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The Gap Cycle #2
The Gap Into Vision: Forbidden Knowledge
The Real Story was just a preview to this action-packed tome... The Gap series steps on the accelerator with Forbidden Knowledge. Beautiful cop Morn Hyland, desperate and in pain aboard Captain's Fancy, controls her body and mind with her illegal zone implant, recreating herself as a superbeing worthy of holding Captain Nick Succorso's affections. Jealousy among the crew, threats of rape and ship self-destruction, prisoner torture, and government cyborg programs keep things moving along. Alien Amnioni seeking genetic domination over humankind enter the scene with new technologies such as mutagens and force-growing fetuses. Bite your fingernails while you live it all (vicariously!) through brilliant survivor Morn and villain-turned-conspirator Angus Thermopyle
569 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1991
About the author
Stephen R. Donaldson
143 books2,770 followersStephen Reeder Donaldson is an American fantasy, science fiction, and mystery novelist; in the United Kingdom he is usually called "Stephen Donaldson" (without the "R"). He has also written non-fiction under the pen name Reed Stephens.
EARLY LIFE AND EDUCATION:
Stephen R. Donaldson was born May 13, 1947 in Cleveland, Ohio. His father, James, was a medical missionary and his mother, Ruth, a prosthetist (a person skilled in making or fitting prosthetic devices). Donaldson spent the years between the ages of 3 and 16 living in India, where his father was working as an orthopaedic surgeon. Donaldson earned his bachelor's degree from The College of Wooster and master's degree from Kent State University.
INSPIRATIONS:
Donaldson's work is heavily influenced by other fantasy authors such as J.R.R. Tolkien, Roger Zelazny, Joseph Conrad, Henry James, and William Faulkner. The writers he most admires are Patricia A. McKillip, Steven Erikson, and Tim Powers.
It is believed that a speech his father made on leprosy (whilst working with lepers in India) led to Donaldson's creation of Thomas Covenant, the anti-hero of his most famous work (Thomas Covenant). The first book in that series, Lord Foul's Bane, received 47 rejections before a publisher agreed to publish it.
PROMINENT WORK:
Stephen Donaldson came to prominence in 1977 with the The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, which is centred around a leper shunned by society and his trials and tribulations as his destiny unfolds. These books established Donaldson as one of the most important figures in modern fantasy fiction.
PERSONAL LIFE:
He currently resides in New Mexico.
THE GRADUAL INTERVIEW
EARLY LIFE AND EDUCATION:
Stephen R. Donaldson was born May 13, 1947 in Cleveland, Ohio. His father, James, was a medical missionary and his mother, Ruth, a prosthetist (a person skilled in making or fitting prosthetic devices). Donaldson spent the years between the ages of 3 and 16 living in India, where his father was working as an orthopaedic surgeon. Donaldson earned his bachelor's degree from The College of Wooster and master's degree from Kent State University.
INSPIRATIONS:
Donaldson's work is heavily influenced by other fantasy authors such as J.R.R. Tolkien, Roger Zelazny, Joseph Conrad, Henry James, and William Faulkner. The writers he most admires are Patricia A. McKillip, Steven Erikson, and Tim Powers.
It is believed that a speech his father made on leprosy (whilst working with lepers in India) led to Donaldson's creation of Thomas Covenant, the anti-hero of his most famous work (Thomas Covenant). The first book in that series, Lord Foul's Bane, received 47 rejections before a publisher agreed to publish it.
PROMINENT WORK:
Stephen Donaldson came to prominence in 1977 with the The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, which is centred around a leper shunned by society and his trials and tribulations as his destiny unfolds. These books established Donaldson as one of the most important figures in modern fantasy fiction.
PERSONAL LIFE:
He currently resides in New Mexico.
THE GRADUAL INTERVIEW
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 223 reviews
February 5, 2022
Donaldson seems to be obsessed with abusement, mostly sexual, but he is a master storyteller. The Gap is my favorite science fiction/space opera series and rereading it is very rewarding. These books are at the same time page turners but also challenging and thought provoking. He has created a claustrophobic, rust and sweat smelling bleak future, full of corruption and interesting controversial, and often despicable characters. The Amnion aliens fit perfectly in that near future with their calculating, cold, awkward and threatening maneuvers. It is the kind of book that I could not turn down. Twists, disasters, solutions, basic instincts for power and survival, horrors and lots of adrenalin make the story a thrilling unforgettable ride. Highly recommended to everyone who wants to read a really dark, bleak psychological, space thriller.
March 19, 2018
Although this is the first series by Donaldson that I can stand to read, I still can’t say that I love it. I’m not sure that I even like it. There really isn’t one character that I can actually identify with—there are one or two that I’m interested in and want to know what happens to them, but I can’t say that I like them. Mind you, that’s not necessary for a novel but it does make it easier reading.
The aliens in this universe seem to take a cue from Octavia Butler’s Oankali in her Xenogenesis series. Donaldson’s Amnioin also seem to be rather echinoderm-like and are interested in acquiring humans for genetic purposes. Selling someone to the Amnioin is seen as the ultimate evil in human trafficking. But when there’s money to be made, you know that some human is going to try to make deals with them—and it’s rather like trying to make deals with the Fae. You need to watch your wording and make sure you know all of the ramifications before you sign on the dotted line.
If you’ve got any issues with rape scenes, you won’t have made it past the first book. That said, don’t expect that to stop in this book. Morn actually has to go to sick-bay at one point, to get repaired after particularly rough treatment by Nick Succorso. Donaldson doesn’t go into graphic detail, thankfully, but there are more than enough hints to be horrifying.
The cynicism evident in the book is a bit depressing too—everyone seems to be on the take somehow, even the police force that Morn used to belong to. She followed her parents into that occupation and had taken pride in their upstanding reputation—this is yet another thing that gets taken away from her, along with her personal agency.
Book 275 in my Science Fiction and Fantasy reading project.
The aliens in this universe seem to take a cue from Octavia Butler’s Oankali in her Xenogenesis series. Donaldson’s Amnioin also seem to be rather echinoderm-like and are interested in acquiring humans for genetic purposes. Selling someone to the Amnioin is seen as the ultimate evil in human trafficking. But when there’s money to be made, you know that some human is going to try to make deals with them—and it’s rather like trying to make deals with the Fae. You need to watch your wording and make sure you know all of the ramifications before you sign on the dotted line.
If you’ve got any issues with rape scenes, you won’t have made it past the first book. That said, don’t expect that to stop in this book. Morn actually has to go to sick-bay at one point, to get repaired after particularly rough treatment by Nick Succorso. Donaldson doesn’t go into graphic detail, thankfully, but there are more than enough hints to be horrifying.
The cynicism evident in the book is a bit depressing too—everyone seems to be on the take somehow, even the police force that Morn used to belong to. She followed her parents into that occupation and had taken pride in their upstanding reputation—this is yet another thing that gets taken away from her, along with her personal agency.
Book 275 in my Science Fiction and Fantasy reading project.
March 30, 2013
The main problem with this story was that the author seems to be under the impression that "rape victim" is a personality type. In the first book, the protagonist seemed to be intelligent and resourceful, despite terrible things happening to her. But her character never progressed or deepened, instead she (and other characters) were reduced to a few obvious traits or obsessions. Now, it might be believable that someone having undergone severe trauma would behave erratically, showing times of incapability mixed with moments of competence - but the protagonist always happens to be brilliant at exactly the time she needs to save herself or push the plot forward, and a powerful object in the story almost always works in the right way for her just when she needs it. She'll go from screaming on the floor to quickly doing something complex that we don't really understand (like how it seems she can recode the computers in a matter of minutes) in a sequence that becomes unbelievable after it happens more than once. But anything else about her besides her victim-ness is really uninteresting and underdeveloped.
I've seen a few comments to negative reviews saying - but but but the characters go through redemption! Believe me, the last thing I want to read about is these people getting rehabilitated. I give exactly zero fucks about redemption.
I've seen a few comments to negative reviews saying - but but but the characters go through redemption! Believe me, the last thing I want to read about is these people getting rehabilitated. I give exactly zero fucks about redemption.
September 22, 2010
4.5 to 5.0 stars. Fantastic sequel to The Gap into Conflict: The Real Story by Stephen R. Donaldson. Continuing right where The Gap into Conflict: The Real Story left off, this installment expands on the intertwined stories of Morn Hyland, Nick Succorso and Angus Thermopyle.
This is not your typical space opera with larger than life heroes and clear cut good guys and bad guys. In fact, there are no "good guys" in this book, only lesser evils. This book is dark, violent, depressing...and brilliantly done. There is not a whole lot of action here and much of the book involves the interior monologue and analysis of the three main characters and how they are feeling about the events going on around them (many of which are horrific). If that does not sound like something that would interest you, then you may want to avoid this. However, if you want something different, well written, complex and very, very dark, this is certainly worth a read.
This is not your typical space opera with larger than life heroes and clear cut good guys and bad guys. In fact, there are no "good guys" in this book, only lesser evils. This book is dark, violent, depressing...and brilliantly done. There is not a whole lot of action here and much of the book involves the interior monologue and analysis of the three main characters and how they are feeling about the events going on around them (many of which are horrific). If that does not sound like something that would interest you, then you may want to avoid this. However, if you want something different, well written, complex and very, very dark, this is certainly worth a read.
August 23, 2016
Ug... Stephen Donaldson is a dark bitter soul methinks. Gods, what a dark, ugly story. I don't' know why I started it, the first book left me so cold and empty. The sequel even more so. It is well written, and characters are interesting, but all just so f****d up, so violent, full of rape and psychological torture. I know I'll not continue the series. However I'm drawn to go on, the ending is so... flat and empty, it pulls you in like a black hole.
Ug, wanna go wash my hands now...
Ug, wanna go wash my hands now...
February 18, 2026
In many ways, this feels like the first book of the series, with The Real Story being just a preamble to introduce three main characters and a little bit of the world. But Forbidden Knowledge is full space opera mode with a space journey, a crew, interesting alien life, and politics. And this is very much a grim dark series with the abusive elements from the first book still present. But the narrative flowed extremely well, even with a few rather dense passages from Donaldson, and the fast pace made it a pretty quick read despite its length. While I'm not in love with the series because of the darker elements, I'm definitely compelled to continue and see where this is going. And I'm especially enjoying trying to puzzle out what influences from Wagner's Ring Cycle Donaldson is using for the series.
September 10, 2022
So this is the most nihilistic and bleak series I've read so far, yep it's pretty rough to read at times. Donaldson roughly prioritizes
1. Torturing and abusing his characters
2. Interpersonal politics
3. Cool sci-fi stuff
in that order. The first half of the book is definitely some of the most hopeless and brutal stuff I've read, the second half prioritizes cool sci-fi stuff a lot more thankfully and has a lot of interesting setup for the rest of the series.
1. Torturing and abusing his characters
2. Interpersonal politics
3. Cool sci-fi stuff
in that order. The first half of the book is definitely some of the most hopeless and brutal stuff I've read, the second half prioritizes cool sci-fi stuff a lot more thankfully and has a lot of interesting setup for the rest of the series.
December 20, 2015
The second book in the Gap series continues to wreak psychological havoc on its reader, I really felt depressed while reading this book, because this world does not have any normal human beings with a moral compass, but we have a large cast of characters who will use anything and everything to achieve their purpose. Although Angus Thermoplyae continues to take the crown for me, regarding most disgusting character in grim-dark so far, but Nick Suarcoso does not lag behind by much. I thought in the last book that Nick has rescued Morn from the clutches of Angus, but this book threw assumption in the dustbin and kicked it savagely.
I really give credit to Donaldson for writing such a psychological tale, because no book I have read so far played with my mind as this book did, you just can't imagine the horrible things his characters have to face in this book, I think even GRRM hasn't put his characters through such a test as Donaldson has. This book has very few elements with which it can be classified as a sci-fi genre book, because otherwise it is a pure grim-dark book.
Some of the strong points of the book are
1.Small cast of dark characters.
2.We finally meet some aliens.
Only weak point which I found with book is
1.Morn keeps on deceiving Nick too easily.
Now let me elaborate on the above points
1.Small cast of dark characters.
The last book focused only on two pov characters, but this book improves on that and is told from pov three main characters namely of
1.Morn
She thought that her ordeal ended when she got rescued by Nick, but this trip with Nick is going to leave her emotionally and physically so broken that if Angus had not given her an zone implant in the last book she may not have survived till the end. Although Angus continues to haunt her emotionally throughout the book due to the amount of assault she received at his hand, but surviving on Nick's ship is going to be an ordeal because most of the people operating on that ship have a history of violence and assault.
Her belief regarding the force of UMCPbeing good gets tossed out of the window when she learns some incriminating things about them, its like you when you believe throughout your life on something and then when you come to know it was not what you believed to be, the hollowness and waste you feel after that, she keeps on going through those emotions throughout the book. she faces a lot of stuff throughout the book and how she manages to cope with it is really scary and at the same time exciting to read.
2.Nick Suarcoso
He is the captain of the ship Captain's Fancy and so far he lived his life with one rule that of not sleeping with the women he trusts, when he rescues Morn from Angus he only wants to sleep with her, but there are some forces working behind the scenes which we come to know as we read the book who gave this mission to him.
He finds it hard to trust her and takes out his frustration on her by assaulting her again and again, when she finally manages to deceive him, he starts trusting her and gives her some important work on the ship to handle.
He is a scary individual due to the fact that he likes to keep his crew on the edge by putting them in danger time and again, so that when recuse them from that situations they would become dependent on him and completely submit to his decision without questioning him.
3.Angus Thermoplyae
After been deceived by Nick he lands in prison, but the he soon starts harassing his interrogating officer Milos Taverner who just can't get the confession from him regarding his crimes. Soon he gets rescued by UMCP who transform him physically by completely breaking his decision making process and put him to use for their purposes.
Although there more side characters in this book than the previous one but for me these three were the most characters in the book.
2.We finally meet some aliens.
As it is a sci-fi book it has its own aliens involved in it called as the Amnions these guys are completely different from human beings and have the ability to wreak havoc genetically with human beings, due to which the pirates like Nickwho deal with them for supplies have to negotiate very carefully. The Amnions are shown to be very interested in live human beings and are ready to to pay whatever it costs to get their hands on live humans.
Also Donaldson keeps us giving us bits and pieces regarding the aliens in form of info dumps time and again, but instead of being boring it starts becoming an integral part of the story and you start putting the pieces together and see the complete story due to it.
Now let me elaborate on the only weak point which I found in the book
1.Morn keeps on deceiving Nick too easily.
We are shown from the start that Nick is a very dicey and untrustworthy individual people like that don't trust anyone easily, due to this fact it becomes a bit hard to believe when Morn continues to deceive him very easily. time and again.
All in all I really liked this book and this should not be missed by people who are fans of grim-dark fantasy, but be warned it will play havoc with your emotions and make you feel low when you are reading it. I give this book 4/5 stars.
I really give credit to Donaldson for writing such a psychological tale, because no book I have read so far played with my mind as this book did, you just can't imagine the horrible things his characters have to face in this book, I think even GRRM hasn't put his characters through such a test as Donaldson has. This book has very few elements with which it can be classified as a sci-fi genre book, because otherwise it is a pure grim-dark book.
Some of the strong points of the book are
1.Small cast of dark characters.
2.We finally meet some aliens.
Only weak point which I found with book is
1.Morn keeps on deceiving Nick too easily.
Now let me elaborate on the above points
1.Small cast of dark characters.
The last book focused only on two pov characters, but this book improves on that and is told from pov three main characters namely of
1.Morn
She thought that her ordeal ended when she got rescued by Nick, but this trip with Nick is going to leave her emotionally and physically so broken that if Angus had not given her an zone implant in the last book she may not have survived till the end. Although Angus continues to haunt her emotionally throughout the book due to the amount of assault she received at his hand, but surviving on Nick's ship is going to be an ordeal because most of the people operating on that ship have a history of violence and assault.
Her belief regarding the force of UMCPbeing good gets tossed out of the window when she learns some incriminating things about them, its like you when you believe throughout your life on something and then when you come to know it was not what you believed to be, the hollowness and waste you feel after that, she keeps on going through those emotions throughout the book. she faces a lot of stuff throughout the book and how she manages to cope with it is really scary and at the same time exciting to read.
2.Nick Suarcoso
He is the captain of the ship Captain's Fancy and so far he lived his life with one rule that of not sleeping with the women he trusts, when he rescues Morn from Angus he only wants to sleep with her, but there are some forces working behind the scenes which we come to know as we read the book who gave this mission to him.
He finds it hard to trust her and takes out his frustration on her by assaulting her again and again, when she finally manages to deceive him, he starts trusting her and gives her some important work on the ship to handle.
He is a scary individual due to the fact that he likes to keep his crew on the edge by putting them in danger time and again, so that when recuse them from that situations they would become dependent on him and completely submit to his decision without questioning him.
3.Angus Thermoplyae
After been deceived by Nick he lands in prison, but the he soon starts harassing his interrogating officer Milos Taverner who just can't get the confession from him regarding his crimes. Soon he gets rescued by UMCP who transform him physically by completely breaking his decision making process and put him to use for their purposes.
Although there more side characters in this book than the previous one but for me these three were the most characters in the book.
2.We finally meet some aliens.
As it is a sci-fi book it has its own aliens involved in it called as the Amnions these guys are completely different from human beings and have the ability to wreak havoc genetically with human beings, due to which the pirates like Nickwho deal with them for supplies have to negotiate very carefully. The Amnions are shown to be very interested in live human beings and are ready to to pay whatever it costs to get their hands on live humans.
Also Donaldson keeps us giving us bits and pieces regarding the aliens in form of info dumps time and again, but instead of being boring it starts becoming an integral part of the story and you start putting the pieces together and see the complete story due to it.
Now let me elaborate on the only weak point which I found in the book
1.Morn keeps on deceiving Nick too easily.
We are shown from the start that Nick is a very dicey and untrustworthy individual people like that don't trust anyone easily, due to this fact it becomes a bit hard to believe when Morn continues to deceive him very easily. time and again.
All in all I really liked this book and this should not be missed by people who are fans of grim-dark fantasy, but be warned it will play havoc with your emotions and make you feel low when you are reading it. I give this book 4/5 stars.
December 3, 2012
Hmmm. This is a wierd book to write about. I liked the first book more than this one, and I think that has to do mostly with it being shorter.
What I do like is the setting. I like the author's vision of the future. It's interesting and seems like it would be populated with all kinds of stories. I like the ships as well. I think he really nailed how a ship would feel in these books.
What I find mediocre is the plot and pacing. one big thing happens partially through the book and thats it. It seems like a lot of words to not really have anything happen, nor to really have any real ending to the book.
What I don't like is the characters. None of them. I don't even like Morn, the main character. I understand that she has been traumatized. I understand that she is messed up. I still don't like the way she is written or the decisions she makes. her motivations arent well written. The biggest decision she makes seems to get nothing but lip service, and her reaction just doesn't make sense to me.
With that said, she is "best" person in the whole book. Every other character in the book who has any personality at all is a terrible human being. I believe the author was trying to make it so that a lot of them were victims of circumstance, or just had it rough in life, etc etc. However, the portrayal of that is done very poorly. It really is depressing that every single person you know anything about is a terrible, damaged, human being.
The funny thing is that i normally LOVE books like that. Abercrombie has made a career out of people being damaged and violent, and I love his books. But its because they still possess some humanity, and really do feel like victims of the world they have to survive in. In this series, they really do all just feel like criminals, scum, and generally terrible human beings.
I'll finish the trilogy, mostly because my wife insists that I'll love the politics of the third book. But, without her guidance, I doubt I'd be bothered to read the third book. I just dont have enough interest.
What I do like is the setting. I like the author's vision of the future. It's interesting and seems like it would be populated with all kinds of stories. I like the ships as well. I think he really nailed how a ship would feel in these books.
What I find mediocre is the plot and pacing. one big thing happens partially through the book and thats it. It seems like a lot of words to not really have anything happen, nor to really have any real ending to the book.
What I don't like is the characters. None of them. I don't even like Morn, the main character. I understand that she has been traumatized. I understand that she is messed up. I still don't like the way she is written or the decisions she makes. her motivations arent well written. The biggest decision she makes seems to get nothing but lip service, and her reaction just doesn't make sense to me.
With that said, she is "best" person in the whole book. Every other character in the book who has any personality at all is a terrible human being. I believe the author was trying to make it so that a lot of them were victims of circumstance, or just had it rough in life, etc etc. However, the portrayal of that is done very poorly. It really is depressing that every single person you know anything about is a terrible, damaged, human being.
The funny thing is that i normally LOVE books like that. Abercrombie has made a career out of people being damaged and violent, and I love his books. But its because they still possess some humanity, and really do feel like victims of the world they have to survive in. In this series, they really do all just feel like criminals, scum, and generally terrible human beings.
I'll finish the trilogy, mostly because my wife insists that I'll love the politics of the third book. But, without her guidance, I doubt I'd be bothered to read the third book. I just dont have enough interest.
July 8, 2015
So, you made it past Rape: The Novel. You are now ready to embark on one of the great science fiction epics of all time.
Continuing Donaldson's science fiction adaptation of Wagner's Ring Cycle, we now begin to get to the meat of the matter. (No spoilers here.)
In "Forbidden Knowledge," we meet and get to know the infamous Captain Nick Succorso. And we will fight to survive this gut-wrenching tale, along with Nick, and Morn.
This book is flavored with an interesting characteristic that appears sporadically throughout the Donaldson experience. Every hundred pages or so, the reader is treated to three or four paragraphs of some of the most provocative modern philosophy I believe I've ever read. And I've read a bit.
Also introduced here are the stakes. Here we begin to be introduced to what may (or may not?) really be going on. The stakes could not be higher, and the reader takes shallow comfort in the knowledge that the fate of humanity may literally be in the hands of the most conniving, most untrustworthy human beings imaginable.
The good news: this book has what I consider the most mind-bending WTF moment I've ever seen in any novel. Bigger than the death of Eddard Stark, bigger than the Red Wedding, bigger even than the Mule Reveal in Asimov's Foundation Trilogy. This one is large, and speaking for myself, so unexpected that I actually had to put the book down and pace for a bit to collect my thoughts.
I was reading in a TV control room and the very people who had recommended the book to me asked what had happened, I was so shaken. I told them, and they cackled with glee. It's a big one. Capital WTF. And it's not the last.
Finally, for those not yet trolled, I will append my Dream Cast for the HBO series:
Captain Angus Thermopyle ... Ron Perlman
Morn Hyland ... Olivia Wilde
Davies Hyland ... Liam Hemsworth
Captain Nick Succorso ... Brad Pitt
Mikka Vasaczk ... Zoe Saldana
Vector Shaheed ... J.K. Simmons
Milos Taverner ... Steve Buscemi
The Bill ... Christoph Waltz
Warden Dios ... Tom Selleck
Min Donner ... Sigourney Weaver
Hashi Lebwohl ... Ben Kingsley
Holt Fasner ... Kevin Spacey
Captain Sorus Chatelaine ... Sharon Stone
Captain Dolph Ubikwe ... Idris Elba
Spectacular.
Continuing Donaldson's science fiction adaptation of Wagner's Ring Cycle, we now begin to get to the meat of the matter. (No spoilers here.)
In "Forbidden Knowledge," we meet and get to know the infamous Captain Nick Succorso. And we will fight to survive this gut-wrenching tale, along with Nick, and Morn.
This book is flavored with an interesting characteristic that appears sporadically throughout the Donaldson experience. Every hundred pages or so, the reader is treated to three or four paragraphs of some of the most provocative modern philosophy I believe I've ever read. And I've read a bit.
Also introduced here are the stakes. Here we begin to be introduced to what may (or may not?) really be going on. The stakes could not be higher, and the reader takes shallow comfort in the knowledge that the fate of humanity may literally be in the hands of the most conniving, most untrustworthy human beings imaginable.
The good news: this book has what I consider the most mind-bending WTF moment I've ever seen in any novel. Bigger than the death of Eddard Stark, bigger than the Red Wedding, bigger even than the Mule Reveal in Asimov's Foundation Trilogy. This one is large, and speaking for myself, so unexpected that I actually had to put the book down and pace for a bit to collect my thoughts.
I was reading in a TV control room and the very people who had recommended the book to me asked what had happened, I was so shaken. I told them, and they cackled with glee. It's a big one. Capital WTF. And it's not the last.
Finally, for those not yet trolled, I will append my Dream Cast for the HBO series:
Captain Angus Thermopyle ... Ron Perlman
Morn Hyland ... Olivia Wilde
Davies Hyland ... Liam Hemsworth
Captain Nick Succorso ... Brad Pitt
Mikka Vasaczk ... Zoe Saldana
Vector Shaheed ... J.K. Simmons
Milos Taverner ... Steve Buscemi
The Bill ... Christoph Waltz
Warden Dios ... Tom Selleck
Min Donner ... Sigourney Weaver
Hashi Lebwohl ... Ben Kingsley
Holt Fasner ... Kevin Spacey
Captain Sorus Chatelaine ... Sharon Stone
Captain Dolph Ubikwe ... Idris Elba
Spectacular.
July 27, 2021
Forbidden Knowledge continues the story of Morn and her travels after she leaves Com-Mine station with Nick. At one point, we find the book is holding out on us.
Most of the pages deal with Nick and Morn and the crew aboard the ship. Throughout, Morn is a target for abuse. Over and over. The reader feels as confined as the crew...but, there's more! And it's nearly out of sight. When you think you've had enough, and you've made up your mind - wait, and you'll see! A glimpse then, for relief. One chapter, out of the blue, jolts the reader with exciting possibilities to come. Look at the bulk of the next three volumes and get ready for the flood. Good news, the suffering is over and the adventure begins!
Most of the pages deal with Nick and Morn and the crew aboard the ship. Throughout, Morn is a target for abuse. Over and over. The reader feels as confined as the crew...but, there's more! And it's nearly out of sight. When you think you've had enough, and you've made up your mind - wait, and you'll see! A glimpse then, for relief. One chapter, out of the blue, jolts the reader with exciting possibilities to come. Look at the bulk of the next three volumes and get ready for the flood. Good news, the suffering is over and the adventure begins!
April 11, 2023
The plot finally picks up in this book, towards the end, and starts its slow trudge towards the Big Thing.
We start to get a picture of an Impending Something, and that’s good, since it was entirely absent from the first book (which was more like a prologue to the series, I suppose).
It’s interesting and well written enough; keeps up a good pace.
But the main antagonist in this book really reminds me a lot of Spike (from Buffy).
Why, you ask? He just never gets it right and keeps failing to the protagonist. Over and over again, while spouting stuff you’d expect to hear from Spike, and has an ego to match.
I also swear he has a British accent, since he calls people sods all of the time.
Didn’t really care for the protagonist, or her son… who she decided to give birth to, regardless of her situation or, you know… the fact that it was conceived via rape.
No one is likeable, honestly. But I guess that’s ok. The story is finally getting interesting, and I’m keen on seeing where it goes!
We start to get a picture of an Impending Something, and that’s good, since it was entirely absent from the first book (which was more like a prologue to the series, I suppose).
It’s interesting and well written enough; keeps up a good pace.
But the main antagonist in this book really reminds me a lot of Spike (from Buffy).
Why, you ask? He just never gets it right and keeps failing to the protagonist. Over and over again, while spouting stuff you’d expect to hear from Spike, and has an ego to match.
I also swear he has a British accent, since he calls people sods all of the time.
Didn’t really care for the protagonist, or her son… who she decided to give birth to, regardless of her situation or, you know… the fact that it was conceived via rape.
No one is likeable, honestly. But I guess that’s ok. The story is finally getting interesting, and I’m keen on seeing where it goes!
March 1, 2026
Le second tome reprend avec application les idées du premier tome. Mettre l'héroïne de cette série dans une situation impossible, aux prises avec des hommes mauvais, qui la violent, abusent d'elle, la harcèlent. C'est toujours aussi complaisant, et la question des limites de l'humanité qui est centrale à ce récit n'est en fait pas suffisamment clairement mise en scène comme le point central. Le point central étant manifestement le cul de l'héroïne.
Quant à la grossesse et à l'enfant magique, il dénote à mon avis d'une vision de la maternité complètement passéiste et vomitive.
Pourquoi continuer dans cette voie pour moi en tant que lecteur ? C'est simplement pour voir comment j'ai évolué en tant que lecteur. Parce qu'à seize ans, j'ai le souvenir que rien de tout ça ne m'avait paru malfaisant ou tendancieux.
Quant à la grossesse et à l'enfant magique, il dénote à mon avis d'une vision de la maternité complètement passéiste et vomitive.
Pourquoi continuer dans cette voie pour moi en tant que lecteur ? C'est simplement pour voir comment j'ai évolué en tant que lecteur. Parce qu'à seize ans, j'ai le souvenir que rien de tout ça ne m'avait paru malfaisant ou tendancieux.
August 22, 2018
EDIT: I'm NOT interested in continuing with this series. I'm NOT interested in "getting through" the despicable things in these books. I don't care if there's a pay off. I don't care if horrible people find redemption. I don't care how good the rest of the series is. THIS is how this author chose to start it. NOT. INTERESTED. Take your fucking trolling somewhere else. I'm allowed not to like something and allowed not to read masturbatory rape fantasies.
If The Real Story was vile and disgusting, this book is so much more uncomfortable and disturbing. If you couldn't take what happens in The Real Story, do not continue with these books. I kept not wanting to read this book, but still found myself picking it up thinking that it has to get better, but the conclusion of Chapter 10 just made me think, "This guy (the author) is SICK!" Seriously. There was absolutely no point to the disgusting thing that happens at the end of Chapter 10. It is repulsive, and that wasn't even the worst of the disgusting things that happen, it was just the straw that broke my back.
These three main characters are so disturbed and so flawed that they are completely unbelievable. No one can be this vile, pathetic and stupid. The characters are constantly speculating about each other's motives, and then re-speculating and then speculating on the speculations that it is impossible to tell what "the real story" is. There is subterfuge under subterfuge under subterfuge, so you can't figure out what the hell is going on. The characters are constantly doing things they do not want to do. They agonize and hate and spit bile for paragraphs and pages about not wanting to do what they are doing, but they do it anyway. It is disturbing to me that an author in this day and age would write so pathetic, so weak, so frustrating a female character who ALLOWS herself to be treated in these disgusting ways. You can argue that she doesn't have a choice at this point, but she did at the end of The Real Story. That the author would think it believable a woman would do this to herself is unsettling at best. Perhaps she has her moment later, but I just can't bring myself to go through more of this with her.
If The Real Story was vile and disgusting, this book is so much more uncomfortable and disturbing. If you couldn't take what happens in The Real Story, do not continue with these books. I kept not wanting to read this book, but still found myself picking it up thinking that it has to get better, but the conclusion of Chapter 10 just made me think, "This guy (the author) is SICK!" Seriously. There was absolutely no point to the disgusting thing that happens at the end of Chapter 10. It is repulsive, and that wasn't even the worst of the disgusting things that happen, it was just the straw that broke my back.
These three main characters are so disturbed and so flawed that they are completely unbelievable. No one can be this vile, pathetic and stupid. The characters are constantly speculating about each other's motives, and then re-speculating and then speculating on the speculations that it is impossible to tell what "the real story" is. There is subterfuge under subterfuge under subterfuge, so you can't figure out what the hell is going on. The characters are constantly doing things they do not want to do. They agonize and hate and spit bile for paragraphs and pages about not wanting to do what they are doing, but they do it anyway. It is disturbing to me that an author in this day and age would write so pathetic, so weak, so frustrating a female character who ALLOWS herself to be treated in these disgusting ways. You can argue that she doesn't have a choice at this point, but she did at the end of The Real Story. That the author would think it believable a woman would do this to herself is unsettling at best. Perhaps she has her moment later, but I just can't bring myself to go through more of this with her.
May 13, 2022
So I’m finally two books into this gap series, the first book was like almost a novella which could’ve just been added to this book or vice versa. This story is so 🤬.
It’s like Watching an episode of Law & Order SVU in space without an investigation and the cop is the abused.
I don’t know who is going already bought the whole set so I’m gonna be on reading I’m kind of reading and listening to it back-and-forth Scott Brick as a the narrator.
Well I hope it gets more science-fiction me a little bit more and get away from all this gosh I don’t know it’s just like the technical device ( Zone Implant Control)is basically almost a date rape drug! that the user or victim or Vic’s versa.
She reached into her pocket and brought up a surge of artificial lust from her zone implant control.Then she unsealed her ship suit and stepped out of it.
At least the victim totally helpless wow they are aware what’s going on. I love his writing I love his style I love how he interprets things but this story is again I’m gonna say it 🤬.
The world building is great there’s new alien called Amnion, from the Forbidden Space.
I like them what happens what they do is really cool, can’t give any spoilers characters all about manipulation it’s all about what’s in it for them.
I didn’t hate it I don’t love it but, Donaldson kept me going!!
I give me a four ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️4.5 Stars
his writing Like always is impeccable.
It’s like Watching an episode of Law & Order SVU in space without an investigation and the cop is the abused.
I don’t know who is going already bought the whole set so I’m gonna be on reading I’m kind of reading and listening to it back-and-forth Scott Brick as a the narrator.
Well I hope it gets more science-fiction me a little bit more and get away from all this gosh I don’t know it’s just like the technical device ( Zone Implant Control)is basically almost a date rape drug! that the user or victim or Vic’s versa.
She reached into her pocket and brought up a surge of artificial lust from her zone implant control.Then she unsealed her ship suit and stepped out of it.
At least the victim totally helpless wow they are aware what’s going on. I love his writing I love his style I love how he interprets things but this story is again I’m gonna say it 🤬.
The world building is great there’s new alien called Amnion, from the Forbidden Space.
I like them what happens what they do is really cool, can’t give any spoilers characters all about manipulation it’s all about what’s in it for them.
I didn’t hate it I don’t love it but, Donaldson kept me going!!
I give me a four ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️4.5 Stars
his writing Like always is impeccable.
June 12, 2011
OMG!!!! After reading the first book in this series I grudgingly picked up Forbidden Knowledge. Wow is all I have to say. It is like Donaldson wasn't really sure what he was going for in the first book and the decided to really let go after that. The way he shows just how low and depraved the human species can get is amazing.
July 5, 2022
It's too bad that the first book seems to be a major turnoff for readers of the series. The story really gets going in this book and I look forward to starting book 3.
October 12, 2024
My second reading of this novel followed hot on the heals of my re-read of the first part of the series (The Gap Into Conflict: The Real Story). And unlike the first part, this (and the rest of the series) doesn't stand alone and probably wants to be read one after the other in quick succession. Having said that I think I will take a break and read something else before I come back to part 3. This is partly because the story is so intense.
This book follows straight on from the events of the last book where we mostly focus on Morn's POV where she struggles to survive and adapt to her new situation. And this situation is, it turns out, not much better than the one she was in when she was the captive of Angus Thermapyle. At least now she has control over the zone implant and can even use it to help her make the best of things. But as the ship and the crew move from one crisis to another, her situation is deeply precarious and becomes even more so when she discovers an unexpected legacy of her captivity with Angus that gives her something else to worry about besides her own survival.
We also encounter the Amnion, a fearful alien race that is an uneasy truce with Humanity and we learn about some of corrupt machinations of the UCMP that police human kind.
Again, this is not for the feint hearted. The book contains some strong adult themes and, while not quite as disturbing as the first part of the series, this is still not going to be for a lot of people. But then again, if you're contemplating reading this, you must have survived the first book so you will know what to expect.
This book follows straight on from the events of the last book where we mostly focus on Morn's POV where she struggles to survive and adapt to her new situation. And this situation is, it turns out, not much better than the one she was in when she was the captive of Angus Thermapyle. At least now she has control over the zone implant and can even use it to help her make the best of things. But as the ship and the crew move from one crisis to another, her situation is deeply precarious and becomes even more so when she discovers an unexpected legacy of her captivity with Angus that gives her something else to worry about besides her own survival.
We also encounter the Amnion, a fearful alien race that is an uneasy truce with Humanity and we learn about some of corrupt machinations of the UCMP that police human kind.
Again, this is not for the feint hearted. The book contains some strong adult themes and, while not quite as disturbing as the first part of the series, this is still not going to be for a lot of people. But then again, if you're contemplating reading this, you must have survived the first book so you will know what to expect.
October 28, 2020
I know this is only book two in the series, but for me, the series stops here.
Too much raping, pillaging and plundering. Well, two much of the first one for my taste anyway. The characters exhibit far too much repetition of their behaviors/attitudes. No surprises, no growth. Fear, hate, fear hate and yet more fear and hate. To seemingly little point. Far, far too many in-your-face references to blood-tinged scars under the eyes. That one became really annoying. I couldn't attach emotionally to any of the main characters or their troubles/wants as I found them all representative of people I wouldn't ever like to meet.
I loved the Thomas Covenant books (I think I still have some of them somewhere), so I was hoping for a similar experience with this series. I gave it two books, but that's enough. Time to move on...
Too much raping, pillaging and plundering. Well, two much of the first one for my taste anyway. The characters exhibit far too much repetition of their behaviors/attitudes. No surprises, no growth. Fear, hate, fear hate and yet more fear and hate. To seemingly little point. Far, far too many in-your-face references to blood-tinged scars under the eyes. That one became really annoying. I couldn't attach emotionally to any of the main characters or their troubles/wants as I found them all representative of people I wouldn't ever like to meet.
I loved the Thomas Covenant books (I think I still have some of them somewhere), so I was hoping for a similar experience with this series. I gave it two books, but that's enough. Time to move on...
June 20, 2015
When I say read.... It's because I'm done with this. I won't finish it. Really quite nasty. Rape is not something I want to read about and the main character is passed about (at least as far as I got) to be used and abused. I'm off to find more pleasant reading.
Read
October 25, 2020A 1991 scifi novel, this work continues the story of Angus, Morn and Nick begun in The Real Story. An unexpected pregnancy, the manner in which one can control a zone implant - a device to control the behaviour of others - travels to other worlds, encounters with the Amnion, a species known for their ability to alter DNA, the artificial growing of a fetus to the age of sixteen, a mind imprint, more than one double cross and a transformation of a character into a cyborg are just some of the events which carry this novel, which I would class as 'high scifi', through events and situations which are as imaginative as they are engaging.
Recommended.
Recommended.
July 14, 2026
Another fairly unpleasant affair from Donaldson. At least the plot has kicked in so I can kind of see how this story could sustain but god, can the man give us a break? Again there’s just nothing to help sustain you through apart from the barrage of miserable scenarios. I think it’s a book that once again decides to pose some interesting philosophical questions, I’d say better than it’s predecessor, but again does so by plunging into the inner depths of humanity, and now beyond humanity’s darkness. Giving this one more book then might have to put on pause.
June 16, 2022
I've still got a couple hours, but there's not really anything that can happen to change my mind. This will be my last book in this series. I like realistic, flawed characters, but so many of Donaldson's characters are flat-out mad. Does Donaldson believe that rape, hate and the need to dominate rule every man's mind? If so, perhaps it's time to turn off the feminist podcast.
Great narration by Scott Brick.
Great narration by Scott Brick.
August 10, 2021
Most of this novel is more of the same from volume 1. Instead of a space action/adventure, this series (so far, anyway) is more like a soap opera with a major focus on rape, mind control, and torture. It's a good thing that it's so well written, because a novel made up mostly of people standing around and talking to each other with very little action would otherwise lose me fast.
February 12, 2023
Bored.
July 9, 2023
Absolute perfection.
November 29, 2022
I give this and the previous book a tentative 3 stars but was tempted to give both a 2. Why my trepidation? I see three problems with these books:
- Unlikeable characters. Except for the masochist Morn, all the main characters come off as sadistic- and because of that, one dimensional. Is everyone so unpleasant? Most of the characters are psychopaths and their brutality is extreme. Its like a galaxy of Hannibal Lecter's (without the charm).The main characteristics of the individuals is they like to humiliate their enemies, they are very sensitive to insults, they are Machiavellian about everything they do, and they are insecure. I have noticed some other authors that are similar- China Mievelle comes to mind. I just don't find these one-dimensional characters believable.
- Unrealistic society. Related to these character traits is the society is pretty depressing and illogical. I don't understand why everyone is so poor and desperate? Corruption and greed seem to be rampant. Where is the wealth going? Where are the automated factories? Related to this the economics don't make sense... why are resources so in demand and supplies so short that pirates will readily murder other miners for their supplies? The society is not actively at war so what is consuming the resources? Also, why is earth so prominent? If we are going to the stars a large part of our solar system is probably colonized. They should be talking about dozens of other worlds. How come we have one or two large corporations- wouldn't these be countries? It just does not seem as if the worldbuilding is a priority.
- The physics and science are not realistic. Are the asteroid miners in our solar system? Another solar system? If there are billions of stars in our galaxy wouldn't there be other places to mine resources so people don't have to be pirates and blow each other up? How come forbidden space seems to be a distinct line with an illegal ship dock right on the other side of the border? When borders are likely measured in hundreds of light years and likely thousands of stars are on the border, it does not make sense. The physics of star travel and space travel is clearly not understood .
This is really more of a mythology story transported to a science fiction setting. The characters are not meant to be real people. If you accept that you, like me, will give it some slack. The story moves quickly and I like the intrigue... even if the events seem improbable. Depending on how the next few books pan out will determine whether I reduce the rating to 2's.
- Unlikeable characters. Except for the masochist Morn, all the main characters come off as sadistic- and because of that, one dimensional. Is everyone so unpleasant? Most of the characters are psychopaths and their brutality is extreme. Its like a galaxy of Hannibal Lecter's (without the charm).The main characteristics of the individuals is they like to humiliate their enemies, they are very sensitive to insults, they are Machiavellian about everything they do, and they are insecure. I have noticed some other authors that are similar- China Mievelle comes to mind. I just don't find these one-dimensional characters believable.
- Unrealistic society. Related to these character traits is the society is pretty depressing and illogical. I don't understand why everyone is so poor and desperate? Corruption and greed seem to be rampant. Where is the wealth going? Where are the automated factories? Related to this the economics don't make sense... why are resources so in demand and supplies so short that pirates will readily murder other miners for their supplies? The society is not actively at war so what is consuming the resources? Also, why is earth so prominent? If we are going to the stars a large part of our solar system is probably colonized. They should be talking about dozens of other worlds. How come we have one or two large corporations- wouldn't these be countries? It just does not seem as if the worldbuilding is a priority.
- The physics and science are not realistic. Are the asteroid miners in our solar system? Another solar system? If there are billions of stars in our galaxy wouldn't there be other places to mine resources so people don't have to be pirates and blow each other up? How come forbidden space seems to be a distinct line with an illegal ship dock right on the other side of the border? When borders are likely measured in hundreds of light years and likely thousands of stars are on the border, it does not make sense. The physics of star travel and space travel is clearly not understood .
This is really more of a mythology story transported to a science fiction setting. The characters are not meant to be real people. If you accept that you, like me, will give it some slack. The story moves quickly and I like the intrigue... even if the events seem improbable. Depending on how the next few books pan out will determine whether I reduce the rating to 2's.
July 21, 2026
In transitioning from the tight, almost novella length, The Real Story, to this, the first book that indicates we’re on long-running space opera territory, Stephen Donaldson goes from the deeply problematic proposition ‘what if a rapist could be redeemed by his victim’ to the quite banal one ‘what if a man who rescued a woman from an abuser and expected sex as a reward was also a bad man’: also, right, this is in space. Space cop Morn Hyland, after negotiating her escape from the abject Angus Thermopylae into the company of the swashbuckling Nick Succorso, uses the mind-control implant Angus implanted her with to fake satisfaction; realises she is pregnant; is taken to the previously-unmentioned Amnion, the sort of Borg-by-genetic-manipulation aliens who, it turns out, are central to the whole series, to have her child speed-raised; the process reveals that she has been faking it, and that the child is Angus’s; she becomes Nick’s prisoner, as she had been Angus’s. The Amnion pursue them back to the edge of human space, for in the process of all this a greater truth has been revealed both to them and to the reader: the space cops have, and have suppressed, the existence of a vaccine against Amnion genetic assimilation. Conveniently, two of the guys from that research project are part of Nick’s crew. Meanwhile Angus is converted against his will into a cyborg killing machine by the space cops, and sent to rescue Morn back from Nick, though we are given to understand that there are layers of manipulation and dissension happening in the space cop ranks.
When I was an adolescent this series were among the most striking things I’d ever read: I think they indicate, perhaps, a lack of oversight, exactly, on the content of what was going onto the science fiction shelves in my school library. (I also read the Octavia Butlers with all the alien sex at like thirteen.) At the time the grimness and the overweening ambition both struck me as positives; the latter seems a little silly now, and I’m not interested in grimness for its own sake, and the narratorial gaze’s attention to female bodies in particular (“Alba Parmute pouted like her swelling breasts”) does little to convince me that the interest in all this abuse isn’t prurient. When I revisited the first of them a few months ago I found it worthwhile trying to articulate at some detail how I felt about it ; this book felt less worthwhile, worse. Gone is the level of modulation between the chatty nineteenth-century narrator and the indirect discourse; we’re mostly in Morn Hyland’s head throughout, in Generic 80s-90s Fantasy Third Person Limited, at great great length (three times as long as the first book); possibly there is a writer who could narrate a victim of abuse and forced addiction’s breakdown, bottoming-out, and recovery while also doing space-pirates-and-aliens stuff under these circumstances and make it not ludicrous, but Donaldson is not that person. Succorso and Thermopyle remain flat but convincingly drawn characters: Morn’s internal conflicts (oscillations between keeping her child or aborting it; believing in the space cops or abandoning the idea of a legalistically framed moral rectitude—in the end choosing to keep the child and name it after her space cop father in an attempt to redeem the one via the other) feel like an attempt at depth that doesn’t come off. They take a lot of pages.
These pages also give us a lot of space for leaden I Shall Now State Who I Am And The Stakes Of Our Conflict dialogue: “I’m Nick Succorso. People talk about me for parsecs in all directions. I’m the pirate, the one they tell stories about, the only man who does what he wants in the whole galaxy. I’m the man who makes his own laws, the man who sneers at station Security, the man who makes idiots out of the UMCP, the man who dances with the Amnion and gets away with it.” Or: “Davies, listen to me. As far as I’m concerned, you’re the second most important thing in the galaxy. You’re my son. But the first, the most important thing is to not betray my humanity.”
Also rather ridiculous are the names: Nick Succorso and Morn Hyland and Angus Thermopylae are, it turns out, fairly normally named by the standards of Donaldson’s future: I had forgotten that his crew include Vector Shaheed; that the half-converted Amnion ambassador is one Marc Vestabule. That the UMCP higher-ups, who are part of a galactic paramilitary who have abrogated to themselves the rights of human’s place in the universe, and who are in the novel’s schema, we’ve been told, Asgardians, include a Warden Dios and a Godsen Frik. When we learn that a sci-fi element called Harbingium our notion that this is, perhaps, a stretch, is happily resolved when we learn that it is named for the scientist responsible for its discovery, one Malcolm Harbinger.
Vector Shaheed is something approaching an interesting character: hates Morn because she’s a cop, helps her against her enemies among Nick’s crew out of a basic level of human decency he regrets in himself, is very mild about it. It’s good that someone articulates an ACAB viewpoint about the space cops; it’s a shame that the novel comes down on the side of, they are structurally bad because of Wacky Space Alien Hijinks. It seems like the logic of the conspiratorial stuff is, the UMCP have a vaccine against being assimilated to the Amnion, but they’ve suppressed it for the sake of their own power; we are also informed that the events of the first book have brought them to a political coup where they’ve seized primacy above all other order-enforcement bodies in known space.
A lot of the background is filled in in in odd infodump interstitial chapters (‘Ancillary Documentation: Datacores’; ‘Ancillary Documentation: The Preempt Act’), an inelegant solution. These are the only places where the discursive narrator re-materialises, and compressed he comes across rather insufferable: “For convenience, history is often viewed as a conflict between the instinct for order and the impulse toward chaos,” starts the chapter on Datacores. (These are not quite a McGuffin: they are black box recorders which nominally no one can edit, but Angus has figured out the trick to it; this is probably going to be very important in 500-1,000 pages.) These books are called the Gap Cycle, suggesting that the Gap, the thing that permits hyperspace travel here, is going to be important; at some point I was paying attention to other points in this book where there is aid to be a gap between a thing and another thing, because I suspect there are going to be other gaps we’re paying attention to; for the moment, the gap between the attempted high moral seriousness, and the Space Opera Business by which it is transacted, made reading this an experience of leaden bathos. (Subplot of the first 150 pages: another of Nick’s crew also attempts to rape Morn; Nick murders him; he has left a virus in the system; Morn proves her worth among the crew by figuring out the trick of dealing with it.)
I’m not sure if the Space Opera Business and the Big Themes ever will intersect. The Amnion, probably key to whatever it is Donaldson is actually trying to do here, aren’t quite interesting in themselves; everyone reacts with a baseline horror to them that I’m not quite sold on. I will go forward, probably, out of a leaden sense of duty to my past self, but I feel a little silly about it.
November 19, 2018
Good story...
July 14, 2015
The second book in the Gap series moves the story from the seemingly personal (and often very disturbing) stories of Morn Hyland, Angus Thermopyle, and Nick Succorso, to the political intrigues that set up the situations in which they find themselves. Donaldson introduces the power players behind the machinations and provides some history of the world in which they live, but even so, most of this novel is really prelude to the real action that comes in the later novels.
Donaldson is a great writer and his compelling story-telling keeps the reader engaged. Heaven knows I stayed up far too late, and this is my second reading of the series.
Four stars instead of five because many readers will find the sexual content of the book off-putting. It's key to the plot and not as graphic as many other writers', but it is consistently unsettling as the sexual relationships are just as much power plays as are the political schemes. As in the first book of the series, there's plenty here that I'd just as soon scrub out of my brain.
Also, the five books of this series are really a single book broken into manageable portions. If you're looking for a complete narrative arc, you'll have to commit to reading all five books. The first novella is the hardest to get through in terms of disturbing content and really doesn't give a proper idea of what the series is about. If you can get through the first two, you'll at least have an idea where this is going, as well as an appreciation of Donaldson's skill. The series is well worth the time it takes and the persistence to get through the set-up to the meat of the plot.
Donaldson is a great writer and his compelling story-telling keeps the reader engaged. Heaven knows I stayed up far too late, and this is my second reading of the series.
Four stars instead of five because many readers will find the sexual content of the book off-putting. It's key to the plot and not as graphic as many other writers', but it is consistently unsettling as the sexual relationships are just as much power plays as are the political schemes. As in the first book of the series, there's plenty here that I'd just as soon scrub out of my brain.
Also, the five books of this series are really a single book broken into manageable portions. If you're looking for a complete narrative arc, you'll have to commit to reading all five books. The first novella is the hardest to get through in terms of disturbing content and really doesn't give a proper idea of what the series is about. If you can get through the first two, you'll at least have an idea where this is going, as well as an appreciation of Donaldson's skill. The series is well worth the time it takes and the persistence to get through the set-up to the meat of the plot.
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