The Gap Series

[Loredoctor]

Agreed.

[lurch]

..." Agreed"...? Thats it? Nothing more?

There is a couple of problems with all this. The sequence of events is of heavy prejudice towards TCC. They came first, garnered the initial fan base and struck our hearts first and deeply. And,,its Fantasy. Where as The Gap series is Sci-fi,,it still holds closely to the personal interior conflicts,, but comes across as dam rite chilly. Space is a cold thing. There are " abstracts" one has to get their mind around or past that are more difficult in nature than fantasy. The concept of the Gap drive itself for example,,singularity grenades, escaping a black hole, keeping a head alive, turning a person into a robot,,etc,etc. Some really nasty stuff..then there was the Aminion(spl)..yeeeoow! It was very much more like a Nightmare . ..suicide bombers?..socio-paths...etc, etc.

When they are fantasy,,they are easier to keep a self protective emotional barrier around oneself from. But geez..what Morn gets subjected to..well..what all of 'em do to each other..geez,,it became a struggle to become emotionally attatched to just about any of the characters in the Gap. It seemed, as soon as one did, Donaldson would give reason to be filled with revulsion by the character. Yes, intended, but after a while,,the technical stuff became more enjoyable to think about than the evolution of the characters...What a disgusting lot!..Of course, the end brought it all around and ...balanced the scales as well as could be. thank god for not a Stars Wars ending...but gee..what a brutal trip!
..Yes,, yes, ,,of course i read it all the way to the end complaining,,at least 3 times now,,and yes I have considered another read as I await the 2nd of the Last..its been awhile. But,,what is holding me back,,is the bruising I know my mind and heart will take. It just hurt more than with The TCC's...And if you insist,,yes, I acknowledge that may be a good thing....therefore The Gap Series..at some level,,is a better effort by the author...

The other thing is,,,notice that this is " Kevins Watch"..while Chaos and Order may be in practice..it is Kevin's Watch...........MEL..ps..I'm sorry..I forgot to include a 3rd ...and we're back to the sequence of events.. The Gap Series is done( may Stephen live so long as to write another few books ,with perhaps Angus'es son as the central figure),,but until then, we have now the Last Chrons of Convenant..point being..we know the extremes the author can take us to by the way of the Gap...and even more foreboding,,there is a " feel" to Runes that is reminescent of " The Real Story", in that its just a gathering of the Storm Clouds,,just a hint of what is to come. Lightning bolts blasting people to death indeed. So, there is that prejudice of Hope,,?,,or anticipation anyway involved currently with the Last Chrons. So, The Gap Series becomes " in the past". To think He may surpass The Gap..talk about personal interior conflicts....MEL

[Dragonlily]

Agreed.

Loremaster won the modship of the Gap Forum partly by his love of the Gap books. That being firmly established, he doesn't have to repeat himself over and over.

On another topic: At www.reviewsbygavrielle.com/gap.shtml is a 63-page essay about THE GAP. This essay has a split personality. The author says she loves THE GAP, it's "high on my list of favourite books of any genre," and then she writes a thesis bashing it.

Why? Because "the great stuff tends to get taken for granted, while the not-so-hot stuff's more fun to sharpen your claws on."

If she needed a story to use for punchbag practice, she should have chosen something she thought deserved the punching. This is a truly bad exercise in out-of-proportion reviewing. "Oh, see the pretty thing, now let's chop it up so we can really look at it!" Too bad she has a gift for gab -- it wins her readers she doesn't deserve.

[Variol Farseer]

Actually, it's the best books whose faults are most worth discussing. Lots of other books have the faults of The Gap, and more besides; but because they don't have the virtues either, there is very little to say but, 'Don't bother reading this.'

By the way, I thought Loremaster won the modship by defeating the previous mod in a barehanded duel to the death, thereby giving Angus Thermopyle access to the One Formula on Thanatos Minor, so he could build a new Zone Implant Control of Law. Or am I getting this confused with some other story?

[Dragonlily]

Discussing, okay. Reviewing, you're supposed to be giving an accurate over-all impression of the book. By emphasizing the parts she did, she made it totally mystifying why she likes THE GAP at all. You don't give an accurate picture of something by chopping it into little bits and painting the pieces nasty colors.

[Loredoctor]

By the way, I thought Loremaster won the modship by defeating the previous mod in a barehanded duel to the death, thereby giving Angus Thermopyle access to the One Formula on Thanatos Minor, so he could build a new Zone Implant Control of Law. Or am I getting this confused with some other story?

HOW did you guess that?

[lurch]

My goodness, Ms New Zealander surely must love The Gap judging by the extent of the energy required for such an exposition. It was good of her to include notes from other readers and that their perceptions may have indeed seen what she may have missed.

The diametrically opposed Morn and Angus and the crossed paths these two traveled , each ending where the other started , is kinda central to the theme,,and makes up part of her observation about characters as “ideas”, the inherent two dimensional restraints to that , and the “complaint” of the non- Donaldson appreciative reader , as to the ambiguity of his characters. Maybe I missed it or was brain dead by the time she explored it..but, the ambiguity, being on purpose, should push the reader to consider or ask,,what of it,,how is it that the author does that. The answer that occurs to me is the movement within myself,,my brain that is. Angus, a disgusting character , redeems himself. Easy enuf, The Gap is all about redemption. But , the reader should take note of the change inside oneself as to the acceptability of the character at first meeting and again at end. Ms Zealander seems to keep all the change contained within the self imposed, “ suspension of disbelief” ..Her personal morals or ethics did seem to get in the way. Oh well.

VS has already noted that the best of Donaldson is so good that the flaws are easily discounted. IMHO, only F Herbert efforts are of the same quality as Donaldson’s writings. for the same reason, and Herbert was a newspaper reporter before becoming the breakout author.

As to the “ nipple” comment. That simile by Donaldson hit me like a 5lb sledge up along side of my head. I thought about that for awhile. I mean,, as soon as she mentioned it I knew my thought of it from years ago. That Donaldson even “ went There” seemed kinda unneccesary but the two were into nudity so he had to finish it off. The clunker of a line hit me as on purpose. Has there ever been a description of a womans nipples that did work? Perhaps, but in most cases, writers avoid the territory. So, imho, Donaldson’s line was,, perhaps more in satirical( perhaps even a out rite joke) vein than anything else.Maybe I’m stretching abit, but ifeel ms Zealander didn’t get it. She laffed, but maybe for the wrong reasons.

And that brings me to my last comment,, Donaldson wrings the readers mind and heart as if he was in the middle of the desert on a 110 degree day and only had a damp towel to keep him alive…Ms Zealander, has too many technical nit picks getting in her way of telling more about herself. How she felt about Morns mental problems leading to disaster, and Thermopyle’s mental problems , etc,,etc,etc. All she seems to say, is , despite all this, I assure you I love this series…She underhandedly expresses a resentment of a male author writing a female in a lead role…se la vie…I’d like to have heard from her more on the movement thru the gray as we traveled from black to white and white to black. This Is Donaldson’s territory. What she found out about herself in the journey seems little or camoflagued by a lot of techno –talk written as if it was a paper submitted for a senior level course,,and ,,I guess,, asking a young one of that age to describe or relate the inner trip is a bit much .Iwould have enjoyed her comments on to what degree she would go to save her “ child”…MEL…

[Dragonlily]

Ms Zealander, has too many technical nit picks getting in her way of telling more about herself.

What she's missing is that SRD, in a sense, writes prose poetry. The words are meant to be felt more than analyzed. If the reader is careful to be objective, he will miss everything important.

Donaldson wrings the readers mind and heart as if he was in the middle of the desert on a 110 degree day and only had a damp towel to keep him alive

This is a good simile, dead-on in some places.

[Loredoctor]

Ms Zealander, has too many technical nit picks getting in her way of telling more about herself.

What she's missing is that SRD, in a sense, writes prose poetry. The words are meant to be felt more than analyzed. If the reader is careful to be objective, he will miss everything important.

Good point.

[bloodguard]

i have just ordered tha gap series after reading tctc and t2ctc and mordants need and i really hope its a good as you make out. i need a good read

[Dragonlily]

It is NOT the same as the Covenant books. It IS great.