The Gap Into Vision: Forbidden Knowledge (Gap #2) by Stephen R. Donaldson

[gilda_elise]

Author of The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant, one of the most acclaimed fantasy series of all time, master storyteller Stephen R. Donaldson retums with the second book in his long-awaited new science fiction series--a story about dark passions, perilous alliances, and dubious heroism set in a stunningly imagined future.

Beautiful, brilliant, and dangerous, Morn Hyland is an ex-police officer for the United Mining Companies--and the target of two ruthless, powerful men. One is the charismatic ore-pirate Nick Succorso, who sees Morn as booty wrested from his vicious rival, Angus Thermopyle. Thermopyle once made the mistake of underestimating Morn and now he's about to pay the ultimate price. Both men think they can possess her, but Morn is no one's trophy--and no one's pawn.

Meanwhile, within the borders of Forbidden Space, wait the Amnioin, an alien race capable of horrific atrocities. The Amnion want something unspeakable from humanity--and they will go to unthinkable lengths to get it.

The action picks up in this second book and is helped by the author doing more showing than telling, a nice change from the first book. The plot moves along enough to be interesting, aliens and political intrigue added into the already disturbing mix.

Unfortunately, there is still the problem of my not being overfond of any character. Everyone has faults, but the three main characters here are so deeply flawed it’s ridiculous. Weak, mean, neurotic, there’s very little to like, much less recommend about them. It’s probably the biggest problem this series has.

Still, I like the story enough to keep going, (there are five books.) This book is quite dark, which is normally not a problem for me, but I do prefer that there’s more to a story than just being dark. I don’t know where the author is going to take us, but hopefully there will be a big enough payout at the end to make it worth my while.




Mount TBR 2019 Book Links

Links are to more information regarding each book or author, not to the review.


1. The Outsider
2. War on Peace: The End of Diplomacy and the Decline of American Influence
3. Lost Dogs and Lonely Hearts
4. The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America
5. Frozen in Time: The Fate of the Franklin Expedition
6. From Baghdad to America: Life after War for a Marine and His Rescued Dog (Lava #2)
7. The Gap Into Vision: Forbidden Knowledge (Gap #2)/a>


BOOK BINGO


1. Fantasy, Scifi, Paranormal - The Outsider by Stephen King
7. Biography/Autobiography Non fiction - From Baghdad to America by Jay Kopelman
8. Historical (fiction or nonfiction) - Frozen in Time: The Fate of the Franklin Expedition by Owen Beattie, John Geiger
10. Title Starts with the First Letter of Your Name - The Gap Into Vision: Forbidden Knowledge (Gap #2) by Stephen R. Donaldson
11. Female Author - Lost Dogs and Lonely Hearts by Lucy Dillon
15. Title is at Least Six Words Long - War on Peace: The End of Diplomacy and the Decline of American Influence by Ronan Farrow
20. A New-to-You Author - The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein

Comments

[nakeisha.livejournal.com]

It must be a good story for you keep going given you don't care for the characters. I've come across that kind of character myself and don't care for them either.

I do hope you get the payoff in the end that you're hoping for.

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

I do like the storyline. I just wish at least one of the characters would have some sort of epiphany and change their ways.

Boy, so do I. But if it gets really bad, I'll just get rid of the rest of the books. No use putting myself through all that!

[nakeisha.livejournal.com]

Very sensible. After all there are plenty more books out there.

[leethet.livejournal.com]

Hm. To be fair I had that problem about the Thomas Covenant books, which I read a billion years ago. He was so damn whiny and actively unpleasant.


Flawed characters are good. But you need a kernel to hold on to to keep you caring about the character and wanting him/her to win.

Anti-heroes are a thing, sure. But an anti-hero just has goals that are "evil." He himself has to be interesting and likable on some level, not someone you want to see fail. You don't really want to see him succeed, either, exactly - that's the magic of a good anti-hero.


Thomas Covenant (and these characters, it sounds like) are just people you don't want to read about at all.

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

Egads, don't say that! I loved the Thomas Covenant books, though it's been decades since I read them (the first six.) I do wonder how I'd feel about them now. I do remember that Covenant, while whiny, wasn't actively cruel as two of the characters in these books are. More like brought down by what had happened to him. I guess I'll find out, because I do plan on rereading the books at some point.

As far as The Gap goes, I'm hoping to eventually find some redeeming qualities that I can relate to in at least one of the characters, or the rest of this series is going out the door.