Koban, Volume 1

By: Stephen W. Bennett

Narrated by: Patrick Freeman

Length: 25 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's summary

All new narration adds sound effects and eliminates issues noted in reviews. To obtain new version, remove old one from device, download new copy at no charge.

We colonized seven hundred planets. Humankind enjoyed the benefits of expansion and the end of wars. We disbanded our military.

Then the Krall found us.

The Krall have used thousands of years of combat to select the genes of the strongest and fastest warriors. They are a species determined to dominate the galaxy, through annihilation or enslavement of every opponent.

Koban is an uninhabited high gravity planet with impossibly fast savage animals, which employ organic superconducting nerves. This deadly world is where the Krall are testing humans for fighting capability. We are useful only if we can fight well. If not, they will destroy us swiftly, as they have other species. They have slaves, and we’re poor tasting meat animals, so we fight or die. The Krall will use us, if worthy, seeking physical perfection through attrition of war, one planet at a time.

Growing weary of our failures in testing, the ruthless Krall are on the verge of a decision to eliminate our species. A ship carrying bio-scientists is captured for combat testing. The choice for Captain Mirikami and the scientists is simple: Prove we can produce better, smarter fighters quickly, or humanity is doomed to rapid extermination.

But the Krall are only half the problem. We must survive Koban's gravity and superfast animals. The tiger-like rippers with skin contact telepathy are predators too fast and powerful for the Krall to face. Our solution is genetic: If you can't beat them as you are, become human rippers.

The Krall will learn another species can bypass natural selection.

©2012 Stephen W Bennett (P)2013 Stephen W Bennett

Exciting and smart, great sound effects

This is, apparently, a re-done audio version after too much negative feedback on the previous narration of book 1. And, it's excellent. I love the sound effects and especially the speech of the aliens.

The story is exciting and manages to convey danger and death without having to go into great detail on gore . . . which is what some other authors seem to specialize in. Thankfully, the specialization in this story line is of human inventiveness when in a pinch.

Like the recent book The Martian, this story kept me interested and amazed at how much science and tech know-how could be squeezed into a story line and only make things better.

I didn't hear the previous version of narration to make a comparison, but this version's narration is good. My only wish is that there wasn't so much "chuckling" as people spoke. I never hear people chuckling in real life, and this book was full of it. Also, the "banter" written into the story line was the weakest part and felt awkward and often immature - which didn't fit since it was often between characters that had Ph.D's or were leaders.

I'm already some hours into book 2, and have already bought book 3. Unfortunately, in Book 2, there is a voice change on one major character, Thad, who in Book 1 is introduced as a former Colonel of some other earth colony world, and speaks with an accent tinged of Eastern Europe or Russia. In Book 2, the character Thad suddenly has the voice of a much younger man with an American type of accent. (Note, as of this date, there *are* three books in the series, but if you click "Series" you will only see two books. Click the author's name to find the third book in the series) Also, in Book 2, there are apparently none of the great sound effects (so far at 6.5 hours in) that were in Book 1.

Great ideas, narrator and writer both need improve

Any additional comments?

The story ideas were very interesting and I look forward to listening to the next book in the series. The narration was not great, with the narrator regularly mispronouncing some words and other quirks that detracted from the experience. But I don't believe all of the trouble can be blamed on the performance. The writing is not especially good (Mr Bennett's first published story), and I think the narration emphasized this. Still, neither the writing nor the narration were terrible (I listened to the redone version) and I enjoyed the story very much.

Great book, Horrible narration

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Nothing other than the narration, and cutting out a few of the early slow parts of the book.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The narrator's inability to properly portray the tone and emotional state if the situations and characters.

Was Koban, Book 1 worth the listening time?

Yes, but only because it leads to book 2 and 3... (both amazing books, with a better narrator)

Any additional comments?

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE struggle through this book on audible, or just read the book... UNTIL YOU GET TO THE SECOND BOOK! I can't stress this enough, the second and third audio books are AMAZING, boy does the story SKY ROCKET! I have never read a series in which i was that dissatisfied by the first book, only to be amazed and dumbstruck by the second and third. I guess after the poor reaction to the first book, they got the idea to change the narration... which completely changes how these books are read. The narration for the second and third book is really really good. Please do your self the favor of buying and reading/listening to this series.

Narrator is awesome

Any additional comments?

I wanted to write this review to offset all the negative comments about the narrator. I thought the narration, sound effects and alien voices were awesome!

Why would you add all the distracting and jarring noises, they completely ruin my immersion.

No seriously it ruined my listening experience. can you please go back to the old performance, it wasn't great but damn it was a ten by comparison.

I had to Ex-Cape from this one

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The book starts out pretty well, a bit repetitive but some like it that way. The concept seems fresh and well thought out. The author maybe dwells a bit much on the made-up physics of the starship propulsion system without actually explaining it...

What did you like best about this story?

The characters and the basic plot elements

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Part of the time he sounds like a text-to-speech program. Somewhat lifeless. The voice of the Captain of the "Flight of Fancy" spacecraft has a japanese name and comes from the planet "New Honshu" so one would think a touch of an accent wouldn't go amiss. But what really got me was when suddenly every character on the ship is mispronouncing the word "escape". Come on, look at the letter order. No way would a literate person pronounce the word "Ek-scape". I had to bail on this $30 audio book before the narrator could make me really crazy by speaking of "nucular" explosions, which would make me crash my truck and they would have to take me to the hospital in an "ambliance". (Not that I will ever know if he pronounces those words incorrectly, because I won't be risking it, but still...)

Do you think Koban, Book 1 needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

I will be buying the book on Kindle to finish it, so I don't really know yet.

Great story , narration from hell

as the title of this review suggests...the story is great and excellent bedrock for a series of books. The narration by the "movie announcer" guy was awkward as he'll and really made a great story hard to listen too....in fact , it is testament to the quality of the story that I was able to tolerate the narration.

annoyed by the little nervous giggles

the little side Giggles, nervous laughter, and offbeat sarcasm come off as nervous tics for every single character and it is extremely annoying.

Love the Koban books

I love the Koban books! I listen to the whole series once in a while and of course each time a new book comes out. I just enjoy so much reliving the characters' triumphs, especially because they have to use clever thinking even after they become physically superior to their enemies. I hope this series never ends!

The way it was narrated kind of annoying

The story was great but the narrator the way he was doing the voices and the sounds sometimes you just think why is he doing that