Outland

Well worth picking up if you are a fan of Dennis's Bobverse. Easy to read, great pacing very fun scifi ideas in this book.

Book number one of a planned two book SF pre and post apocalyptic series. The book is self published via CreateSpace. I read the POD (print on demand) trade paperback version with excellent fonts and paper. I will buy the sequel when it is published. Basically, a group of college students invent a trans-dimensional device and start exploring a parallel Earth that does not have humans on it. His description of the wandering Smilodons is unnerving. Then the Yellowstone Super Volcano blows up back on their home Earth. The book pays very serious homage to _Wildside_ by Stephen Gould. It mentions the book in the story a couple of times. I really enjoy the author's writing style. Short chapters and continuously changing points of view. Also his books do not take themselves too seriously. In my opinion, the author's second book, _We Are Legion (We Are Bob) (Bobiverse) (Volume 1)_, is the best book of 2016. My rating: 4.4 out of 5 stars (I could be persuaded to go 5 stars)

I really loved Taylor’s Bobiverse books and was hoping for more when I found Outland and Earthside. These books are just a poor mixture of Lost and Stargate. I had a hard time keeping track of who is who because characters are not vey well developed. This could have been a much better book, if time was taken to develop characters more. Otherwise it is a very fast read and I am loyal to Taylor because of Bobiverse.

I liked the premise; Yellowstone eruption and parallel worlds. It turns out Mr. Taylor knows how to write! The characters and the dialog is totally believable. The plot moves along at a good pace and I never lost interest. A well written disaster novel about ordinary people have to do extraordinary things. No super villains or conspiracies, just the usual stupid villains that constantly underestimate a bunch of college nerds. I am looking forward to the sequel Earthside.

I didn't really enjoy the writing style, and the story dragged on a bit in parts. It does pick up and become a real page-turner after Yellowstone blows up, but that's halfway through the book. There's also lots of "competency porn" from the main characters, reminiscent of the Bobiverse series. The concept is interesting, but it's sort of been done before in the Long Earth series by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter, and the Merchant Princes series by Charles Stross. I'd recommend either over Outland.