Kevin's Watch

This is not new news, but it may be stale enough that most Watchers haven't encountered it yet.

There's a really interesting GAP review up on the web. Here [link].

(I wish there was a Chronicles review so good. This same sight does have reviews of the Axbrewder mysteries, tho.)

Just to prove it is interesting, I'll repost some of the NITPICKS.

But Don’t Tell The Amnion, ’Cause It’s A Secret

The paradox about the broadcast of the antimutagen formula is never satisfactorily sorted out. They start to broadcast the formula so that it can become public property instead of being in the hands only of the UMC, but the fact that by so doing it’s bound to fall into the hands of the Amnion is never explained away. The continuing broadcast of the formula in the vicinity of Calm Horizons (and Soar, since they knew Milos was on board) seems particularly stupid. Morn, in worrying about whether the Amnion have her blood (bit late then, babe) never seems to grasp that if the Amnion have heard the formula then the point is moot and that even if they haven’t heard it directly they’re going to get hold of it the instant an illegal can get it to them.

We Thought We’d Put The Pool Table In First

There’s no real explanation for why super-light proton cannons aren’t more common. It seems very unlikely to me that installations which ships with them might visit wouldn’t have them also.

Oh, Those Lasers

(Thanks to Torbjörn Andersson for this one.) In Chaos And Order, Mikka uses Trumpet’s forward lasers against an asteroid. However, later in the novel Donaldson states that Trumpet is not equipped with lasers.

Oh, Yeah. Him

(Thanks to Roberto Ullfig for this one.) In Chaos And Order, Trumpet's transmission to UMCPHQ doesn't list Sib Mackern as one of the crew aboard. Yet when Warden is talking to Holt, he knows Sib is on board. A-ha! That's because he... um...

That Fat, Smug Taverner Bastard Was The Last Straw

Aside from the thematic reasons why Nick must fail at revenging himself on Sorus, the practical reason he can’t kill her is that we need her to be around to change sides and thus play a decisive part in the battle. Sorus has to die then, of course, which is kinda interesting given how many years she’s spent serving the Amnion up till then. What isn’t clear is why she made the decision then and why she wasn’t able to kill her Amnion escort prior to this. It would seem the work of a moment for the resourceful Sorus to kill her Amnion then beat it to Deaner Beckmann’s lab with a pocketful of antimutagens - the Amnion with her must have been carrying a fair few at a time, and she therefore could have lasted out the period until they’d managed to synthesise the drug.

A Singular Error

(Thanks to Chris Boden for this.) When the singularity grenades are introduced, we’re told these don’t work because it’s not possible to generate enough localised mass/energy to trigger the black hole. Clearly a vexing problem which has defeated the best efforts of both human and Amnion research teams - but a problem no more, of course, for our intrepid adventurers, who manage to solve it effortlessly and with breathtaking simplicity, firing first a teensy miniature matter cannon, then an even teensier rifle at it! Guess that had never occurred to them back in the lab. Not to mention that there’s no convincing reason (except good old plot expediency) why Ciro has to stand next to the thing to fire the rifle - why not strap the rifle to it and fire by remote control?

As for the physics of all the black hole stuff, all I can say is no, no, no. I'm not gonna criticise the singularity grenades; Donaldson is handwavy about how these work, and that's fair enough. But once the black hole gets out there into normal space with normal physics, nothing that then happens makes any sense. Where did the mass come from that's so huge that ships are sucked in inexorably when they were perfectly comfy before with the ambient gravity? Concentrating the mass isn't going to make that much difference. (Thanks to Dan Muller for this.)

I feel like the reviewer was a good writer, but most of his/her likes/dislikes relating to the characters and such were sorta poorly founded IMO. I did think the case about Nick had some merit, though. I don't know enough about science to know of any reason that the scientific critiques aren't well founded.

We Thought We’d Put The Pool Table In First

There’s no real explanation for why super-light proton cannons aren’t more common. It seems very unlikely to me that installations which ships with them might visit wouldn’t have them also.

I'm pretty sure the idea here is that most ships can't manage a cannon without draining out most of the energy needed for other stuff. The only ships we see toting both gap drives and super-light proton cannons are amnion ships and Soar after getting 'held hostage' by the amnion, so I imagine it's alien superior tech and such that's

To give some perspective about their costs/drains for human owned stuff, Holt wasn't able to get them on the UMC HQ, even though it's stationary and he's really rich.

Holsety wrote:I'm pretty sure the idea here is that most ships can't manage a cannon without draining out most of the energy needed for other stuff.

I think the comment was, why didn't installations, like Thanatos Minor or Beckman's lab or Com-Mine Station use them.

I too, disagreed with half, but I also learned a lot about the book by reading her reviews. It's also interesting to get a woman's take on the Gap. That doesn't involve drooling at the word "Nick", anyway.

Another reason could be a perceived lack of importance. The book actually says at some point that earth and its government weren't viewed as likely targets for amnion forces compared to the colony where ships were constructed (don't remember name). If the cannons are fairly expensive, it might be that the UMC and other places aren't worth arming with them.

Billingate...the best thing I can come up with is that they weren't viewed as necessary for similar reasons (the Bill didn't think he needed them because no one who wanted to destroy billingate could legally do it).

EDIT-I'm just offering possibilities, not really trying to say this is what donaldson had in mind or that these are right.

Holsety wrote:Another reason could be a perceived lack of importance. The book actually says at some point that earth and its government weren't viewed as likely targets for amnion forces compared to the colony where ships were constructed (don't remember name). If the cannons are fairly expensive, it might be that the UMC and other places aren't worth arming with them.

Again, Donaldson tries to rationalise this away in the books but it just made no sense to me. His explanation was something like "a war that reaches Earth would already have been lost". Hello!!? Is this the same universe in which warships can traverse huge tracts of space instantaneously? In a situation where your enemy could literally materialise on your doorstep, armed to the teeth and angry as hell, I'm sure you'd go to any length to ensure that every important installation was very well armed indeed.

Some of the points quoted are just continuity errors that can often creep into large, complex works of fiction, perhaps because of a reference that has been edited out of an earlier passage. However, others are justified. Sometimes in the Gap, Donaldson is guilty of picking a conclusion he wants to reach and working backwards from there and as a result some of the logic is a bit clunky. I could never quite get on board with Morn's desire to broadcast the anti-mutagen formula, as it seemed obvious that it would be a short-term benefit at best. Maybe if it was accompanied by a full-scale attack on the Amnion it would make more sense, but that wasn't what Morn was gunning for.

There are things that the Gap does very well; the characterisation, the setting and the overall plot. At the same time though, there are points where SRD has shoe-horned a character's motivations in to the plot in a manner that doesn't quite make sense, and there are a few fairly glaring mistakes made with both physics and infrastructure in the Gap universe. SRD has gone down the 'magic bullet' route with the Gap drive, which is all well and good as it's very hard to write a story when your characters are spending decades in transit (Alastair Reynolds manages this very well). However, if a writer dips into hard SF physics they still need to do their homework (look at the singularity problems and Captain's Fancy's approach to Billingate), and I don't think SRD has fully considered the impact the Gap drive would have on the way different factions would interact with one another.

You make some good points there, mister. I've heard more than one person talk about the implausibility of not defending Earth/UMCP HQ, and that is one of the most obvious errors in the Gap. I think that's what prevents the Gap from surpassing the Chronicles for me; there are too many holes. It's understandable, given the complexity of the plot and some of the characters, but holes are holes, however understandable.

But UMCP and Earth are defended by all manner of lasers and matter cannon. They only things they didn't have were super light proton cannon and the means to defend against one.

I always got the impression that super light proton cannons were so ridiculously rare that it wasn't thought necessary to defend against them, especially since humanity hadn't ever actually been at war with the Amnion.

Also, I think that installing them at places like Billingate would have meant that more illegals would have installed them, just in case. I would think that it would be in the Bill's best interests not to have every other space pirate who docked in charge of a super light proton cannon.

As for Morn's decision to broadcast the mutigen-immunity drug formula - you can hardly call her the most rational of women. She even admits herself in one of the last chapters that she had already given the Amnion the formula in her blood at Billingate, so many of the later fears that so drove her were actually irrelevent.

There was me thinking these books were Science Fiction and not Science Fact

They may be science fiction, but they still have to make some kind of sense.

I guess its whatever the writer feels he can warp to make a good story, personally I can overlook some hazy areas to enjoy a story

ramus wrote:I guess its whatever the writer feels he can warp to make a good story, personally I can overlook some hazy areas to enjoy a story

I'm pretty much with you. I figure that the laws of physics don't have to be the same in a book as they do in the real world, so it doesn't bother me. I did think that it was a bit of a stretch in C&O, though, that Nick and Vector were able to float around in the asteroid field and then hitch a ride on Soar's ship. That ship had to be going muuuuchhh faster than they were going, because it took off ahead of the explosion front of lab's asteroid (I'm guessing it as going >5,000 mph, maybe 2X more). But it doesn't bother me that much, I'm a lot more interested in the story than spreadsheets.

Again, Donaldson tries to rationalise this away in the books but it just made no sense to me. His explanation was something like "a war that reaches Earth would already have been lost". Hello!!? Is this the same universe in which warships can traverse huge tracts of space instantaneously? In a situation where your enemy could literally materialise on your doorstep, armed to the teeth and angry as hell, I'm sure you'd go to any length to ensure that every important installation was very well armed indeed.

I took it more as "by the time they would've been gunning for earth instead of somewhere more important, the war would be lost". The situation involving Davies, the vaccine, and all the other shit the amnion wanted to keep out/get for themselves changed that all up.

I sorta think of it as a bit like CJ Cherryjh's (sp?) book Downbelow Station, where colonization has hit earth's usefulness/potential/etc pretty hard.

Alternatively, there's this explanation, which is (I think) the first worth anything I've thought of. The UMCP, as we know, is extremely overextended. They are not going to prepare for a war with the amnion they don't expect to happen for a long, long time when the outlaws who've been getting stuff from the amnion are causing such problems. The UMCP's focus is on the ships, not on their defense from amnion forces, because, like I said above, they never expected the amnion to start the war. The amnion were pretty much interested in assimilating humanity, and the interest they had in the vaccine and everything else would've been an absurdity to pretty much everyone, because no one knew about them. ...Except for Holt, who didn't plan on the amnion discovering the drug. Basically, war defenses against the amnion didn't count for shit compared to other priorities.

At the same time, I'll admit readily that I am digging, and inventing explanations which could have been in the book, but to my knowledge aren't.

it's very hard to write a story when your characters are spending decades in transit (Alastair Reynolds manages this very well).

True that.

As for Morn's decision to broadcast the mutigen-immunity drug formula - you can hardly call her the most rational of women. She even admits herself in one of the last chapters that she had already given the Amnion the formula in her blood at Billingate, so many of the later fears that so drove her were actually irrelevent.

Yes. Her blood was taken in a ship that was, shortly afterwards, blown to bits by Angus. That fear still made sense.

Alternatively, there's this explanation, which is (I think) the first worth anything I've thought of. The UMCP, as we know, is extremely overextended. They are not going to prepare for a war with the amnion they don't expect to happen for a long, long time when the outlaws who've been getting stuff from the amnion are causing such problems. The UMCP's focus is on the ships, not on their defense from amnion forces, because, like I said above, they never expected the amnion to start the war. The amnion were pretty much interested in assimilating humanity, and the interest they had in the vaccine and everything else would've been an absurdity to pretty much everyone, because no one knew about them. ...Except for Holt, who didn't plan on the amnion discovering the drug. Basically, war defenses against the amnion didn't count for shit compared to other priorities.

I recall a brief mention at some point that someone (GCES?) drew the line on super light proton cannon in orbit around Earth.

Also, I believe Holt wanted it installed at HQ, but could not justify it there and nowhere else, which meant sharpening the UMCP's teeth before he was assured he could retain control of them.

Ah, you're reminding me what I liked most about the Gap. Politics.

CovenantJr wrote:Ah, you're reminding me what I liked most about the Gap. Politics.

Holt: I'm not doing this because I've got good intentions at heart. I'm not doing this cuz I hate someone or something. I'm doing this because I'm a megalomaniac, and I know what's best for humanity f'sho.

I remember reading this years ago. I was amazed at the amount of detail and time spent in writing this. That fact alone shows a great respect for Donaldson. Unfortunately, the only thing that stuck with me after a decade was this criticism:

Sorry, We’ve Run Out. We Have Some Sandwiches, Though

Donaldson is too involved with questions of cosmic significance to be much concerned with the mundane details of his created world. In the food area, for example, I hope you like coffee and sandwiches, as it appears that in the future that’s all you’re going to get. The only exceptions are the porridge Nick brings Morn, Min’s stew, foodbars, including (ugh) a sirloin bar, and black bean soup. That’s it. Clothes are shipsuits and if they’re not aren’t mentioned, except for a single reference to Warden’s "worksuit".

I'm not too concerned with inconsistencies when it comes to physics, plot holes, etc. Those things are hard to manage, and they are not what interest Donaldson the most. He doesn't write books to show off his knowledge of physics or his ability to create flawlessly logical narratives. He writes them because he cares about the characters. And that's why I read him. The Gap will always be the best science fiction to me because it had the most amazing characters doing the most amazing things. They were all so real (unlike Bhapi and Pahni in Runes . . . worthless. Actually, you could say that about Mahtiir and Liand, too, but that's another story).

Malik23 wrote:I'm not too concerned with inconsistencies when it comes to physics, plot holes, etc. Those things are hard to manage, and they are not what interest Donaldson the most. He doesn't write books to show off his knowledge of physics or his ability to create flawlessly logical narratives. He writes them because he cares about the characters. And that's why I read him. The Gap will always be the best science fiction to me because it had the most amazing characters doing the most amazing things. They were all so real (unlike Bhapi and Pahni in Runes . . . worthless. Actually, you could say that about Mahtiir and Liand, too, but that's another story).

Well, I'd disagree...

First off, when someone who normally writes fantasy sets out to write science fiction (as opposed to writing scifi because that's where you start, and you find stuff like ships and aliens the coolest), one should expect technical accuracy. Donaldson could've turned the amnion into a race of magic things which take over people's minds or souls, and no one would quibble about it. It's fairly easy to imagine a redo of most scifi stories with magic instead, and simply forget about establishing tech accuracy or rationale. As far as I'm concerned, if a book's use of tech is thoroughly bashed enough, it's fair for someone to ask 'ok, but why are you writing science fiction?'

I would say, however, that the book is good enough overall that the scientific plotholes can be breezed over. It's just that....well, the gap is great literature. The science, however, is just a device for the story. That's a strength for some people, a weakness for others. I like reading both, rly.

On second thought, sure, Donaldson doesn't actually have amazing detail on why tech works all on his own...but in terms of showing progression of tech, decisions when to use it, etc, it's very well done. In that way it's important in terms of making points about 'science ethics' and such. What's really 'human' and stuff like that.

A somewhat well argued critique is the stuff heshe says about nick VS other characters. I'm too lazy to check but it's basically 'nick was about as virtuous as anyone else, and donaldson is pretty harsh with him'. I disagree with that for a number of reasons, and I'm willing to explain why if people are interested, but I did feel that Nick was painted to be a little more villainous than he should've been.

Holsety, you make some good points, especially about Nick. But remember that Donaldson was trying to make Nick follow the progression of "rescuer-to-victimizer." That's why he was so hard on him. But it's a valid point to say he didn't make that progression believable (the same could be said of Angus).

About the science, etc., all I can say is that I didn't notice it when I read it. Now if that's my fault for not knowing enough about super-luminal travel, etc., well then I'm in the same boat as Donaldson.

The fact that Donaldson didn't do the science as well as other s.f. writers is made up for the fact that he did the fiction part better than any of them. I'm sure an actual scientist could write some very technically accurate stuff. But can they write a story? Not as good as SRD can, IMO. And while I agree that mystery stories should have good mysteries, and s.f. should have good science, to me it's always secondary to the story.

Malik23 wrote: And while I agree that mystery stories should have good mysteries, and s.f. should have good science, to me it's always secondary to the story.

Agreed. First story, then technicalities.

--A

This cultural stuff can raise its head in unexpected ways and have a surprising impact for the reader: in the Chronicles, for example, Donaldson talks about "Lord Kevin": in British English, "Kevin" is generally considered a working class (not to mention dorky) name, while the appellation "Lord" is of course reserved for the aristocracy, so the combination of the two inevitably brings a smirk whenever it’s used, which hurts suspension of disbelief.

Really?!?!?! Is this true?!?! I have a dorky name?!?!