humans in this book are annoying as hell. They certainly haven't come together in their time of adversity.

I don't get VEHEMENT, the origanization.
"Voluntary Extinction of Human Existence Means Earth’s Natural Transformation"
Aside from it not being voluntary and they continue to try to kill off the remaining humans. Why can't they just wait? The humans don't have the numbers to harm the Earth anymore and are leaving anyway. The humans are either dying to leaving, so... isn't that what they want? Is it just impatience? The need to affect change in one's own lifetime. To see the end "success"? What am I missing?

I actually ended up dropping it, at 56%.

I liked the writng style, and I was curious how it would go. But I'm not so much into the "find other planets for humans to spread" and what made me quit was the way Bob describes the tribes he finds, I don't know, it gave me some ickes.
I also didn't particularly enjoy the battles lengthy descriptions, nothing wrong with them, they're just not my thing, I find them boring.

Gertie wrote: "It's interesting to think of the different versions of one person. As if they were clones that had different upbringings but had the same core from nature. I noticed a tendency to prefer the original Bob and had to ask myself is it because he is the first one we met? The original? The most likable? I've noticed in books we have a strong tendency to grow an attachment to the first characters we meet, and the rest are more expendable.."

This is really interesting to me, because Bill quickly became my favourite, and in general I didn't like Bob more than others. But certainly affection can play a role.
What I found interesting also is how even the most trolly personalities in the end became very professional, like Homer and Goku (I'm still disappointed Homer wasn't the writer).


Gertie wrote: "I don't get VEHEMENT, the origanization.
"Voluntary Extinction of Human Existence Means Earth’s Natural Transformation"
Aside from it not being voluntary and they continue to try to kill off the remaining humans. Why can't they just wait? "

I didn't get that far. But reading the name makes me think somehow the author has something against the real life VHEMT and is painting some ugly picture to discredit them? It would be childish but that's what it sounds like.
Maybe a logic to it, if there's any, could be that they don't want them to go to other planets and destroy them too?

Yeah Bill is a good one too. Isn't he one of the first clones? I do think Riker is a bit uptight. Some of the ones others find annoying I find likable, like ones who make jokes. As long as it's not in the middle of something important it's not a bad thing. It does seem like all of them are good at accomplishing what they need to when push comes to shove.

I can see that about the Vehement org - they could just think humans are a virus and don't want them ruining other worlds.

Yeah Bill was number 3, with Riker being number 2.
I'm also not so much of a fan of Riker, he comes off a bit too abrasive indeed.
I do like the jokes, but I guess the way those characters were presented was just as trolls for the sake of trolling, but the fact that I've never seen them as narrators doesn't help, because you see them only through the eyes of someone who finds them annoying. Seeing their point of veiw and motivations would probably have been different.

Just picked this up last night from the library. Will dive into tonight.

Ninnisha|Roberta wrote: "Seeing their point of veiw and motivations would probably have been different."

They actually did do that to some extent as the book progresses.

Gertie wrote: "Ninnisha|Roberta wrote: "Seeing their point of veiw and motivations would probably have been different."

They actually did do that to some extent as the book progresses."
Interesting! Did that change how you prevously viewed them at all?

I am still with Bob. I find the world he was brought back to very disturbing. Also this is why you don't freeze yourself. :)

Jennifer wrote: "I am still with Bob. I find the world he was brought back to very disturbing. Also this is why you don't freeze yourself. :)"

IKR! Who knows what it will like if they can bring you back

Ninnisha|Roberta wrote: "They actually did do that to some extent as the book progresses."
Interestin..."

Yes, it always does when I get to know a character a little better from their perspective.

I loved this book! Got hooked and read the whole series. The question that Gertie (I think) asked about why a certain part of book one is included gets answered as the series progresses. As usual, I am in awe of an author who can sustain a series this long. Keeping the details straight is difficult but making it entertaining for that long? Amazing.

Nancy wrote: "I finished!

I hope that a country or countries wouldn’t sacrifice humanity or the earth or solar system because they have a childish attitude of if I can’t have it, no one else can.

It was gettin..."

I found it sad that we allowed the utter destruction of our planet. I also felt that maybe the Deltans should have been left alone, but it seems that there was such a small pocket of them left an they lost what tools they knew about, due to the Grilloids attacks. I have mixed feelings. What if something like that happened with us? ( just saying, have you watched any Ancient Aliens?)

I did not mind the different Bobs. I feel like they are each individual. But I feel that way about other books I have read to do with clones.

I have to at least read the second book. I need to know what's happened to us and the Deltans.

As a side note, this was a fun read and better than I thought it was going to be. I am glad to have read it.

Jennifer wrote: "As a side note, this was a fun read and better than I thought it was going to be. I am glad to have read it."

I knew you would like it!

I read the second book and you do find out what happens to the people left on Earth.

I put the second book on hold at the library.