Review: Drawn Out Beginning, But Payoff At the End Makes it All Worthwhile
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 09 30, 2012
What is Koban?  In Koban, an epic sci-fi story by Stephen W. Bennett, a human starship is attacked and captured by an alien ship.  The alien race, Krall, is practically humanity's worst nightmare: a predator that is stronger, faster, and far too deadly, armed with technology light years more advanced than humans.  The crew is told of the reason for their capture: to serve as prey to novice Krall hunters.  If humanity can prove itself worthy as an enemy, by killing even one single Krall hunter, the humans will be left on the planet of Koban with their lives intact.  If not, humanity as a race will be wiped out.  The captured humans have no choice but to fight and prove themselves worthy.  And this is their story. . .The author seems to have numerous meanings for Koban.  Superficially, it is the testing ground for humans against Krall novice hunters.  Later on, it is revealed that Koban, with its extraordinary natural lifeforms, and inorganic compounds, is the aspiration of the Krall and their search for physical perfection.  Finally, Koban is meant to the hope of the remaining humanity.Stephen W. Bennett deftly weaves through various scientific topics, such as astrophysics, quantum theory, genetic manipulation, and natural selection.  The author gets tremendous credit for imagining a different nervous system shared by all lifeforms native to Koban.My main concern is with the drawn out beginning of the novel.  The author seems intent on giving out history lessons on what happens to humanity in the future, and to be quite honest the information could easily to interjected into various sections of the book as needed.  The cast of characters are mostly scientists, and it is quite natural for some of the them to expound on the histories and discuss various topics in depth as needed.  This would cut a lot of pages out of this humongous book, and make it far easier for the readership to digest.  I deducted one star from my rating solely for this reason.Koban is an epic sci-fiction series that may be challenging to read.  But if you can stick with it, the payoff at the end makes it well worth your while.