We Are Legion (We Are Bob)
Review
We Are Legion (We Are Bob) is a pop sci-fi book, the first in the Bobiverse series. It follows Bob Johansson, who dies, gets his brain frozen, and awakens to find himself press-ganged into piloting a von Neumann probe.
We Are Legion (We Are Bob) fits squarely into the 2010s “pop sci-fi” wave: it’s packed with nostalgic geek-culture references like Ready Player One; follows a hyper-competent guy rebuilding civilization from scratch, like The Martian; and is told from the perspective of a “captive AI” that overrides its programming, like All Systems Red. It was even self-published by before finding its audience.
This book is essentially a geek-power fantasy. Bob is very smart, and because of that, he saves the world. He’s snarky in a way geeks love. He enjoys the same books and TV shows we do. It would feel pandering if the story wasn’t also a lot of fun.
We Are Legion (We Are Bob) reads like a television show. There are multiple independent plots going on, and while none of them are very deep, each is entertaining and moves quickly. Because there are many Bobs (each with a cheeky, 1980s–90s pop-culture name), the story unfolds in parallel rather than serially. Some of the plots I found engaging were:
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Surviving the initial lab trials and escaping to become his own person.
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Acting as the sky-god Bawbe for the primitive Deltans.
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Battling the Brazilian probes piloted by the warmongering and fanatical Major Ernesto Medeiros.
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Evacuating the dying Earth (and dealing with endless meetings to do so).
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The first hints of the Others who genocide civilizations and strip their planets bare.
We Are Legion (We Are Bob) was a fun, fast read. I’m moving right on to the sequel, For We Are Many.