Book Review: Fishbowl by Jeremy Robinson

Asimov Sent The New God Of Science Fiction To Piss The World Off. Ok, so Robinson isn't subtle with the themes of this book. At all. Not to the level of preachiness, but you know *very* well the questions Robinson was wrestling in his own mind as you read this book... and in classic Robinson fashion, you don't *really* know where he ultimately ends up personally, because as always the story comes first. Definitely something for me to ask him about when I see him in a little over a week at Robinsonfest 2026 in St. Augustine, nearly a full six months before the publication of this book.

What we do get is yet another balls to the wall scifi action thriller with the classic (and now expected) nods to various Robinson properties - now including even his comic book series he has begun creating in 2026 - with both heart and brain. One where if you want to turn your brain off and just enjoy the spectacle, there is absolutely that way to read this book and you will have quite an awesome time. Truly, some of the sequences here are among the more inventive I've ever seen even Robinson get, and I've known and read Robinson for nearly 20 years now across every novel and novella he has and several of his short stories.

And yet there are also several areas where he is seemingly quite blatantly trolling, including one section about 20% in where I actively told him "you're begging for one stars at this point. :D". Yes, it was one of those things where I have actively seen fucking morons within booklandia one starring books because they mention this thing at all - either side of it - even as I can tell you having now finished the book that it is never mentioned again after that point. There are also several other instances of more one liner type things, but also a larger issue here or there that could lead certain readers to desires of defenestration... and yet Robinson clearly has the approach of one Marshall Mathers in these regards. As always, story comes first for him, and in every single instance I'm referring to here, the issue/ topic at hand as played within the story absolutely works within the context of the story itself.

While we're on the topic of one star ratings from fucking morons, allow me a bit of a divergence to call out "Clenna" on Goodreads, who one starred this book when I know for a fact - being one of them - that exactly 22 people outside of Robinson and his long time PA/ editor Kane Gilmour have even possibly finished this book as I write this review on the very day of the deadline Gilmour gave us. I understand that some people claim to do this as a way to mark a book as "to read". Goodreads has another even more blatant way to mark a book as "to read" in that it literally has a button saying "want to read". Use that. I also know from direct personal experience with another author and book where I wasn't among a group quite *this* early in the process, but had this book through NetGalley and was the very first of that group to review this other book on Goodreads (and everywhere else I post reviews, including in that case to NetGalley itself) that some people just like to rate bomb authors they hate for whatever reason. In this case, the book was literally listed as "[Year] Release From [Author]" on Goodreads at the time - even I didn't yet know this book's title, as it was the one *after* the one I had just finished, and presumably the author hadn't even started *writing* it yet - and yet some bigot had already one starred the book. Maybe there is something Goodreads and other review sites can do there, maybe there isn't. But there is absolutely something you can do as a person there: Be better. Judge a book only once you've actually read it, and until you've actually read it, *do NOT* rate or review it anywhere, including on book review sites where people look to gauge the quality of a book. Once you've read it yourself, *please* leave your honest thoughts about it - no matter what they are. It helps all of us to have a better idea of what something is to have as many views of it as possible. But only *after* you've actually encountered the thing, not when you're imagining what the thing may be inside your own clearly demented head.

Back to the book at hand: Yet again, one of Robinson's more inventive works - which is saying something, given the things he has created over the years - that long time fans will absolutely love and should serve as a solid entry point for readers new to Robinson and his style.

Very much recommended.

This review of Fishbowl by Jeremy Robinson was originally written on October 28, 2026.