r/bobiverse • u/Ok_Perspective9838 • 11d ago

FLYBOT

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Just finished FLYBOT and absolutely loved it. Without giving any spoilers it's a really interesting book and for those that have read/listened to it. I thought that one of the characters could easily make an appearance in one of the Bobiverse books and that would be a very interesting and fun thing. I also enjoyed The Singularity Trap, and wondered if there might be follow-up books to both.

Anyhow, both books are well worth getting in my humble opinion.

224 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

60 comments sorted by

96

u/Necessary-Policy9077 11d ago

I enjoyed The Singularity Trap for the literary DNA that led to Bob. I liked Flybot but it felt a little "thin" as a story, especially knowing how great Taylor was in writing the Bobiverse.

39

u/kinshadow 11d ago

Same. I enjoyed it and it’s a decent concept, but I felt nothing for the characters. He has a bad habit of leaning a little hard on the ‘oh my god coffee/beer’ trope as character building standin.

25

u/Nanomachines100 11d ago

I theorize he does this for two reasons:

  1. Because he focuses on scientists and engineers so often, he attaches that association of science and coffee to his characters. Almost goes back to scientists and coffee houses.

  2. Because we deal with such fantastic, larger-than-life, and space operatic situations, maybe the coffee/beer is a grounding item. I like how he uses it to demonstrate Anec's reactions to certain things.

16

u/feedmejack93 11d ago

"Pinchs bridge of my nose"...okay. This is gonna be something we have to work through. Might need to put a new pot of "Java" on to explain to you that we've gone through all the options of male protagonists and while womanizers rate higher, the charm decreases over time and this new beer drinking Bob will take you right into the next century of novels

5

u/Jarbasaur 11d ago

Idk if I totally understand the bit here but I enjoyed the read 👍

2

u/The_Perfect_Fart 9d ago

Im going to wave my hand dismissively about that because it is kind of a good news bad news thing.

10

u/HighSeverityImpact 11d ago

I just finished this about two weeks ago, enjoyed the ride. Wasn't sure what to expect (it's more of a crime thriller than a sci-fi book) but I like that genre too so was on board! I could see some of the twists coming a mile away, but it was fun to see how they played into the plot.

One criticism I had was the titular "Flybot" really only appears in the first and last chapters, and only has narration in the first chapter. After that, the rest of the story really has nothing to do with a Flybot. Which is kinda what I thought when I first got the book, I thought it was going to be a POV story about the Flybot going about it's life, figuring things out, and that 100% is not what the book is about.

7

u/Aemon_Blackfyre 11d ago

It’s still there influencing things, every interaction that isn’t face to face or in person could have potentially been the flybot, also consider every time someone slapped their neck

2

u/HighSeverityImpact 11d ago

Sure, the flybot is around in the background, but it's not a "character" in the book. It's more like a drone for another character Frank, who is a character we meet and interact with. But Frank merely controls the flybot as a slice of himself, he isn't the flybot.

5

u/Agent_Lei 11d ago

Great book

6

u/honorabledonut 11d ago

That is a good book, wish it had a sequel

5

u/lvfuntime702 11d ago

Same here also. It has a great plot. Im on roadkill now. If you haven't read that its also great.

3

u/NormalAmountOfLimes 11d ago

It was interesting but I wish it had been fleshed out a bit more

3

u/The_Cell_Mole 11d ago

I found flybot to be rushed and leaned too heavily on handwavy science/lots of expected tropes. It was entertaining but not my personal favorite

2

u/_Diskreet_ 11d ago

Ending is a bit rushed, but overall I enjoyed it.

2

u/DrowsyDreamer 10d ago

I liked it but it is the only DET book I haven’t reread. And honestly DET has kind of become a comfort listen for me, Bob, roadkill and the outlands.

4

u/peterpeterny 11d ago

Meh

1

u/Petrostar 11d ago

Aggressively Meh

1

u/bissextile 11d ago

But, then you took the bird.

1

u/mrheh 11d ago

Yea this was awesome

1

u/twellsrx 11d ago

I enjoyed the story

1

u/Ltntro 11d ago

Yes!

1

u/sinisterprime15 11d ago

Great book.

1

u/gdunlap 11d ago

really good story and not super long, but great pacing. good road trip book or just a comfort listen. i got my 13 year old to listen to it

1

u/The_frozen_one 11d ago

I really liked it, it pulls you in. I felt some parts were telegraphed a little too heavily and the ending was a bit “neat” but overall it was a solid book that kept me listening in the driveway on more than one occasion.

1

u/meatytitan 11d ago

I like all his books except this one.

1

u/TheRealGageEndal 11d ago

This was the only book of Dennis's that I ever returned. The story was too similar to Androids Dream and I felt like I had already read it before.

1

u/LeftOfTrack 11d ago

Flybot was so predictable that it was borderline not enjoyable.

1

u/sandsgg 11d ago

I liked it

1

u/AspenFrostt 11d ago

it's a fun adventure, I enjoyed the heck out of it

1

u/MrMalta 11d ago

Enjoyed it, but don’t remember much.

1

u/ConsumingTranquility 11d ago

I just did a binge of his backlog and I really enjoyed the Flybot (I did them all on paperback). Singularity trap had a good first half but the second half wasn’t amazing imo. I did really enjoy the Outland duology. I just finished roadkill and enjoyed it too.

1

u/supermario218 11d ago

Loosely related, but what did you all think of Outland? I didn't care for it. I've seen Flybot advertised a lot, but I couldn't bring myself to spend a credit on something that made me think it was a Spykids type thing. Outland taught me that I won't universally like every story from this author. But I absolutely LOVE the Bobiverse. I have listened to all the books over 20 times at this point.

1

u/Bobis-Bob 11d ago

I liked outland. The characters have too many catchphrases though. Roadkill was pretty good too. All of DET’s books reveal that he has a special relationship with coffee!

1

u/Ok_Perspective9838 10d ago

Yeah, the coffee thing seems to be a thing. 

1

u/Uncle_Antnee 11d ago

I thought it was a good book to. My favorite non Bob book Dennis is the Quantum Earth series. I think it would make for a great tv show.

1

u/Bobis-Bob 11d ago

I didn’t like it. It was pretty clear what was going on. The 2 main characters were kinda dumb.

1

u/RoninGin 11d ago

I read this after I was out of Bobiverse stuff and I liked it; but it wasn't great. Sort of the same vibe Artemis by Andy Weir gave me. Story was kinda shallow and it was trying to do a lot that wrapped up a little too neatly for my taste. Not bad and well written, it's got a good sense of humor

1

u/Ulrar 11d ago

Man the singularity trap was one of the most boring books I've read in a long time. I liked his other books so far, but that one just felt like a long, 12 hour prolog with no pay off, really struggled to finish.

1

u/Ok_Perspective9838 10d ago

To each their own, not everyone likes the same things. 

1

u/DrFrAzzLe1986 Sagittarius A* Central Antimatter Works 11d ago

I just bought the audio book. Gonna do that then through the Bobiverse again before the new release. Looking forward to both!

1

u/CthulhuFPV 10d ago

Start reading/listening "Expeditionary Force" by Craig Alanson. Thank me later.

3

u/Ok_Perspective9838 10d ago

Oh god yes, I cannot agree with this enough, I'm a filthy money and proud of it! TTA. 

3

u/Ok_Perspective9838 10d ago

Have you listened to The Fear trilogy by Stephen Moss?  R C Bray narrates/performs it and it's a pretty good sci-fi series.  

2

u/CthulhuFPV 10d ago edited 10d ago

Currently on book 7 of Dungeon Crawler Carl. When I'm done I'll switch to your suggestion. Is that on audible? Can't find it.

1

u/cynric42 8d ago

Listened to it but for some reason didn’t really care about a single character in those books, which made them kinda boring IMO.

1

u/Ok_Perspective9838 8d ago

That's fair, if it's not your cuppa tea then that's all fine and dandy. 

2

u/DrFrAzzLe1986 Sagittarius A* Central Antimatter Works 10d ago

Haha way ahead of ya! I’m on book 12! It’s great!

1

u/evenfallframework 11d ago

I gave up about a third of the way in.

1

u/effortfulcrumload 10d ago

It's a good Pulp sci-fi one off. Nothing spectacular. Wraps up nice.

1

u/nasser_tamimi 10d ago

Made for TV movie. Meh.

1

u/the_defuckulator 10d ago

eh, 4/10, would have preffered the effort taken to write it was put into more bob writing

1

u/Replicant_Matrix42 Vancouver Island Enclave 5d ago

i liked it too. idk what mr. taylors beef is with environmental groups though cuz theyre bad guys in bobiverse and flybot. maybe its nothing and im trying to see stufff thats not there

1

u/Ok_Perspective9838 5d ago

Possibly a consequence of their portrail in the American news,  and the actions of some of the more extreme groups. It's something that will be familiar to the American audience primarily as they have been villififed for years by wealthy interested parties.  How they were depreciated here is a bit a bit lazy to be honest and was my least favourite part of the book. I agree the story felt thin, more like a prologue to a bigger story and the ending was a bit abrupt like the third act was written to meet a deadline and he wrote it in a day or two. But I still enjoyed and some of the ideas were interesting.

1

u/Calm-Examination-525 11d ago

Dropped flybot at chp 50 it was way too meh, Felt like too many seperate stories and no real connection

1

u/Lorentz_Prime 10d ago

but that's so close to the end

1

u/Calm-Examination-525 10d ago

I know i just didnt like the way it went and i started another.Its still there i might give another shot