The Gap Into Madness: Chaos and Order

The Gap Cycle #4

by Stephen Donaldson

EVENTS WERE NOT MOVING AS THE AMNION HAD INTENDED - ONCE AGAIN HUMANS HAD BEEN FALSE IN THEIR DEALINGS WITH THE ALIENS

As the planetoid Thanatos Minor exploded into atoms, the Trumpet hurtled into space only one step ahead of hostile pursuers. On board were Morn Hyland and her force-grown son Davies, cyborg Angus Thermopyle and Captain Nick Succorso - old enemies thrown together in a desperate bid for survival.

For both the Amnion and the UMC Police the immediate capture of the fleeing ship and the secrets it contained was imperative. But for Trumpet's exhausted crew the only hope lay in an illegal lab in the distant binary solar system of Valdor Industrial. It would be a journey of unpredictable danger - from which not all would return . . .

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Fantasy, Space Opera, Science Fiction Fantasy, Adventure, Audiobook

663 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 1, 1994

About the author

This is the disambiguation profile for otherwise unseparated authors publishing as Stephen Donaldson

For the fantasy author and creator of Thomas Covenant, see Stephen R. Donaldson

Reviews

[Joshua Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I felt the third book was a bit of a step back in this series, the fourth one regained its appeal for me, with a compelling story from the start that culminates in an epic space battle. The bloat is still there, however, as Donaldson seems to include too many chapters with characters ruminating about things they *think* is going on (but don't really know), and it always grinds the narrative to a halt. While I'm disappointed that there are less and less connections with The Ring of the Nibelung the further I get into the series, as a space opera, it's a good, potentially great read, depending on how the series ends in the fifth book.

[Sumant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another solid entry into the Gap Series this book starts the end game, and the way book has ended I am really on the edge of my seat to find out what happens in the series next and how does Donaldson ties everything up. I am so impressed by Donaldson in this series that I am going to try reading his Thomas Covenant series again. Regarding the book the plot gets even darker, and Donaldson again shows his mastery in playing with your mind.

The only issue I have with the book is the conversion of dreadful Angus Thermopylae into something sane, it is hard to imagine a character like him can have redemption because at the start of the series as I have already mentioned in my previous reviews that he was the most insane dark character I have ready in fantasy or sci-fi so far. But Donaldson manages to change character in this book, and although it is an underlying technique of the author to do so with many of his characters but I certainly could not digest it.

Some of the strong points of the book are

1. World building regarding Masif 5 system.
2.Character driven plot.

Let me elaborate on the above points now

1. World building regarding Masif 5 system.

If the last book was all about the illegal shipping yard called as Thanitos Minor this time all the action takes place in planter system known as Masif 5. Now this system is a blessing as well as hell for the ships due to the fact that it has mineral rich rocks scattered all over, the only issue is their are two singularities present in the system which makes spin and crash on each other due to which it is damn hard for ships to cruise in such system.

Due to this fact this place is suited for many illegals such as Dr. Deaner Beckmann who has made a study of life surviving inside of an singularity. Donaldson writes some fantastic descriptions regarding this system due to which you are able to imagine it fully and picturize it in your mind.

2.Character driven plot.

As has been the case with all the books in this series, it creates a unique set of characters and throws them together and observes them. It is just like chaos theory

“The crucial point is this: pure randomness or unpredictability cannot exist in the presence of limits; by virtue of its very existence, everything which exists is limited; therefore pure randomness and unpredictability cannot exist. Anything which resembles chaos must exist within some set of limits.”

It is all about power in this series, the Dragon i.e. Holt Fastener has vice like grip on the UMCP i.e. United mining company police, and due to the events which have taken place between Milos Tavernier and Captain Succorso he has managed to pass a bill which gives UMCP complete authority on all security related to human space.

The only species which humans have to fear so far are the Aminion who with their mutagens can transform human genes into one of their one, it is this fear that Holt has used so far. The only person who is standing in his path over absolute power is Warden Dios he is a cop who has tried to the right thing from the start, but due to Holt he has done so much shady deals that he just can't stand it any longer and decides to take some action to set everything right.

Thus when two giants collide there is going to be collateral damage, and the other characters in the series have to pay the price for the actions of these two.

There other many fascinating characters in the series like that of Morn Hyland who although has suffered so much still manages to cling to her humanity when she finally decides to give Angus some control over his actions, it is this fact I find most disturbing because how can you forgive a person who has mentally and physically abused you.

Donaldson writes these characters with so much grit that you start to take them for real, and you feel for them when any of them suffer.

Except my few issues with the book I really loved this book and give it a solid 4/5 stars.

[Wanda Pedersen · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

The best book so far in this series and the best book by Donaldson that I’ve read. A very high stakes penultimate book. Donaldson plunges the reader right back into the plot without any recaps or explanations. Thankfully, I read The Gap Into Power: A Dark and Hungry God Arises just back in May and was able to dredge the details from my memory fairly quickly.

The CEO of the United Mining Company (The Dragon) doesn’t appear very often in this installment, but he lurks in the background. Finally, we begin to divine his intentions regarding the fearsome Amnion aliens. (Hint, it may be good for him, but maybe not for the rest of the human race).

I really hope that the final book will reveal a few more details about the threatening aliens--their culture, their relationships to one another, their motivations. They are just too intriguing! Of course I’ll also be reading to see what happens to all the various humans who are integral to the plot line. It will be interesting to see how the author wraps all of this drama up!

Book number 334 in my Science Fiction and Fantasy Reading Project.

[Brent · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series continues to get better as it goes towards its conclusion. It has broken away from some of the elements that made books 1 and 2 tougher to read and has really embraced the sci fi and space opera aspects of the series. While doing so it keeps up with the incredibly well done and tangled web of politics, factions, and betrayals that are the hallmark of this series. Sometimes yes it can be a little hard to track, but it's also a lot of fun to see so many different sides all with their own plans and plots come into conflict with each other and what results. Also, characters switch allegiances more than in any series I can recall so it's always fun figuring out what side you feel like you should be rooting for (if any).

Where this book really shines though is when it got into the second half of the story, and it started getting away from some of the Earth politics a bit and focusing on the space ships and the space battles. Donaldson does a good job of ratcheting up the tension both for the readers and his characters as you feel that at any point they might just snap. Also the development of one of the best aspects of the series the alien Amnion is extremely well done. You get some reveals that very much change what you thought they might be even since the last book.

Overall my enjoyment of this series has grown with 1 book left. Can't wait to read it next month. Chaos and Order is a very solid 4.5/5.

[Lucas · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5/5

In hindsight this is my favorite one yet.

Really great series and all the threads that were set up are coming together. Definitely a little high stress and a bit exhausting where the action and scheming don't let up, but there's a lot of good stuff and interesting exploration of themes and sci-fi concepts.

[Kostas · Rating 5 out of 5]

9/10

'Chaos and Order' gets even darker than the previous books with Donaldson continuing, through his magnificent talent, to bring and a much stronger story, as we get deeper and deeper; with less politics, more action and some great twists!

The story continues with the protagonists trying to escape from their enemies, but the Amnioni have reached the limit of their patience - as the only thing that want is to get back what was stolen from them and without, really, caring if they have to bring even and a war for that.
On the other side, Angus and Nick will find themselves, again, against UMCP's schemes; and also a big dilemma, which either it will save them or it will utterly destroy them. However, all it takes for everything to go to hell is one order; just one simple... order: "Isaac, priority Gabriel ..."

From the start till its very end the book proves a lot stronger than its predecessors, with Donaldson bringing us this time in a more epic scale story - as he combines everything that he was preparing from the previous books very beautiful.
Of course, the book has some flaws that, personally, bothered me a little: like when Donaldson changes characters he has the habit to repeat some scenes again and again, though from the opposite perspective, which sometimes can become a bit tedious and, I think, that it could have been handled better if these scenes were shorter - if not completely gone.
Also, the story of the Valdor planet remind me somewhat that of Thanos Minor, from A Dark and Hungry God Arises, although they're certainly different compared. However, in the end, these things I can’t say that they really bothered me so much as Donaldson’s writing remains to be in a very high level as in the rest of the series, which, for me, is one of the reasons that I continue.

Overall, even though the book felt a bit "heavy" at times, it is actually a really good and strong book (and perhaps the best in the series so far) as Donaldson take us deep into the wild space, in a vast chaos, with a hungry god having just been awakened!

[Philip Fracassi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm only going to say this once for all 5 books: they are a stellar sci-fi series that any genre addict should read. They are not as great as the first trio of Covenant books, but they are a lot better than some of the recent sci-fi books churned out. That said, they are also more than a little disturbing, and, by the end, more than a little hard to believe. Even sci-fi character can't bend so far until they break, and the main villain of this "franchise" does such a personality 180 that as a reader you're left with 2 choices: put the books down or shrug and move on as best you're able.

If you choose the latter, you are correct, because these are a nice series of stories and although intended, most likely, to be a bit darker than they turned out to be (Real Story, or #1, is like a plague of death whereas the other four are bad colds), they're still a romping good read with memorable characters.

I've read through this set twice in my lifetime, and never say never because maybe in another 20 years I'll itch to pick them up again - and that's saying something.

[Thomas Stacey · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best one yet. When did this series get so damn good?

The stakes rise on both a personal and interstellar level, as Morn and the rest of the crew aboard Trumpet struggle to survive amidst chaos and treachery. Meanwhile war with the technologically superior Amnion looks imminent...

Fair warning: this series is dark; and seems to get darker with each instalment. It's like Donaldson sits back and thinks: "what else can I do to really fuck with the characters? Really drive them insane?" Well, it's called 'The Gap into Madness' for good reason.

I love it. Really helps me connect with the characters knowing the stakes are real. That there's nothing Donaldson won't do.

I've got high expectations for the final book in the 'Gap' series. Read this series.

[Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's kind of crazy how each book has gotten better, considering where this series started. Donaldson plays with politics in a really fun way and puts our characters in some situations that bring out the worst, and best, in each other. Some really cool space battles and political maneuvering in this one as well. Excited to see if he sticks the landing in the next one.

[Jacob Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

This dense as f*ck book was slow and most of the time dragging but these human interactions are too important to ignore, these scenes will make you understand each character's motivations and fears. Man, these people are the most vile and gray characters I've read. And the end Jesus, one of the best space battles I've read.
4/5

[Suzana Vuksanovic · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series is every bit as good as Stephen Donaldson's Chronicles of Thomas Covenant and (for me) the even better Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant.
Stephen Donaldson's writing style is most suited to the epic novel (or novels). As he progresses through intricately woven plots he builds empathy and antipathy for characters whose roles relative to eachother he gradually reverses over time - almost leaving the reader unawares - until we find that we are rooting for the ones we started off hating and booing the ones we thought were heroes at the start. The emotive implications are deep and involved for each character, plumbing the depths of a particular human being's virtues and degradation to their ultimate conclusion, both in and of themselves, and in relation to the other character's as they swap roles in the story.
From victim to oppressor to savior and round about and back again, Stephen Donaldson keeps you guessing and surprised throughout each novel in the series again and gain both in plot and character (which of course are intricately linked) - and he does it with the consummate finesse of a master.
I have just started the fifth book, which I am luxuriously equipped to read in the original hardcover release (the previous four I own are all in paperback). I have raced through this epic, sometimes far into the night - it has been that compelling. But something holds me back from rushing it now otherwise the pleasure and suspense and consummation will be over to quick...

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stephen Donaldson's "Gap" series is one my favorite series.

My father handed me the first one, saying, "This first one is full of violence and rape and you'll probably hate all the characters in this first book, but the story just keeps getting better."

He was right. The story begins with a space pirate attack on a police ship and the "rescue" of the last survivor on the police ship and concludes with the human race fighting the Amnion, an alien species capable of extreme genetic manipulation. Despite the ever-increasing complexity of the plot (which starts with a three main characters and ends with inter-galactic political intrigue) the characterization is what really makes this series worth reading. It is a masterful study of hero and anti-hero.

(Review applies to the SERIES)

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

The continuing adventures of Angus Thermopyle the rapist and Morn Hyland his traumatised victim makes for a fascinating, if rather twisted take on the traditional space-opera format.

[Ania · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great and terrible book at the same time - great, when the author writes about intergalactic politics, battles and other characters than Nick, Morna and Angus. And when he does mentions things from previous books and gives its heroes rationale 'I am a policeman, so I will not take revenge and do bad things' its just out of character rationale, special forces training and simply stupid considering the situation that the hero is in. Obviously it backfires terribly, who would have though about that :p

In the end, it is a page-turner and I've read over 800 pages in just two days.

[Jamie Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

First properly good step forward. The stakes are higher than ever, things are firing mostly on all cylinders. Bar a slightly dip around the 400 page mark this is a really solid read. Should it have taken until book 4 to get to this point? Probably not but we’re here now anyway. Onto book five!

[Joshua · Rating 5 out of 5]

So far, this is one of the best character-driven series I have ever read (I did not think I would be saying that after book 1 - stick with it, people!). Donaldson kept me on the edge of my seat for all 700 pages and I immediately started the next book to see how he wraps all this up. The best way I can succinctly describe this series is A Song of Ice and Fire in space. It's full of excellently written black and grey characters, plot twists and turns, compelling villains and "heroes," and a brilliantly realized world. Truly great and I have absolute confidence that Donaldson is going to stick the landing in Gap into Ruin.

[Madeline · Rating 1 out of 5]

Even listening to the audio version of this book will leave you feeling like your life is being wasted on its poorly executed content. It's pages and pages of one-dimensional characters having dry conversations with each other, which barely further the plot. No quips, no funny one-liners, no philosophical ponderings; just paragraph after paragraph of, at this point, completely unrealistic characters talking about what they might do in the future or what they may have done in the past rather than actually doing anything in the present with the exception of extremely poorly written action sequences in which you have no one to route for because every character is an emotionless drone who you either know nothing about or who has done at least ten things you hate since the beginning of the series.

The worst part is that there are countless points where Donaldson could have done some characterisation, explored some interesting psychological developments, or delved into the finer points of his milieu, but instead he chooses every time to plod on with his attempt at plot, having his characters play the part of detectives in a really bad mystery novel where the mystery was already figured out by the reader in the last book because he piled on the foreshadowing like a two year old putting catsup on a hamburger.

Do yourself a favour and don't waste your time on this book or this series.

[Seon Ji (Dawn) · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I'm writing this review 1 hour before I'm done because I won't be on my computer later and figure it won't make much of a difference.

This series is painful to get through. Its just very brutal. The writing is brilliant, but I honestly don't care about any of the characters. I like Nick best, hate Morn and have no opinion about the others.

IMO it's too full of technical stuff which to me is unnecessary, so I skim most of it. There is also a lot of repetition as characters are constantly having to fill in the other characters about what happened in their absence.

So Nick is shown as the bad guy here. Morn is as weak and useless as ever, and Angus is just plain bland. Sorus is the big antagonist in this one. Everyone wants her dead.

The book does keep you interested and there is plenty of action.

Content concerns: If you have any triggers don't read this series. Very violent, loads of cursing rape abuse blood and gore. The rape and sex is not detailed.

[Gilda Felt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series seems to get better with each book. It’s dark, following in the steps of its predecessors, yet there are small rays of hope that keeps the reader engaged with characters who aren’t exactly the best of humanity. Their flaws are huge, but they struggle on against some almost impossible odds. While you may not like them, you can still find yourself rooting for them. And I never thought I’d be saying that!

The space battle is fantastic, which is something I rarely can say, since so many seem to go on forever. Not so this one. It’s just long enough, and brings to the end some characters, while others find that their lives are going to take yet another 180º turn. The future is anyone’s guess. I just hope I’m guessing rightly.

[Nathaniel R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Moving from plain Tragedy to action and intrigue based hard science-fiction, with many characters dying, sometimes without completing their arc. Faced with emergency situations, all our characters must face and overcome their traumas or else they don't even get the chance to risk death. It's a good read.

[Peter Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely bonkers!
Especially those last 200 pages were fucking off the rails, stupid, intense BONKERS!


I can see why this series comes highly recommended, even with the first two books having a rather high barrier to entry.

This is Dune or Hyperion level stuff, politically.
The action is on par with Star Wars, the Expanse, Star Trek.

The writing and pacing are stellar.
The hard sci-fi was well done, and without a lot of tedious details.

5/5 neutron star easy.


Anyhoo, off to the last book!

[Fearless Leader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slow to get going.

[Paul Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are times when you won't notice something staring you right in the face, but once it's seen you can't unsee it. For example, Tom Cruise's center tooth.
In this case it is the author's crazy overuse of the phrase "as if". Once I became aware of it, I couldn't unsee it. It constantly yanked me out of the story. He uses it thousands of times throughout the book. Sometimes there will be four per page. And most times they are used in such an amateurish way.

Examples:

The movement sent her drifting away from the second’s station, receding from Davies as if she didn’t want to be near him.
he slumped in his bonds as if he’d been overtaken by autism.
Across the spectrum, narrow bandwidths spiked as if they were screaming.
“There!” Nick announced in a husky whisper, as if his voice was stuck in his throat, trapped by passions he couldn’t swallow.
Morn clenched her free hand in her hair and pulled as if she wanted to tug her mind out by the roots.
“I need to check on him,” she murmured as if she were talking to herself; as if no one else would care what she did.
stared at him as if they were afraid to take their eyes off his rifle.
Immediately the targ officer leaned his palms onto his board as if he were pushing all his keys at once.
he frowned at his foodbars and g-flask as if he couldn’t remember why he’d thought he was hungry.
his eyes slid off as if they’d lost their grip.
His eyes burned as if they were lit by madness; as if a magnesium flare of insanity had gone off inside his skull.

As if, as if, as if..it was maddening to read it in every other paragraph.
I really liked the book. I'm giving this four stars. The story deserves five stars.
As if.

******
Update.
******
After giving this some more thought, I'm downgrading this to 3 stars. This could have been a 5 star book. Instead, it was a book that made me roll my eyes constantly. The story itself was good, but instead of enjoying it, I found myself critiquing every sentence and every nuance of his writing style.

[Kaila · Rating 1 out of 5]

With only one book and two thirds of a second left to read I'm calling it quits.

The previous three books were "okay" and they each contained enough of a promise of things to come that I was happy (if hesitant here and there) to keep reading.

This one, however, is just too repetitive for me. There are only so many times I can read the same thing before I become bored, and this is made even worse by the fact that this often happens through speculations and assumptions that, with a little bit of thought, actually don't make that much sense, or at least have just as viable other scenarios.

Obviously, Donaldson feels it is important that we're aware of where each character is coming from so we understand why certain actions are being made but, you know what? Most of the characters are jumping to similar conclusions, and when they don't all it takes is one other character to mention their view on events and the other character immediately discards their own theory. So, we're not even getting interesting deviations.

Maybe the book picks up after this point but I'm not interested enough to find out.

[David · Rating 1 out of 5]

Made it to page 110, by which place nothing much has happened. Chaos yes, at least in terms of characters introduced. Order? No not so much. In fact, no order at all that I could find. Authors who attempt so many 'complex' characters tend to simply bury any semblance of an interesting plot. In this case it appears to be some sort of mundane chase buried under the baggage of what is a multiple personality disorder. The difficulty of attempting to manage so many personalities, at least in this case if not so many others, is that while the author may think they are being clever they actually are merely taking on the appearance of showcasing different aspects of their own personalities. Of course this is probably close to what authors are doing, but the trick is to do it in a fashion that makes it seem to the audience that this is not what is happening. Perhaps a few less characters, a little less seeming complexity and perhaps the interest of this particular, maybe even simple minded, audience could have survived contact with this book.

[Bingo · Rating 5 out of 5]

When a book, or anything else, is as exceptional as the Gap Series has been so far, it means that there are waaaayy more reasons to appreciate the finished product than just those we've discovered. In other words, the presentation is hitting us from every angle, and with more than enough of the subtle things that make us smile.

Chaos and Order continues the adventure with all the advantages that a luxurious 5 volume set can bring to bear on character development and storyline. It brings a deeper introspection than the previous 3 books and therefore continues the deliberate composition that has given each volume so far a distinctly different feel and purpose. And it still pushes things along at a fantastic pace.

[Sherrill Watson · Rating 2 out of 5]

See Michael Buchanen's review.

Several space ships are about to rescue Morn and her son Davies. Or are they? Maybe some of them are trying to kill her. Maybe I don't care. Chaos and more Chaos. If you can make it through the first three chapters, you can read this book. Otherwise, you're out of your depth. Mr. Donaldson is somewhat knowledgeable about space science and yet he reaches beyond what can be done into unreachable and unknowable fantasy. I might could buy into that, but to have the characters keep resurrecting themselves and each other was over the top. Then at the end to find there's yet ANOTHER book, with NOTHING resolved in this one? Meh.

[Dirk Gently · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book makes me burn with intensity. I crave the raw emotion and intelligence Donaldson wields here. I read that it was based on Wagner's Ring Cycle and the combination of Donaldson and Wagner is perfect. Both works build tension and just add more and more, reaching impossible levels of dissonance and complexity and refuse to provide resolution. Best sci-fi I've read in years. Gritty, passionate and larger than life.

[Gregg · Rating 2 out of 5]

Most of this book is filled with tedious political maneuvering and melodrama. Toward the end of this volume we finally get some action, but I found the repetitious writing style to be distracting from the story line. The author apparently discovered cut-and-paste because we're repeatedly given a scene and dialogue, and then we go back in time to read it from another character's point of view - or we're subjected to reading it again as a character remembers it for us.

[Natalia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dark, disturbing, brilliant and unforgettable! Each and every character has left an indelible impression on me. 5* for the entire series due to its originality, creativity, story telling, character development and momentum... A masterpiece of science fiction. Warning: This is NOT for the faint hearted