When I first saw the cover to this (at www.bookmooch.com) I thought it was a title about Collectible Monster Battling, or Virtual Reality Fighting… all they had were the covers and nothing in the way of descriptions about what the titles were. Well, it’s review time and now I find out the title is a generational sci-fi title that promotes itself as a Space Opera… and while that’s all well and good you are about to find out that in space nobody will remind you to not forget the little things that make Space Operas great.
Couplers, named after the technology that allows humans to operate tech (from simple winged hoverpacks to complex mechs), takes place in the Year -- something.
Meet Dawn Spinward. She and her friends who live in a rustic Middle Ages style old countryside seem to be on a trip. Now at this point you think they’re being taken to the local Hogwarts to be trained as DragonRiders, or Spellcasters or Guardians. Young people being prepared to defend their homeland from marauding monsters or whatnot. Turns out the “world” of the Colony is a strange mix of the tech and non-tech, where a majority of the people live in a rustic old world environment while the few (who do the grunt work of the day to day operation of the massive Colony ship) live in a more futuristic setting. Life aboard the Colony is simple and consistent, but moreso from a lack of resource planning than a real desire to live the simple life.
And thus almost out the starting gate the title’s flaws begin to hit you in the face like a mad Eva Gabor cussing out a California traffic cop. What? A slowness ticket!? How dare you say my narrative is going below the speed limit! SMACK!!
So how did the Colony came to be? What world shattering events led to it’s creation and launch? And why (oh why) did the people planning the ship not actually plan better to include a route that allowed for passing by worlds for resource gathering… in fact why wasn’t resource gathering even considered in the creation of the Colony ship? Those are things we will either never know or will have to wait for a future volume to find out as it seems the creative team behind the title didn’t actually take the time to flesh out these story elements and just jumped right into the cosmic adventures of Dawn Spinward and her four cycle tour of duty as a Colony Tech Corps member.
Speaking of things that seem to smack you about (like Don Imus getting a thousand and one verbal smackings from the general public over his bad choice of words that one time) uh… quick comparison here.
Luke Skywalker (beloved icon of Space Opera lore). He wanted to go into space, and put his dislike of the Empire and his passion to avenge his Aunt/Uncle (amongst other things) to join the Rebel Alliance.
Dawn Spinward. She kinda has dreams of advancing herself, but she’s just being recruited into the Tech Corps because it’s mandatory at her age and four cycles from now she can just up and quit and go home… yeah, some motivator there.
It’s not that I’m questioning our heroine’s motivations (which it seems I may be doing) but… where’s the real motivation if she’s EXPECTED to join?!? It’s not like she went out on a limb, defied her parents, and joined because of some great motivational cause or personal belief or something! She had to attend, attendance mandatory, so here she is. End of story, good bye, nuff said, close the door and read on.
Somehow she manages to become “co-Captain” of the class of cadets with her soon to be partner slash rival Adam (the reckless part of what may become a romantic entanglement -- which is the next logical step in a title that keeps missing the little steps in it’s progression from Point A to B to C and so forth). But soon (after a few pages of training) they are taken up to the surface and world and shown… in anticlimactic fashion since EVERYONE seems to already know about them… the R.A.T.!
You know what? I would have been far more impressed if the elders of the Colony worked hard to keep the Colony clueless to the existence of the R.A.T. (a seemingly Borg like biotechnological species), and then this scene at the end of Volume 1 would have had more impact (as they see the enemy truly for the first time and grasp the threat against them). But they seem to know of the R.A.T. already, and the “threat” is not much as it seems the R.A.T. hasn’t been seen in a hundred cycles since this first exploratory R.A.T. made Colony fall way back when.
Volume 2, however, changes all that as an attempt to throw a party for the beloved older member of the story (as he changes vocations and careers) goes awry when he is out on patrol (mostly to avoid his own party) when he stumbles across a large patrol of R.A.T… odd, though, as the title harps on and on about how the R.A.T. are out to destroy all they are (in fact) rather like the Borg in that (despite a bit of flash and bang laser fire) seem more interested in doing their own thing than really interacting with the Colony (or attacking it despite the notation to the otherwise on the teaser on the back of the book).
Of course this book talks of a deep space discovery threatening to forever alter the ship’s future (and all life aboard it)… HOWEVER (and this is no teaser because there is no teaser to be had) you’ll be hard pressed to understand the life altering discovery because even I don’t get it. But let’s recap…
Apparently upon a close look of a R.A.T. ship our older commander (Malak) discovers something… but you are not exactly sure what. I’m going to guess the R.A.T. is a technology created by very humanoid hands (which may or may not be the same humans as those on the Colony)… that is the only “shocking” revelation that could come from this discovery that came to my mind, though only Couplers 3 & 4 can answer that.
A more important (yet no less vague) revelation comes from Dawn’s grandfather, who has a out of body experience while suffering from medical problems (though he’s OK by the end of the Volume… just as well since he has abit to say about his experience next Volume) who “dreams” of an alien world that may be the long fabled “New World” the Colony is headed to… and it is on this world he discovers… nothing. Or does he?
While the experience is vague and seemingly pointless there is one symbolism to note… the fact that the clouds that roll by in the sky above seem to resemble R.A.T. vessels. So then, does this mean the new homeworld of humanity is already inhabited by the R.A.T.? This would be bad, especially since the title takes time to note that the colony cannot change course or alter plans due to dwindling resources (it’s that New World or bust).
As far as titles goes it’s not the worst sci-fi, but it’s a long way from being epic.
Starting with the simplest things first. We should have had an introduction which explained why a Colony ship was necessary, an explanation of the old Homeworld and it’s present “disposition” would have been nice (and why not enough planning was done to cover acquisition of resources along the journey to the new “world”).
From there more buildup and abit more surprise for the revelation of the R.A.T.
Then abit of explanation of the R.A.T. and what they knew of the species (which seems to actually be next to nothing despite paranoid insistence that the R.A.T. are out to get them when, in fact, only one scouting drone attack does not a species wide conspiracy to destroy all life make).
How about characters? At least your bonding with the cast... right?
Unfortunately not. I'd like to say that the characters really synch with you, and the secondary cast is strong in their supporting role, but neither of those are true.
I should be bonding with Dawn as a character, yet somehow even in Volume 2 (and her "emotional" moments about her grandfather) she fails to synch as a lead character. Ditto with Adam who is just there to be Dawn's opposite than as a sounding board slash rival to Dawn's character (not even pulling his weight during the "emotional" scenes in Volume 2).
And as for the secondary cast? I am beginning to fear for Hits & Misses as this title proves to be the weakest of Realbuzz Studios' titles in terms of secondary cast development. They are there, they fill space and at times fulfill certain plot point requirements, but don't move past that (or even set themselves up as memorable secondary cast like the quite active and memorable cast of Goofyfoot Gurl, a 5 out of 5 title).
As for the bit of cliffhanger in info from Volume 2 I am sure Volume 3 will explore the revelations made here in more depth. Maybe.
Why the specific construct of the R.A.T. vessels are so important.
What the first look at the new “Homeworld” means, especially if it seems to be at the heart of R.A.T. space. And maybe somebody can reveal what was learned from the R.A.T.’s first crashed ship (maybe Coupler technology itself is inspired from the R.A.T.) and why more was not said of the R.A.T.
And finally, maybe the most telling, why are the Colony’s heads insistent on the R.A.T.’s threat when they have only once to date (from my interpretation of the read) shown possible violent attitudes towards the Colony, and why has no attempt to communicate with the R.A.T. and possibly “sue for peace” occurred since the R.A.T. first discovered the presence of the Colony ship (and vice versa) one hundred cycles ago?
With more questions than answers the title may be leading up to a grand revelation, but seeing how it has missed several cues to reveal even the most simple of detail in these two volumes alone I have to wonder just how forthcoming the title will be in the future.
When it comes right down to it no matter how large the “forest” of this “epic Space Opera” envisioned by Team Coupler, they cannot lose sight of the seemingly insignificant “trees” that inhabit the forest forgetting the most simple of detail in the rush to create an epic “Space Opera“. That is why this title is not reaching it’s full potential, and why it is only getting an average 3 Big Picture People sized problems out of 5. (Let's hope the next release later this year includes Couplers 3 (and possbly 4) with some emphasis on revelation explanation and covering some of the details missed in these two volumes (Zero Hour and the launch of the Colony, why the Colony was not made with resource gathering to replenish slowly depleting resources in mind for a generational journey, who are the R.A.T. and what are their true intentions for the Colony, etc)).
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