Koban, Volume 1

This review may sound rather critical, so let me begin by stating that overall, I enjoyed the book a lot. In particular, I did not notice any big issues with grammar and spelling (As I understand, there are several revisions of the book around, so maybe these things got fixed in the version that I got). However, I would like comment on three issues that really disappointed/annoyed me disproportionally. So when continuing to read, keep in mind that these are really the only negative points that I noticed, i.e. in every other aspect the book is great.The first issue that really bugged me is with the grand story ark. The entire story is based on the idea that the krall are doing "combat tests" with some captured humans on an isolated world to determine if it's worth fighting a good man-to-krall combat with all of humanity, or if they should just eradicate all of humanity from space using their superior technology. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any need for this separate combat testing in the first place. Why don't the krall simply attack humanity? If the fight becomes too boring, they can always fall back on their technological advantage anyway. There truly seems to be no reason at all to first test a few humans, if the eventual goal is war on humanity in any case.Another thing I just couldn't wrap my mind around is the intelligence (or lack thereof) of the human's AI. All in all, this is definitely a pretty clever AI. It can understand and respond pretty much any sentence (when addressed directly), is able to learn new languages on its own initiative, and clearly also able to adapt to unforeseen situations and make independent inferences. However, the very same AI is described as having serious trouble figuring out when it'd be appropriate to answer a question or provide information. This leads to the main character to come up with some complicated scheme for asking questions without the Krall noticing that just doesn't make any sense at all. Given the other abilities of the AI, it just doesn't seem reasonable that it wouldn't be able to figure out when it is expected to respond.The third point I'd like to make may seem a bit unfair, but I think that in parts the author was actually being too ambitious for his own good. For example, one of the main ideas is that the dynamics between men and women have changed fundamentally after some event in the books past. This idea certainly has a lot of potential, and I would have loved to see how it affects the story and interaction of the characters. This is also well done in the first chapter or so, but after that (when the humans arrive on Koban) one almost gets the impression that the author got tired of having to think about this, because suddenly all that's left of an entirely different social context is a different salutation and different surnames. Given the potential of the idea, this is rather dissappointing, and I think the book would actually been better if it hadn't introduced the idea at all rather than introducing it for a little while and then discarding it entirely. In another example, it seems that the author could not quite decide if the Koban animals are sentient or not. I believe the goal was probably to tell the reader about them being (a little bit?) sentient, while at the same time making it clear that the characters are not aware of that. The result, however, is a slightly irritating dissonance when the book jumps from one viewpoint to the other.That said, I did enjoy the book, and if the above points don't sound too bad to you, you'll probably like it a lot as well.Edit: I just looked at the book cover and description for the first time (read it on Kindle before) and I have to say that it's completely misleading. While there is some talk about genetic modification, it's mostly about two guys slightly enhancing their strength and endurance towards the end. The danger of loosing their humanity by carrying this further is expressed in a few sentences in a conversation at the very end of the book, and the phrase about the bio-scientist producing "better, smarter fighters" is just plain wrong.The rippers (I suppose this is what the big cat is supposed to be) also feature in just one scene that leaves the reader with a lot of open questions. My best guess is that the cover is meant to describe the triology rather than this book (I haven't read the other books yet though). But don't worry, even though the description is terrible, the book is still great :-).

Updated 11.9.20:I don't remember when I wrote the original review for this book, (I mention 2013, but it may have been later), but I thought it needed an update.I still read/listen to the whole series from beginning to end at least once a year, sometimes twice if I'm going through a rough patch, because it entertains and informs and intrigues -- and makes me laugh out loud. Buying a long series is an investment -- books aren't cheap -- but I still wait and wait for the next book to come out and I can't wait to start the series all over again from the 1st book to the last, it's that great. I wish everyone had a series like this to get them through the tough times.But leave your critical adult mind out of the process and experience what it was like to be a kid reading your first Sci Fi adventure. Try to find the joy, the silliness, the unadulterated entertainment value of this colorful world where humans are smart and capable and can save the universe. If you can find that within yourself, this series is for you.BTW: I am an avid reader of Brandon Sanderson, S. H. Jucha, Martha Wells and many, many more. In fact my tastes are extremely eclectic and a good story is a good story, no matter who writes it or what genre it's in. However, this is my #1 favorite SF series of ALL TIME because of the simple pleasure and entertainment it gives me. It should NOT be missed by any SF fan!STILL HIGHLY RECOMMENDED AFTER 8 YEARS OF YEARLY LISTENING!(I guarantee you won't find another series like this.)Book one held me captive and mesmerized when I first read it in 2013, and I have re-listened/re-read the entire series every year since them. I LOVE this character driven SF so much because it makes me happy every time I read/listen to it. And I'm convinced Stephen W. Bennett is a GENIUS.A very few reviewers on Amazon think the tale is too simple. I say they either haven't given it a chance, or are too 'mature' to appreciate a story about the fantastic. What a shame.I believe it takes science fiction to a new place entirely where the old boring rules don't apply.Koban Book 1: The human race has spread, colonizing many worlds, and it is a peaceful time in our history. We simply have no reason to be prepared for a war since the last one happened quite a while ago. And because we're no longer fighting each other, we've lost the art of it. And, so far, we haven't met an alien race in our part of the galaxy -- yet.It begins like this: Out in an unexplored part of space, a group of bio-scientists are on their way to a new planet for purposes of study and terraforming, when they are intercepted and taken prisoner by a hostile alien species called the Krall. They give humanity an ultimatum: Learn how to fight a war again, because if we fail, the Krall won't fight the human race. They'll destroy it.Huge, red, and completely disdainful of human life, the Krall have a simple philosophy: What they can't fight, they eat. What they can't eat, they eliminate. And they have eliminated nearly 20 sentient species already.HIGHLY -- VERY HIGHLY, RECOMMENDED for everyone! Written by a master storyteller, the Koban Series is fantastic!(DO NOT MISS THIS SERIES. If you have never read a science fiction book before, let this be your first.)

The Koban sequence is one of the most rewarding I have read in a long time. The overall vision and ideas are impressive, and the application of science is always challenging, although it may make a professor of physics tear-out his or her hair. The alien entities are interesting and the bad guys are wholly bad, which keeps things simple for us. Stephen Bennett keeps coming up with new twists to the plot. Quite how he finds the energy simply to type that much is beyond me, as each volume is a pretty hefty read. Although not quite up to the standards of the multi-millennium vision of 'Dune' this is still excellent, engrossing material with a fine imagination behind it.Downsides ... well, real people don't talk in great page-long chunks that read like an instruction manual. (It's the author's way of summarising what's been happening, but it takes some wading through, especially when the same point appears a page or two later.) Second, the grammar and spelling are appalling. Getting the language right may be a minority interest these days, but 'publically' for 'publicly', 'breech' for 'breach', 'callus' for 'callous', plurals with apostrophes, bad punctuation in direct speech ... I gave up noting the glitches because it became a bit disheartening. Some of the errors may arise from using dictation software and not reading through afterwards - but that's a guess.If you can set aside these distractions you'll be in for a great ride. The series is up to volume six so far and it looks set for a seventh. How does he do it?

Great Sci fi with tech/ genetic mods in this one, start of a fast paced action space opera. The concept is quite refreshing.... I read a lot of scifi and thoroughly enjoyed this one. ... reading into the early hours of the morning as wanted to see what next. Quite a long ebook actually. To give away anyone than is in the author's into would spoil it .... bu I will say ' foolish aliens!The book is enjoyable on its own and can be read as a complete story if you want to fill in the gaps with your imagination but I am going to purchase the next one... or two.

I was a bit worried at first, I'm not a fan of stories that focus on the battle of the sexes and this seemed like it would focus on that at first. But it quickly recedes into the background especially for our group of prisoners. I do think it's well done here however, it's a female dominated society but the author hasn't just flipped the roles he put some thought into it. The use of a form of chivalry in a female dominated society was unexpected.It's a long book, about half again as long as I expect, but I was still left craving more at the end and immediately baught book 2. A gripping story and a great cast of characters with an unusual but great choice as lead character. Koban and its animals do seem a little to much like earth dialled up to 11, it could be a little more alien but then would I have loved it so much?The Krall make great bad guys and have logical reasons for what they do, the author also shows a decent amount of variation in their personalities especially as the books go on.

I have read 4 so far. The science is good, and imaginative. The descriptive narrative tends to long and tedious. The dialogue the same, especially in the middle of critical action when they start discussing committee like, what their next action will be. I skipped some of that because the overall story is good.

The product discription says it all; so no need to add spoilers. My normal authors are all working on thier next book, so I went hunting on amazon.com and found this book highly rated.Some descriptions are a bit long winded at times; but this is a minor irritation. This book was a surprisingly enjoyable read (2 days non stop), I rate it in the top enjoyable MSF books that I have read and cannot wait for book 2.(To give you and idea, I like to read Weber, Stirling, Ringo, Currie, Douglas, Turtledove etc.)