The GAP series

[Foxbat]

It seems the Donaldson section is almost entirely devoted to Thomas Covenant so I thought I'd just mention Donaldson's GAP series. Despite a lot of folk decrying it due to its excessive violence, I think it is actually a better series than the Covenant books.

Now don't get me wrong, much as I enjoy reading about the miserable leper, this Science Fiction is space opera on a grand scale. It is fast paced, full of intrigue and has constantly evolving characters that really does the business as far as I'm concerned.

Perhaps it's just that my natural leaning is more towards Sci-Fi rather than Fantasy but, if you like Donaldson, give the GAP a try.

 

[baldur27]

I would'nt say better but it's definetly on par

 

[Perpetual Man]

I'd probably say that is equal to the COVENANT books.

That being said I loved the GAP series, feeling that each book was better than the last until the end. I remember getting to the end of the penultimate book and not being able to put it down, reading the entire thing in one sitting then realising that I had to wait a year until the last book would be published.

Very few books get to me like that.

 

[Foxbat]

I know what you mean. I got the feeling that The Real Story was just like a toe dipping in the literary ocean...just testing the water to see if there was a story there worth pursuing. It started to accelerate in volume two and, by volume five, had me biting my fingernails. Likewise, I just couldn't put it down.

 

[Karsa Orlong]

Terrific series, not quite as good as The Chronicles... but in fairness it's not really comparable at all. Let's not be forgetting Mordant's Need either, or for that matter, Reave the Just & Other Tales, this is all quality stuff folks.

 

[Saltheart]

I think it's Donaldson's best: he wrote it at the peek of his talent. GAP is simply amazing.

 

[Clive Folliot]

The Gap Movie: Arnie playing the lead role

 

[Fried Egg]

I thoroughly enjoyed the "Gap" series, far more than the Thomas Covenant books (which plodded in my opinion) and the "Mordant's Need" books I couldn't even finish they were so bad.

I think the "Gap" series could probably be made into a good movie. I would like to see Holt played by Ben Kingsley, Angus played by Russel Crowe, Nick played by Robert Karlyle...

 

[Karsa Orlong]

the "Mordant's Need" books I couldn't even finish they were so bad.

grrr

I think the "Gap" series could probably be made into a good movie. I would like to see Holt played by Ben Kingsley, Angus played by Russel Crowe, Nick played by Robert Karlyle...

Interesting choices, melikes. I hate any books I love ever being made into movies though, so I can't support that.

 

[Fried Egg]

The question is who should play Morn and that woman who's head of enforcement (can't remember her name)...?

 

[Rich]

I really enjoyed the GAP series, I fancy a look at the covenant books but have not taken the plunge as yet.

 

[Just1n Time]

the gap is my favorite series. i tried to read thomas covenant but i got really bored.

 

[The Procrastinator]

I'm with the Perpetual Man, the Gap series started a little slowly for me but when it got legs it was unstoppable, like a freight train - I devoured the last couple of books avidly, not too many other series have hooked me like that one did on the first reading. Both disturbing and enjoyable at once, I think it successfully straddled the fine line between pleasure and pain so to speak.

 

[GOLLUM]

I really must read GAP. The only work by him I haven't read yet.

 

[Grimward]

****Extremely Minor Spoilers****


My only complaint with The Gap series is that any chapter dealing with either Morn or Angus had to revisit their emotional scars in detail, then in context. We got the picture pretty well from the initial description, especially in Morn's case; did Donaldson really need to beat it back into us so many times, whether in descriptive paragraph or in hearing quotes again as "played back" by the character in their head? I can see a reminder with each new book, but he went way beyond that.

Also, I haven't read another author yet who uses the word "inchoate" so frequently as Donaldson. (This is true in the Covenent books, too.) Nothing wrong with it, but would a "premature/immature/nascent" every now and then hurt?

Don't get me wrong; I liked the Gap series on the whole.

 

[The Procrastinator]

Ha ha, Donaldson certainly has his pet words doesn't he! And fierce grins and the like...

 

[dreir]

I really must read GAP. The only work by him I haven't read yet.

You haven't read GAP?? What have you been doing??

To me, GAP is at least at par with Chronicles. And quite possibly better. It certainly is unputdownable, which is not always the case with Chronicles (to me, at least). And it could easily be turned into a TV series that would be better than Star Trek or Babylon 5, with all of the possibilities it offers on the grander scale of things.

- Dreir -

 

[Grimward]

I dunno, Dreir. You really think Morn's whole captive of Angus' depravity thing would work? Definitely late night, TV-MA stuff, at a minimum....

There's great stuff later on, don't get me wrong...but I think the beginning would probably get chopped...

 

[dreir]

Lol! Okay, I guess they'll have to cut out some stuff! Still.. !

- Dreir -

 

[Grimward]

Yeah, I'd watch it, too. Then again, Donaldson gets so dark that maybe they'd be safer starting with one of his short stories. Daughter of Regals gets my vote if they go that route....