Tag: book-reviews

Heaven’s River: A Review of the Latest Bobiverse Adventure

Hello, dear readers, I finished reading this novel by Dennis E. Taylor last night. It is the fourth book in the Bobiverse series. I have reviewed the others previously and given them strong reviews. But what of this one?

Well, dear readers, to fully appreciate each novel, I recommend reading them in order. It’s a big Universe after all, and so many stories to be told.

The Bobs are copies of the digitally stored personality of a dead human (“Bob”), carried in self-replicating Von Neumann probes. The original mission to explore new worlds was originally tied to saving humanity.

With each replication, there is a drift from the original personality. At this stage, some bobs are the thirtieth generation or more. This has led to factions forming within the Bobiverve, such as Star Trek and the Skippies.

Starfleet believes that the Bobiverse should cease its interaction with biologicals, especially those that don’t engage in space travel, calling it the Prime Directive.

The Skippies want to build a superintelligent AI from scratch.

Each new Bob replicant has an individual name. One of them, Bender, hasn’t been heard from in a very long time. 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.

Bob (more or less the original) goes on the same journey where he picks up an alien signal. He deduces that Bender would have followed it. It leads to the discovery of a giant megastructure – rivers that encircle a star. Inside, live a pre-steam civilization, the Quinlans.

The discovery creates a stir throughout the Bobiverse. Starfleet believes that the Quinlans should be left alone, citing the Prime Directive, but Bob would never stop his search for Bender.

It leads to war in the Bobiverse and an epic journey through a truly new world.

I give “Heaven’s River” five stars out of five. Although long, it engages from start to finish. You meet interesting new characters and catch up on old ones. It is very immersive, allowing you to fully engage with the new Quinlan civilization. It has the necessary reveals and plot twists to keep the reader going.

Have you read this novel?

Let me know what you thought in the comments.

Pagasus (Part 84)

Seeing that the food was similar to my home habitat was a pleasant surprise. I ordered turkey and ham for myself, whereas Tabitha ordered some salmon.

“Why salmon?” I asked.

“Actually, I’ve never tried it before. But I’ve heard about it. Might as well give it a try.”

I felt an urge to say more.

“It was a wild fish that once roamed the seas of earth before being wiped out by the change in climatic conditions. But fortunately for them, and us there are specifically built habitats just to breed them for our palates.”

“Oh, they are so lucky,” Tabitha replied smiling.

“Oh yes, so very lucky.”

It took some time for the food to arrive and our conversation turned to more pressing matters. Top of the list was that we were already running short of money and were nowhere close to accomplishing our end goal.

“We need to work or do something,” Tabitha said, looking down at the table.

“There might be work with artifacts that we can do here. There are so many people here, some of them must want something.

The meals finally arrived after nearly an hour.

“So, sorry,” the waitress nervously blurted out.

Tabitha took one bite of the salmon before her facial muscles tensed up.

“You don’t like it, do you?”

We quickly swapped dishes.

Pegasus (Part 74)

I slowly opened my eyes. At first, I struggled to understand what I was looking at. It was the ruins of a city obscured by a thick white mist. I looked backward to see what state my companions were in.

Our newest companion’s eyes were set wide open. Rivers of blood flowed from her gashed head. I reached out to touch her but her body had already gone cold. I could just about look past her to see Tabitha who was slouched back.

Impulsively, I called out “Tabitha, Tabitha.”

She jostled slightly before responding “I am here, you okay?”

My heart which had been beating ferociously calmed.

“We need to get out of here,” I shouted.

I struggled left and right but was strapped in. I looked closely at the bright visual display. I knew there must be some button that I needed to press to get out of this predicament. It was just a matter of finding it. I thought I had it but merely and very briefly turned on some sort of alarm. Still, I persisted.

I pressed this option and then that one. Finally, the straps recoiled in place and the overhead hatch opened up.

Immediately, I was hit by a rotten smell. Myself and Tabitha gingerly made our way out of the ship. I could hear a motoring sound in the distance.

Tabitha looked at me, concern etched across her face.

Wheelchair Wars Part 3 (19)

The days passed and Timothy and his troops grew to know what was a new world. Timothy was continually impressed. It had progressed beyond anything that he had expected. The only thing that bothered him was most of the progress was made after the Emperor’s grip on the planet had been loosened. This was not the way it way it should be. It was thought that the Emperor was the savior of humanity.

It was something of a shock that women were now treated on a par with men. In the latest wheelchair wars, they tried to reduce the bloodletting as much as possible. The poor’s health needs were met almost as much as those of the rich.

The Emperor’s ship had never left orbit. He sensed the nervousness of the people. They feared his return only slightly less than that of the impending Tyranid invasion. On a trip to the surface, he saw people pointing to its proximate location in the now blue sky.

He wondered if one of the Gods of Chaos was at work in the World but they were far from the Warp and the telepaths among his troops sensed nothing. A terrible truth dawned on him. They were doing better due to the Emperor’s absence.

He decided to rid his mind of such thoughts by focusing on the planet’s defense. After learning more, he was now quietly feeling more confident.

The planet had multiple lines of defense. The first was its multiple-battery orbit guns dotted around the planet. They were the best Timothy had ever seen. Almost too good. Who were they to be originally used against?

Then there was the planet’s federal army, which consisted of a land force, a navy, and a space force. The best troops in the land forces were modeled on the Space Marines and had undergone body augmentation and were fitted with the best lasers and blasters that money could buy.

The navy consisted of hundreds of battleships, aircraft carriers, and corvettes. The space force had nearly a thousand advanced fighters but no large ships.

There was also a territorial army, a large reserve force containing millions of men, albeit much more lightly armed with mostly machine guns and rocket launchers.

Finally, there were the militia. These had the poorest equipment and consisted of the young and old who were able to fight.

Now, it was a matter of finalizing exactly how the planet’s defenses would be used with the planet’s President.

Review of “The Missing Ones” by Patricia Gibney

This was published way back in 2017. It is the author’s debut and also the first in the renowned Lottie Parker series. The author is from the same town as myself. The story is set in Ragmullin, a clever anagram of the real town.

Make no mistake, she is picturing Mullingar at every stage. It made reading the novel quite an intimate experience, immediately recognizing where the different scenes fictionally occurred. The scenes of bitter cold and snow brought my memory back to a particularly harsh few winters from nearly a decade ago.

The central character is Detective Lottie Parker. A deeply flawed hard-nosed detective trying to juggle a demanding job with a complicated family life. Her husband died a few years previous leaving her a single parent.

There are numerous complex relationships like Lottie’s relationship with fellow detective Boyd, with her Sergeant, and then each of her children.

The case she is investigating is a series in a presumably normally quiet Ragmullin. The first occurs at the town’s Cathedral and it all revolves around what happened many years beforehand. What follows is a grotesque and excellently written tale of child abuse, corruption, and murder.

It is beautifully crafted and you’re never quite sure where it will go next or who is responsible for the grizzly killings. The author has stated that she just likes writing but this was excellently planned and thought out.

The scenes of child abuse may be too much for many and for those with a weak disposition, I’d give it a wide berth. But if you’re looking for a good crime thriller, look no further. My rating is five stars out of five.

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