Sci - fi comes a poor second for me in the reading stakes, BUT, I've finally given in and got the first 2 Gap series books.
Will start reading them this weekend, and see how it goes. If it's anything like my first go at Mordants Need, I'll read the first 100 pages, then give up for two years, then go back to it and love it.
Got to make sure I don't look at any other threads in this section
Yeah! I have to agree with the others, read book one no matter what it takes, in book #2 things start rolling and by book 5 it is a jugernaut - I'm just finishing up the whole series AGAIN, for like the 5th time or something insane like that. The scope of the story gets broader, and more intricate as the series progresses. I really hope you enjoy it.
I hated The Real Story. Really, really hated it. But I bought all 5 books off Ebay at the same time so I figured I'd stick with it. Best story SRD has written, no question about it.
Mordant's Need......100 pages over the last 8 months. Great for when I can't sleep.
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." - PJ O'Rourke
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"Men and women range themselves into three classes or orders of intelligence; you can tell the lowest class by their habit of always talking about persons; the next by the fact that their habit is always to converse about things; the highest by their preference for the discussion of ideas." - Charles Stewart
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"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." - James Madison
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Of course, things don't really start cooking until book 3.
Seriously, The Real Story is so far removed from the rest of the series that the only thing that keeps it from being a prequel is that it was written first. It's a great piece of writing, but it just opens a window onto what the Gap sequence is really about. You won't get the real picture of what is going on until about halfway through book three.
I am struggling a bit with book 2, but the main thing is that I am still plodding on with it.
I'd already ditched the Mordants need books by this stage of reading them.
Phantasm wrote:I am struggling a bit with book 2, but the main thing is that I am still plodding on with it.
I'd already ditched the Mordants need books by this stage of reading them.
By all means, if you manage to make it through the Gap series, go back and look at Mordant's Need again. They are very similar in that they are about the slow transformation of unlikable characters into 'heroes."
A Gunslinger wrote:I have not read the Mordant's need stuff.... I just could not get through the first 100 pages. Maybe I'll try again, though.... is it worth it?
I loved the GAP stuff though. Loved it.
Definately worth it.
I was the same, about 100 pages in and gave up. Great read when you get into them.
I am also reading the Gap cycle for the first time. Made it through Dark and Hungry, only two more to go... hope I can finish without tossing my cookies. I feel like I've been close several times. If a writer can make me nauseated yet unable to put the book down, he is doing an unbelievable job.
gunslinger:
although 'taste' is personal, I must say that MOrdant's Need is my fave. Loved it. I also don't mind long set ups, as long as the pay off is there, and I have the patience to enjoy everything, this is why MOrdant's Need is so great for me. Once the sh!t starts happening, (oh man!) it gets really nasty --- in a good way...
~...with a floating smile and a light blue sponge...~
CovenantJr wrote:Just make sure you finish those two. In particular don't let book one deter you. It gives no hint at all of what's to come.
I was under the impression that it told the whole story... Book one is like the synopsis. The rest are all detail and an ending.
These are the pale deaths
which men miscall their lives:
for all the scents of green things growing,
each breath is but an exhalation of the grave.
Boddies jerk like puppet corpses,
and hell walks laughing---
Not remotely. Book one covers a series of events in a very small area, that occur chronologically before the rest of the series. Though the plot of book one has relatively little to do with the later books, familiarity with it is essential for understanding several key events.
