Kevin's Watch

What Makes The Gap Worth Reading

We are off to a new start on a new board. As "Lord o' Links" I am posting here a link back to the archived material (for reference).

And once again, I ask why do you or did you read The Gap Series?

just started Chaos and Order... at last
fascinating, not a boring sentence in so many volumes; how he pulls this trick I cannot imagine

In Daughter of Regals r @ least 2 very cool Sci-Fi short stories. When I read them my intuition told me more Sci-Fi was yet 2 come from SRD. Besides I'll read anything SRD writes! The Real Story is one of the hardest books 2 read that I have ever come across: @ times I wanted 2 throw it away, I wanted 2 jump in2 the book and kill Angus and Morn's abuse put me on the constant verge of vomiting. Yes it made me sick but it got it's hooks in2 me and the rewards of the remainder of the series were fabulous! I left The Real Story in my car while I was @ a business retreat in the mountians. Tamara had come along and, being very bored by all our discussions and plannings, sat in the car and began reading it. We all were laughing when she shouted out things like; "Ew, gross, disgusting, bastard! and this is the sickest book I've ever read." But she couldn't put it down.

Well, they're disturbing because there's a lot of sexual violence. I would NOT recommend these books to you until you get a little older.

I do agree fully with the review by Gavrielle Perry, especially the section regarding how Angus is supposed to be "redeemed" and Nick is made out as "evil" as time passes. I think SRD failed in these character developments. If he had made the changes more believable the books would be up there with The Covenant Chronicles.

There is an element of sexual violence in Mordant's Need as well, Lauralin, though nowhere near the level of The Gap Series.

Sexual violence is a vehicle that SRD has used in each of his SciFi/Fantasy works (I don't know if it is in the mysteries or the short stories).

I keep wondering why? He is a good writer, a great writer in eyes of many. Couldn't he have found a way to say what he needed to say without all of the sexual violence? I keep wondering if it doesn't become a gimmick to cover up weaknesses in his writing.

If it is not just a gimmick, then what does it mean? What is it that SRD is saying?

I just wanted to say that I completely agree with what Danlo said in his post. I have heard many people say that they stopped reading the first book and never read another page of the Gap. The violations performed on Morn by Angus are very sickening and disturbing, and people threw the book across the room and that was that... However, once I got into the other four books I was not able to put the Gap down.
On the other hand, I have never felt a strong need to reread them, either ...one of these days I will, though...
And Hearthcoal, I have also noticed that in Donaldson's writing and don't know.

maybe he has to write something out of himself, some personal experience; no, I am not implying that he did things like this, but maybe he had some contact with things like that in the past
or maybe he simply think that rape is the most horrible crime possible, that's why it is in the center of his writings

BTW, call me an insensitive bastard, but I never felt that I have to throw the books across the room because of the violence. Much more horrible things happen in the real world, and pass unpunished.

I wouldn't call you heartless at all. Different people have different levels of tolerance for stuff like that, that's all. My husband, for instance, can sit through a slasher flick, and I can't -- but I can sit through movies graphically showing surgical operations or other medical procedures and it makes him run away...

I wouldn't recommend The Gap to a younger person, it probably should have a rating. There's some particularly vicious violence in the first book. It all has meaning in the story, but as the fuddy-duddy I am I wouldn't approve

What made me read the Gap series? Loved Donaldson's work after TCTC.

What did I love about reading it? The world and its characters, more so than the story itself. In fact, the story actually felt a bit Hollywoodish towards then end, seemed like a bit of 'wrapping it up' going on.

Though this didn't detract at all.

I also get deer-in-headlights with the extreme emotion and extremer activity.

amanibhavam wrote:maybe he has to write something out of himself, some personal experience; no, I am not implying that he did things like this, but maybe he had some contact with things like that in the past
or maybe he simply think that rape is the most horrible crime possible, that's why it is in the center of his writings

BTW, call me an insensitive bastard, but I never felt that I have to throw the books across the room because of the violence. Much more horrible things happen in the real world, and pass unpunished.

It wouldn't surprise me in the least. He seems to me to be quite sensitive to ... no, I mean respectful yet protective of, women. That includes recognizing their right to expand and take risks if they choose. Not as common as it might seem.

The first time I read THE REAL STORY (the first of many times), I thought, this is too horrible, I'm not going to read the next one. But as soon as I saw the new FORBIDDEN KNOWLEDGE on the shelf, I grabbed it and started reading. He writes irresistibly well.

Joy

i agree joy .. SRD does write irrisistibly well .. and like you i really didnt think i wanted to read more after tRS .. but .. i did .. and am glad i did

The scenes in The Real Story where Angus breaks Morn with the zone implant . . . yes, they were sickening. Disgusting. Obscene. Perhaps they needed to be, both to set the tone for the series and to set up the truly pathological relationship between those two characters. (Back in the day, it was considered equally obscene for Siegmund and Sieglinde to commit incest. We have grown much harder to shock, which does not say good things about us.) And they are certainly no worse than the scenes of sexual torture in Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind -- a book that seems specifically aimed at teenagers until you hit NC-17 country round about page 600.

But I have reread each of the other four books several times, and I have seldom had the desire to revisit The Real Story. The only part of that volume that I sometimes look at is the afterword, with the key to the Wagner references, plus gratuitous mention of Monty Python and Doctor Who.

Any book that contains gratuitous references to Monty Python and Doctor Who, after all, can't be all bad.

I always thought that "The Real Story" was probably the weakest writing Donaldson has done, but the other books in the Gap series become exponentially better; the characters become far more powerful and meaningful over time. The Gap series presents some of the greatest characters ever, and the reader grows to love or hate them, due to how realistically Donaldson writes them. In my opinion, although the series starts off slowly, it is the best Sci-Fi series I have read.

I think the subject matter and some of the recap may have been hard to handle and a tad overdone--but I have to disagree about the "weakest"--maybe I'm too in2 SRD and biased...I simply cant see anything he's written as weak. Cool name UrLord--glad to you you finally registered!

heh, thanks.

anyway, weakest is comparitively speaking...I've never read anything by Donaldson that I didn't like, and I've never read another author who has written something I like better than any of Donaldson's books, so...when I say "weak" I don't necessarily mean "bad"

I had a feeling you'd say just that--hey! We need to get you a cool Av!

Well this is the first post in this forum and I have to say that the Gap is quite a reading experience. You just cannot put the books down. It's always like this...like a countdown to SRDs next book, (now we all wait for Runes)...First I read the chrons round 84 85...then came Mordants Need, (A Man Rides Through came, was it -87?)...then wait wait WAIT...and -91 came The Real Story...finally the new SRD!!!...I was again hooked and amazed how well this man writes...and you have to, want to, read carefully so you wont miss anything...A slow start maybe... but the other four, the whole series...so intense, all the time...I was again awed by his genious...

...and while waiting for the next installment in the series I went through the previous ones and that would mean that I read The Real Story at least four times and I wouldn't call it weak...it's more of a preface or an introduction of what is to come... and true there has always been a streak of sexual violence in his books which is not so common in Fantasy/SF...but SRD's trademark is this blend of horror and beauty...the power of the story and characterization. And with the Gap SRD succeds more than in anything else he has written, making you feel you actually are there...in space...in the characters heads...that you take part in the story...It is sooo powerful! I love it!

...now it's been a few years since I read them and I will get back to them, I know I will... but time is not enough, aaargh...Real Life interferes most of the time with my being at the watch and so, and there's so much to read, (right now I'm into Steven Eriksen) but anyway I will try to post here more often even though I don't post much anyway...

Bye for now...

yeah, I didn't say it wasn't necessary. It certainly serves its purpose as an introduction, but I just didn't find it as entertaining as the rest of the series, especially the last book.