Book 1 - The Gap into Conflict, The Gap Cycle

Science Fiction has earned it's reputation as pulp. When I was a sophomore in High School I thought I was finished with this type of book where everyone evil wears black and everyone good wears white. I suppose that a persons choes in what books they read has quite a bit to do with how honest we want to be about ourselves. People who love the Pulps seem to place themselves into the story, they want to believe that they are as nobel as the J.T. Kirk. I know better, it's not that we are all evil hopeless bastards. We are real dynamic people and the forces that drive us are complex. This book is about one of the most evil people that could be imagined. But it's not because he wears black. Many people who wrote one star reviews hated this book because they were made to feel sorry for a villain. This is solid writing folks, it is supposed to be challenging. When I read it I was compelled to ask myself why I felt for Angus the villain at the same time I hated everything he was. Angus is not a hero, there are no heroes in this book, not in the classic sense. Each person is flawed as are we all and they are presented in rough strokes befitting the the setting: The twisted mind of Angus. This is not light reading by any means. But by the end of the Gap story I was left with a better idea of what heroics and sacrifice truly mean in the real world.

When I finished The Real Story, I was disappointed. The extraordinary prose Donaldson exhibited in the Thomas Covenant series was missing. A short story had been expanded into a $7.00 book.

But I had a bit of time on my hands, and decided to read the Afterword.

Now I understand, and have just begun the second book in this series. I hope it lives up to the promise Donaldson made in The Real Story.

The Real Story is a book that captures the readers attention from the first line by pure unique inhabitionless writing, the tone is intense. The story is set in a clasic science fiction future or faster than light travel, space stations, lazers, ect. The unique thing about this story is how deaply it looks into the mind of its characters. The protagonist is defenetly not your stereotypical hero, in fact he's a murder, a rapeist, a pirate, and a cowered, not to mention one bad dude. The only thing i didn't like about this book was that the first few pages seemed to forshadow an epic of plots and subplots, while the story remained fairly strait forward. However there are 4 more books in the series after this one so the story is far from over.
Its defenetly worth a read.

Donaldson sets the stage for the 'Gap Into Conflict' with this tiny novel, but it can also be read as a stand-alone. As a stand-alone it's depressing, as others have indicated, but as a series intro its darkness makes every victory of perseverence over evil in the later novels that more pronounced. A necessary if morose beginning to an overall excellent series.

This is the beginning of a new series by Donaldson, and without the draggy feel of Thomas Covenant. It has a good, solid science fiction feel to it (not fantasy passing itself off as SF as is so common these days). Donaldson focuses on the dark characters and inner turmoils of (mentally) damaged people (and they're all damaged in some way). Well done, this feels like the beginning of a great new series.

Donaldson continues his own unique brand of storytelling. Themes of suffering and redemption can be found throughout his works. While parts of "The Real Story" are stomach-churning in their detail and content, you are forced to keep reading just to convince yourself that all of the sacrifices are for something. Just what that ultimate redemption is will have to wait until the end of the series! But all of "The Gap into..." novels are riveting and emotionally-absorbing. The characters are simply mythic in that they are larger than life but filled with human flaws. Donaldson has never written a book that was trivial and this series continues that tradition. If you want heroes that always triumph and happy endings that gloss over reality, then go read something else.

This series is a straightforward space opera (interplanetary traders, pirates, space police, icky aliens) with a nod to high opera--Wagner's Ring des Nibelungen cycle, to be precise. Unfortunately, Donaldson, whose writing sparkles here as it has in his other books (particularly the first Thomas Covenant series) has latched on to a genre that is stale and leavens it with touches that are creepy at best and at work downright unpleasant.

This volume (which is the best in the series) follows the misadventures of a young space cadet named Morn Hyland. She's a junior pilot on a huge family-owned freighter. When her ship comes out of 'the Gap' (read warp/lightspeed/whatever), everyone on the ship but her is killed. A pirate/scavenger named Angus Thermopyle, a sleeze-ball of the first order, take her aboard, has his way with her, and is eventually arrested when he pulls in to a space station for repairs. That's the "Real Story".... or is it? Donaldson plays a Rashomon-like game, going back and retelling the story in greater depth, more close to the character's point of view, revealing that what really happened may have been something quite different. We get to watch Morn raped and degraded. And Morn raped and degraded. And Morn raped and degraded. Angus displays all sorts of neurotic soul, so we're supposed to come to sympathise with him--that we almost do is a tribute to Donaldson's writing skills, which is why I even give The Real Story 2 stars--but the fact of the matter is that this is a book about abusing a woman who never appears as more than a victim or a cypher. I read, somewhere, that Donaldson wrote this series during and immediately following his divorce. If so, I feel his pain, but I really would rather that I hadn't read the book. I went on to read the rest of the series, waiting for some kind of redemption, but aside from the fun of identifying characters from the Ring cycle in various spacers and magnates, it's more scenes of Morn being raped and degraded, literally or figuratively.

As science fiction, it's stale; as softcore S&M porn (a genre I must admit to being much less well read in) it's flat. For either, go elsewhere.

Excellent story, incredible insight into the characters, and then it all gets dulled by Mr. Donaldson's preoccupation with rape and sexual humiliation and torture. Similar themes run through the Thomas Covenant series and now plays a major thread here - and why! It doesn't add anything, sheesh. It doesn't have to be soooooo vile- does it?
Sex in the story = good. Torture perversion = bad.

Reading the reviews of 'The Real Story', it's obviously a polarizing book - either you give it one star or five. Five was the only choice I could imagine. Yes, the book is bleak, depressing and there is no better word for Angus than "depraved". But that's what is fascinating about the book. There are no heroes in the 'Gap...' series. In a sense, 'The Real Story' would have been a better work without the four books that follow it, allowing the characters redemption. Angus rotting in jail with the real story left untold has a reality, an honesty almost, that few SciFi books convey. The remaining books appeal to our desire for closure, for justice, for a happy ending...but 'The Real Story' gives us the brutal truth. To anyone who loved Thomas Covenant for his flawed humanity and his imperfection, instead of seeing him as only the hero to save the world...if you connected with his pain, read this book. If you just liked the heroism and the victory of good over evil...don't bother.

(...) Then there's a quite ridiculous, pretentious "afterward" where the author tells of his struggle to achieve "aesthetic perfection" with this book and compares himself to Richard Wagner.
All of this is made "profound" by the author telling us that the victim is really the rescuer and the rescuer is really the villain and the villain is really the victim and hip bone's connected to the thigh bone and the...
A piece of depth psychology: "maybe if I rape somebody often enough, she'll fall in love with me." (I paraphrase, but only to improve the grammar.)
If you like extreme sexual psychopathology -- stick with "The End of Alice." Space jockeys would do better to re-read their Heinlein.

One policewoman, two pirates.

A space policewoman, with a serious flaw - she gets sick during the type of travel required to cross interstellar distances - gets into trouble when the destroyer she serves on runs into a ruthless pirate.

Enter another, more dashing, far less ugly pirate into a bleak story of capture and survival, along with the beginnings of a nasty alien plot.

This book is a prelude to an incredible series. It is deep and dark, none of the characters are predictable and the plot is incredibly complicated. Unfortunately, most of those crying "misogyny" never finished the series - humanity is saved by the intelligence and power of a woman (other than Morn). But as for The Real Story, it is bleak and stark, and on its own would probably be mediocre (or at least pointless). As part of the best Science Fiction ever written, it is masterful. But if you like your stories where everyone is nice and friendly and one-dimensional then skip this.

For those of you who wish to complain that Donaldson's charcters have flaws, I say welcome to the world of literature. In genere fiction, we often find stories that are simply plots, and the good guys wear white, while the bad guys wear black. The truth is that people are complicated. Donaldson is pushing science fiction into a more respectable realm, and if you don't like it, I recommend that you reread the classics, or pick up a Star Trek novel.

This book offers nothing new to those who enjoy Science Fiction. It's so lightweight that it almost defies gravity. The plot is tissue paper thin and the characterisation is very sketchy. It reads like a poor 1950s pulp novel and the ending is flatter than week old beer. I'm surprised that Dondaldson managed to pad this material out to a thin book. For good space opera see early Niven or Haldeman.

I do not understand how people identify with a protaganist who beats, rapes, drugs, rapes, kills, rapes, rapes rapes rapes. I do not understand it. I was locked into this by sheer morbid fascination. Let's review.
Protaganist is like the good guy and stuff. Angus is SUPPOSEDLY our protaganist. Angus rapes our female lead several times.
Donaldson moved up from Thomas Covenant. Covenant only rapes once.
Sick book. If I could give it a negative 5 I would.

Donaldson does it again with the first book of "The Gap" series. His descriptions of Angus are both revolting and compelling. I have yet to read a more disgusting character than Angus Thermopyle. Totally void of any redeeming qualities, Donaldson has created the ultimate anti-hero. This book sets up most character development for the other novels that follow. Not as in depth as the first books from the "Thomas Covenant" series, but on par to be a 'must read' for any Donaldson fan. This series is not to be missed!

I have never encountered a more repulsive set of characters than those within the pages of this series, but the books are impossible to put down. The "Gap" series and the "Mirror" dualogy are some of my favorites, ever! It has been a few years since I read them but I don't recall being put off by the first book at all. I bought them all as soon as they were published. A great read - twisted (what else would you expect), surprising and original. Donaldson is tops!

Brilliant, very educational. You have to read all of them. The ending of the series ties everything up perfect. Battles in space are on true levels of physical limitations and the strategies to overcome them surpass Ender's Game. A fun read, filled with many emotions. Siiickk

I should have read the the store reviews before buying this book. Instead, I picked up this book solely because I enjoyed Donaldson's Thomas Covenant titles. When just about every reviewer tells you to try and get through this slow-moving and rape-filled story because the rest of the series gets better, ask yourself one question: "Am I that patient?" I wasn't.

I should have read the the store reviews before buying this book. Instead, I picked up this book solely because I enjoyed Donaldson's Thomas Covenant titles. When just about every reviewer tells you to try and get through this slow-moving and rape-filled story because the rest of the series gets better, ask yourself one question: "Am I that patient?" I wasn't.

I read the first Thomas Covenant books and thought they were ok. So, I thought I'd give these a try. I gave up midway through the second book. Just didn't have enough action. According to some of the reviews, the action was just about to begin. Is that true? Did I give up too soon?

A plot full of coincidences and contradictions, shaped around a trivial literary trick. Stupid characters whose actions and motivations bear no relationship to those of actual human beings. A few sci-fi buzzwords, but no science. And, last but not least, in the Afterword, an incredibly pretentious but shallow explication of Wagner's "Ring." Bah!