Koban Universe 1

By: Stephen W. Bennett

Narrated by: Eric Michael Summerer

Length: 5 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

Here are four stories derived from the same universe as the Koban series. Listening to the series is not required to understand and enjoy these stand-alone tales.

Australian Krall: A fully gene-enhanced Kobani woman finds herself trapped in total darkness and underground, pursued by hundreds of slavering, semi-sentient, maniacally aggressive, and hungry aliens. Walk with her on the dark side!

"Batsof a Leather Flock Together" (short story): The wolfbat Flock Leader establishes a nest in virgin territory. The wily leader uses his cooperative experience with humans to try to forge hunting alliances with unfamiliar and aggressive native creatures. Not everyone wants to play nice.

Kobani Kiddie Cappers (novella): Howdo Kobani parents cope with children that are born with a contact telepathy gene, and have eidetic memory. Adults, who think teenagers act as if they know everything, never had an overconfident four-year-old super child, with a ripper cub as his partner in crime. Living to reach his teens might take superhuman luck.

TheSmuggler and the Crime Lord (novelette): When you land a known smuggler's ship in a ruthless Crime Lord's city using false registry, it's hard to convince a platoon of armed thugs that you're only shopping, and you don't owe the boss a cut of your action. If you're a Kobani captain, and buying drinks for friends in a spaceport bar, spoiling your evening and making threats is a bad idea, and a fatal mistake.

©2014 Stephen W. Bennett (P)2014 Stephen W. Bennett

Pretty good

too much background on some of the stories, plus it's not clear that they are short stories rather than one book

Not a novella fan, but....

I don't usually listen to novellas, but this one really pays off. These short stories help to enrich the universe and feels like it fills in some important gaps between books 2 & 3. The third story very entertaining for me, and found myself wishing it went just a 'little farther!'

World building and some good old shoot em up fun

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would recommend this set of 4 short stories to anyone that has already read/listened to the books in the main series. The 4 short stories gives us some understanding of the Kobani people and some of their furry friends.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Koban Universe 1?

By far the Smuggler short story was the best of the 4 stories and could become its own short novel. I loved seeing more of how the Kobani kick butt with attitude.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Once you start listening to each story you would put it down. Even after listening to all four stories I found myself listening to the Smuggler story over and over.

Any additional comments?

Another great installment. Would probably not make much sense to someone not familiar with the other stories. I can't wait for book 4 and for the audible version of book 3. Keep up the good work.

Loved the short stories.

I love this creation of greater depth in the universe, all those little things that make the characters come alive. Really enjoyed the short stories and the fun characters. Again very well written and entertaining.

Collection of stories mssing from the main books

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

This series fills in some- not all of the questions in the original series

Who was your favorite character and why?

baby Ryan in Koban Kitty Cappers --- I had children like that without the mods :) and some wild kitties (althought not several hundred pounds that thye got into trouble with.

What does Eric Michael Summerer bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

reading the names of the people and places vs. my thoughts of how they would sound

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Koban -- The Missing Chapters - Part I

Any additional comments?

Wish the chapters were named, got the audio book for my ten year old (vision impaired-deaf -- cochlear implants) to listen to so he would know a little of what grandpa was reading Kiddie Cappers some of the material not suitable for that age.... and we could make up some stories about what he thought children and rippers can do.

A great set of Koban stories

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Absolutely, but with the caveat that one should read the first three books in the series first.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Koban Universe 1?

The whole anthology was most memorable. The world of Koban and the species inhabiting this world are brought alive even more thoroughly with these stories. This book allows us to learn more about life for Kobani and non human species, in a depth that could not be done in the series novels.

Which character – as performed by Eric Michael Summerer – was your favorite?

His performance is great for all the characters. This performance makes the books come alive on Audible.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

This would not be a good stand alone film. The books in the series need to be made into films first, then this one could fit in.

Any additional comments?

This series is great and I look forward to many more.

Another great book by stephen bennett

Absolutely loved the series so it was a must to own all the novelas too.

pretty good stories, good narration

this book pretty enjoyable. planning on checking out the first book in the Kobani series.

OK selection of short stories

Not as good as the full length Koban books, but not a too bad selection of short stories. Mostly action scenes without the plot and character development.

Koban Universe was good but I expected more...

If you could sum up Koban Universe 1 in three words, what would they be?

interesting, yet dissapointing

What did you like best about this story?

some of characters I liked in the first two audio-books re-appeared, yet very superficially

Which scene was your favorite?

the bar-fight towards the end

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

not this time. I expected much more

Any additional comments?

Compared to the previous two audio-books, Koban Universe was too short & left too much unexplored. I expected more about what happened in the war effort now that the Kobani's had jump-capable ships.