Heaven’s River is the latest entry in Dennis E Taylor’s highly enjoyable Bobiverse series, a series I rate very highly for its ideas, characters, and story. The first novels of the Bobiverse, We Are Legion (We Are Bob), For We Are Many, and All These Worlds, form a self-contained trilogy that concludes its main arc, but obviously leaves plenty of avenues open for further expansion. Heaven’s River is the first of these (though I doubt it will be the last) and takes one of the threads from the first trilogy as it’s central plot, yet adds plenty of other ideas and threads into the mix.
Civil war looms in the Bobiverse in this brand-new, epic-length adventure by Audible number-one best seller Dennis E. Taylor.
More than a hundred years ago, Bender set out for the stars and was never heard from again. There has been no trace of him despite numerous searches by his clone-mates. Now Bob is determined to organize an expedition to learn Bender’s fate – whatever the cost.
But nothing is ever simple in the Bobiverse. Bob’s descendants are out to the 24th generation now, and replicative drift has produced individuals who can barely be considered Bobs anymore. Some of them oppose Bob’s plan; others have plans of their own. The out-of-control moots are the least of the Bobiverse’s problems.
Undaunted, Bob and his allies follow Bender’s trail. But what they discover out in deep space is so unexpected and so complex that it could either save the universe – or pose an existential threat the likes of which the Bobiverse has never faced.
With the threat of the Others (an alien species with no regard for other life, just the accumulation of resources for their civilisation) over, the Bobiverse has settled down, with the Bobs, humanity, and the other alien species so far discovered moving forward in their own ways. Bob’s replicant descendants are now reaching into the 20th+ generations and replicant drift is showing that these new Bobs are anything but the original Bob, and while there is a baseline, they have much more unique personalities, not always in agreement with the original Bob. Bob, however, is focused on a mystery that has been plaguing him for over a hundred years while he’s been distracted with other more pressing issues: what happened to Bender, one of the early generation of Bobs? It’s with this in mind that he sets out along Bender’s flight path to see if there are any clues along the way.
Meanwhile, the Bobiverse itself is going through change with the new generation of replicants. New groups are forming, many with decidedly different goals than original Bob, and tensions are rising quickly. Add to this the political situation with humanity and the control the Bobs have in human society simply through their technology, and events start to unfold in many ways…
Summarised briefly, Heaven’s River is simply about Bob finding Bender. What happens along the way is what really makes the novel as good as it is, and central to this is a topopolis, an artificial structure the circles its star containing a massive habitable volume. (If you want a detailed description, Dennis E Taylor has a post on it on his blog – beware spoilers for Heaven’s River!). The discovery and exploration of the topopolis is fascinating, as are the inhabitants and society we find inside. I won’t go into detail as the fun is very much in the telling, but Taylor manages to convey a lot of information and ideas in an easily digestible and enjoyable way.
However, this singular goal is not the only thing that grabbed my attention, with arguments from the newer Bob generations over the way the first generations explore and exploit resources to suit them coming to the fore rather quickly. This really added some much-needed complexity to what could have become a very stagnant and boring society, and as the novel progressed things started to feel different enough across the board that it didn’t feel like one character with some mildly different personality tweaks. In short, it worked to freshen the central idea of replicants, but it wasn’t the only thing to do so: other humans are now starting to go down the route of becoming replicants. While not developed too deeply here, this certainly lays some interesting groundwork for any future stories in the setting.
I listen to lots of audiobooks these days and I always look forward to listening when Ray Porter is the narrator, and with Heaven’s River he does another excellent job. He’s able to effortlessly pull you into the story, with the Bobs having their subtle differences considering they are essentially the same person, and the rest of the cast are brought to life. Having narrated the first three Bobiverse books too it’s easy to fall right back into the world and characters, much like putting on a comfy pair of slippers!
It’s easy to say why I love the Bobiverse novels – intelligent entertainment. They bring solid science fiction ideas to the table and combine them with interesting and amusing characters. Bob is, of course, central to this, yet his replicant clones down all generations each bring something different to the table. Heaven’s River brought all that I knew from the first books here and added plenty I wasn’t expecting. Good storytelling, excellent narration, and fun characters in many different situations made this a must read for me. It may not be quite up to the standard of the first trilogy, but that is by-the-by – great stuff.
Publisher: Audible
Author: Dennis E Taylor
Narrator: Ray Porter
September 2020
Audiobook, 16 hours 57 minutes
Review from purchased copy
© 2020 Mark Chitty | @chitman13
