Heaven’s River - BookWyrm

Paperback, 632 pages

English language

Published Jan. 24, 2021 by Ethan Ellenberg Literary Agency.

ISBN:: 978-1-68068-226-7

(1 review)

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.

3 editions

Libbum reviewed Heaven’s River by Dennis E. Taylor (Bobiverse, #4)

Review of "Heaven's River" on 'GoodReads'

5 stars

I was so excited when this came out that I dropped the other book I was reading. It certainly didn't disappoint. If you've read the rest of the series, then there's really not much to say about this book. It stayed on track, delivers everything you would come to expect from the bobiverse: humor, intrigue, exploration of exotic space-lands, political tensions and the odd space war. In general, the same excellence as the last installments.

The focus on rescuing Bender made the story perhaps a bit myopic for a universe of Von Neumann probes; which was acknowledged by a number of elder bobs throughout the story, many of which are gearing up for a second expansion of the borders of known space. That's perhaps the only missing aspect of the standard tropes one comes to expect from the bobiverse in this book.

The internal bobiverse conflict was, at least to …

I was so excited when this came out that I dropped the other book I was reading. It certainly didn't disappoint. If you've read the rest of the series, then there's really not much to say about this book. It stayed on track, delivers everything you would come to expect from the bobiverse: humor, intrigue, exploration of exotic space-lands, political tensions and the odd space war. In general, the same excellence as the last installments.

The focus on rescuing Bender made the story perhaps a bit myopic for a universe of Von Neumann probes; which was acknowledged by a number of elder bobs throughout the story, many of which are gearing up for a second expansion of the borders of known space. That's perhaps the only missing aspect of the standard tropes one comes to expect from the bobiverse in this book.

The internal bobiverse conflict was, at least to me, fairly transparent - although the motivations for the conflict remained hidden to me until the discussion at the conclusion. If you read this review before the book: knowing who caused the struggles does not detract at all from the thrill of the story.

A masterpiece, yet again. Well done Dennis!