We Are Legion (We Are Bob)

Book cover of We Are Legion (We Are Bob).
Book 1 of the Bobiverse series

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 in the 2010s “pop sci-fi” movement: it includes countless nostalgic references to geek culture like Ready Player One; follows one highly-competent man as he rebuilds civilization from scratch like The Martian; and is told from the perspective of a “captive AI” that overrides its programming like The Murderbot Diaries. It was even self-published by Dennis E. Taylor before finding an 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:

We Are Legion (We Are Bob) was a fun, fast read. I’m moving right on to the sequel, For We Are Many.