# Heaven's River

![Book cover of Heaven's River](/books/covers/heavens_river.jpg)

by [Dennis E. Taylor](/books/authors/dennis_e_taylor/)
Book 4 of [Bobiverse](/books/series/bobiverse/)
★★☆☆☆

## Review

_Heaven's River_ is the fourth book in the _Bobiverse_ series. It starts a new storyline and changes the way the stories are
told.

What I loved about the previous three [_Bobiverse_](/books/series/bobiverse/) books---[_We Are Legion (We Are Bob)_](/books/we_are_legion_we_are_bob/), [_For We Are Many_](/books/for_we_are_many/), and [_All These Worlds_](/books/all_these_worlds/)---was how many interweaving stories they told. The
chapters were very short, often just a few minutes to read, and each new one
changed point of view and story. This kept the books moving fast.

_Heaven's River_ does away with that almost completely. There is only one
story, subsequent chapters stay with the same character and storyline, and the
chapters are much longer; some take over 30 minutes to read! The book is also
twice as long as any of the previous ones. This made reading the book feel
slow.

This book also ends the geek-power fantasy that was core to the series.
Previously, Bob was a kind-hearted nerd who overcame all obstacles in his path
by being clever. In _Heaven's River_, a lot has gone wrong and the Bobs are
powerless to stop it: the Pav are hostile, the humans want to separate from
the Bobiverse, and the Bobiverse is breaking down into
factions---gamers[^game_cringe], AI-obsessed Skippies, and isolationist
Starfleet---while Bob himself is stuck on an alien [topopolis][wiki_top].

[wiki_top]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topopolis

[^game_cringe]:
    Not quite as "overly cute" as the MMORPG-guilds-turned-mercenary Zokus
    from [_The Quantum Thief_](/books/the_quantum_thief/), but close.

All the apparent storylines turn out to be just one story: the exploration of
the Quinlan topopolis to rescue Bender, which accelerates the fracturing of
the Bobiverse. The actual investigation of the megastructure and the escape
from the various groups trying to capture Bob was exciting to read, and
several of the new characters introduced in those chapters are interesting,
like Anek-23 and Theresa. I even missed seeing two twists coming! But the
Bobiverse factions part of the story did not interest me. It makes me worried
about how I'll like [_Not Till We Are Lost_](/books/not_till_we_are_lost/), which I think will explore the splintering
more.

Overall, the speed and multiple storylines are what I like most about [_Bobiverse_](/books/series/bobiverse/), and this book does away with both. Still fun, but less so.

## Reviews that mention _Heaven's River_
- [_All Systems Red_](/books/all_systems_red/)†
- [_All These Worlds_](/books/all_these_worlds/)
- [_A Fire Upon The Deep_](/books/a_fire_upon_the_deep/)
- [_For We Are Many_](/books/for_we_are_many/)†
- [_Look to Windward_](/books/look_to_windward/)
- [_Not Till We Are Lost_](/books/not_till_we_are_lost/)
- [_On Basilisk Station_](/books/on_basilisk_station/)†
- [_There Is No Antimemetics Division_](/books/there_is_no_antimemetics_division/)†
- [_Valuable Humans in Transit and Other Stories_](/books/valuable_humans_in_transit_and_other_stories/)†

† _Mentioned via a link to the series._

## Related Books
- [_For We Are Many_](/books/for_we_are_many/) by [Dennis E. Taylor](/books/authors/dennis_e_taylor/) --- ★★★☆☆: For We Are Many is the second book in the Bobiverse series. It focuses on the Others storyline while also continuing many of the side stories begun in We Are Legion (We Are Bob).
- [_All These Worlds_](/books/all_these_worlds/) by [Dennis E. Taylor](/books/authors/dennis_e_taylor/) --- ★★★☆☆: All These Worlds is the third book in the Bobiverse series. It continues the story of the war with the genocidal Others started in For We Are Many.
- [_Not Till We Are Lost_](/books/not_till_we_are_lost/) by [Dennis E. Taylor](/books/authors/dennis_e_taylor/) --- ★★★☆☆: Not Till We Are Lost, by Dennis E. Taylor, is the fifth book in the Bobiverse series. It sets up the Quiniverse, introduces a Skippy AI, and explores the discovery of wormhole travel.