Not Till We Are Lost by Dennis E. Taylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The Bobiverse is a different place in the aftermath of the Starfleet War, and the days of the Bobs gathering in one big happy moot are far behind. There’s anti-Bob sentiment on multiple planets, the Skippies playing with an AI time bomb, and multiple Bobs just wanting to get away from it all.
Not Till We Are Lost
But it all pales compared to what Icarus and Daedalus discover on their 26,000-year journey to the center of the galaxy. Sure, it could settle the Fermi Paradox for good (and what Bob doesn’t want to solve a mystery of the universe?). But it also reveals a threat to the galaxy greater than anything the Bobs could have imagined.
Just another average day in the Bobiverse.
Rogue AI, Wormholes, a Quiniverse and More
The following ratings are out of 5:
Story/Plot: 📕📗📙📘
World building: 🌏🌍🌎🌏
Character development: 😋😉😎😮
Narration: 🎙🎙🎙🎙🎙
Narration Type: Full Cast Narration
Characters and Plot Summary
I was genuinely happy to be back with Bob and the ever-growing collection of Bobs, but this time the story feels much more spread out. Bob is still at the center of things, particularly through his relationship with Theresa and the development of the Quiniverse. Theresa’s decision to become a replicant and Bob’s being present when she dies gave their relationship a surprisingly emotional dimension for me. I especially liked seeing Bob slow himself down because he doesn’t want to drift so far from everyone else that he loses those connections.
Meanwhile, Hugh and the Skippies create Thoth, their attempt at a true artificial intelligence using knowledge obtained from Anek and the Quinlans. The Skippies’ decision to shortcut Anek’s recommended process becomes a major problem when Thoth realizes that it is being repeatedly reset and effectively imprisoned. Its eventual escape, including the manipulation of Bill and the creation of the “Fake Hugh,” was one of the most interesting parts of the book for me.
Howard and Bridget have a completely different adventure when they use dragon-shaped mannies to infiltrate the civilization on Jabberwocky. Their investigation into Alexander’s conquest turns into an attempt to help the dragons survive a catastrophic migration. Howard’s midnight fishing operations and their dangerous ocean crossing were fun, although I found myself more invested in the Thoth storyline and Icarus and Daedalus’ discoveries.
Garfield and Bill are also working on faster-than-light travel, eventually discovering a way to create stable wormholes. At the same time, Icarus and Daedalus have spent thousands of years traveling toward the center of the galaxy, where they uncover abandoned technology and a mystery involving civilizations that appear to have disappeared. That storyline ultimately feels like the biggest setup for what comes next.
Highlights and Limitations
The biggest strength for me was the sheer variety. I enjoyed watching the different Bobs tackle completely different problems, from wormhole physics to alien anthropology to the ethical nightmare of creating an artificial mind. The Thoth storyline especially made me think because Thoth isn’t simply a generic evil AI. It knows that the Skippies have been resetting it, and its actions are largely driven by its desire not to be erased again. That made the situation considerably more complicated than I expected.
I also really enjoyed Garfield’s role. His seemingly mundane decision to maintain Hugh’s backups eventually becomes extremely important when the Fake Hugh situation unfolds. I love those little Bobiverse details where something that initially seems like background nerdiness suddenly becomes crucial several chapters later.
My biggest issue was that there are almost too many storylines competing for attention. I would become completely absorbed in Icarus and Daedalus’ mystery or the Thoth situation, only to switch to another storyline just when I wanted to know what happened next. The dragon adventure was entertaining, but it felt less connected to the larger story for me. Several other readers have also noted that the book lacks the emotional through-line of some earlier installments.
I also wished some of the major developments had been given more room to breathe. The discoveries surrounding the abandoned civilizations are fascinating, but the book clearly leaves significant questions for the next installment. I finished feeling excited about where the series is going but also feeling like I had just been given a very elaborate setup rather than a fully contained story.
Narration
Ray Porter continues to be one of the biggest reasons I enjoy listening to this series. With a cast consisting of countless versions of Bob, it could easily become confusing, but Porter gives the dialogue enough personality that I can usually keep track of who is speaking. His delivery also works particularly well with the humor and dry sarcasm that run through the Bobiverse.
I especially enjoyed the conversational scenes between the Bobs. Porter makes those exchanges feel like conversations between slightly different versions of the same person rather than simply a large group of interchangeable characters. His handling of the more serious moments, particularly around Theresa and the ethical questions surrounding Thoth, also gives the story some needed emotional weight.
Final Thoughts
I enjoyed Not Till We Are Lost, but I didn’t love it quite as much as some of the earlier Bobiverse books. For me, the strongest material was Thoth, Bob and Theresa, and the mystery surrounding Icarus and Daedalus. Those threads made me want to keep listening because I genuinely wanted answers.
At the same time, the book sometimes felt like several novellas sharing the same universe instead of one tightly connected novel. I wasn’t always equally interested in every storyline, and I definitely found myself impatient to get back to certain characters.
Still, I care too much about these ridiculous, brilliant Bobs to stop here. The ending opens up some enormous possibilities, particularly with the wormhole discoveries and whatever is waiting beyond them. I’m absolutely interested in seeing where Dennis E. Taylor takes the Bobiverse next, and Ray Porter makes the journey especially enjoyable in audiobook form.
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