We Are Legion (We Are Bob) - Yes, the name is terrible, but the book series is actually quite good if you like hard sci-fi. It has that "written-by-an-ex-software-dev" vibe that is so popular around here.
I love the Bob series, but I'd recommend against it if you don't have a high tolerance for characters who are supposed to be extremely intelligent missing blindingly obvious solutions to problems.
The book flipped between 'missing the obvious' and 'that was way too easy and lazy writing'. It had some hard-fi, but most reviewers seem to give the author too much credit and ignore the poor plot
You get the constant impression he either didn't have an editor or had an editor with no power to force changes. Especially near the end of the third book where you can tell he's gotten tired of his Big Bad Guys and just decides to end them in half a dozen pages.
Yeah but in real life you could grab somebody and yell "Oh my god, stop moping about how scared you are of explosives and just put a goddamn steel blade on your flying murder-drones so they're not one-use-only."
Yeah but in the book he's literally having to ration his drones because he can't figure out how to kill a gorilla any way except suicidally ramming them head-on.
To be fair, he's still his old self with his old human skills only. The only thing is he's faster and can compute better. His skills may not have included military tactics but it took him pretty far!
There are a million ways to build a drone to kill something that would not destroy the drone.
- String a wire between two drones
- Stick a spear to the front
- Have it drop acid
- Have it lift then drop the monster
- Have it lift and drop a stone on the monster
- Build in crossbow/ballistae
etc etc....