The Gap Into Power: A Dark And Hungry God Arises (2009) - Plot & Excerpts
A master storyteller, Stephen R. Donaldson established a worldwide reputation with his unforgettable, critically acclaimed fantasy series *The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant*. Then, with *The Real Story * and *Forbidden Knowledge*, he launched a thrilling new science fiction series. Now the galactic epic continues as humanity struggles against the forces of ultimate evil--and its own dark nature. The stage is set of confrontation at Billingate--illegal shipyard, haven for pirates and brigands, where every vice flourishes and every appetite can be sated. Gateway to the alien realm of the Amnion, the shipyard is a clearinghouse for all they require to fulfill their mutagenic plans against humanity. It is here that the fate of Morn Hyland is to be decided amid a kaleidoscopic whirl of plot and counterplot, treachery and betrayal. As schemes unravel to reveal yet deeper designs, Morn, Nick, Angus' lives may all be forfeit as pawns in the titanic game played our between Warden Dios, dedicated director of the UMC Police, and the Dragon, greed-driven ruler of the UMC. Here, the future of humankind hangs on the uncertain fortune of Morn Hyland in a daring novel of epic power and suspense, relentlessly gripping from first page to last. ### Amazon.com Review Remember how the fairy-tale-ish *The Hobbit* morphed into a wide-lens *The Lord of the Rings*? Plots, counterplots, and intrigue galore await readers of the Gap saga, which is still picking up speed. Allusions to Wagner's *The Ring Cycle* in opening book *The Real Story*'s afterword now become clear as Earth politicians, Holt "Dragon" Fasner, and the rest of the United Mining Company Police bureaucrats enter the fray. Morn and company still teeter between exhilaration and desperation.... even readers who don't care for action or space opera may enjoy a story with this forceful a meld of character, cabal, and adventure. ### From Publishers Weekly Although this third volume of Donaldson's projected five-volume space epic doesn't answer the questions raised in the first two books ( The Real Story and Forbidden Knowledge ), it brings many new, if unsatisfying, twists to the various plots and counterplots. And the scattered main characters--captured police officer Morn Hyland and rival pirates Angus Thermopyle and Nick Succorso--are assembled by the book's end. Nick, with Morn under guard and the angry alien Amnion on his tail, has fled to the pirate trading post Billingate, where he hopes to wheel and deal his way out of the mess he's in--even if this means trading Morn to the Amnion. Angus, meanwhile, successfully programmed by the police back in human space, has been sent to Billingate as well, ostensibly to sabotage it. But it seems that Nick, who sometimes works for the cops himself, was sent to wreak havoc on Billingate, too . . . and the convolutions don't stop there. By the final pages, readers may well have no idea who is doing what, or why, or at whose bidding. Original purposes are revealed as lies; new motives contradict others; unlikely coincidences spur major plot twists. But through it all runs Donaldson's trademark sadism, betrayal, amorality and purposeless cruelty, so his fans will hardly be disappointed. Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
The third book in the Gap Cycle is where Donaldson's story really begins to take shape. Although he uses our interest in the characters to carry us along, the story really is about the political schemes and wheels within wheels that arise from the commercial development of faster than light travel and contact with a semi-hostile alien species. Although the series is based on Wagner's Ring Cycle, the historical bits of the story show a very plausible development of this society from our own, especially in terms of corporate usurpation of governmental power. Besides the absorbing complexity of his plot and his ability to keep the reader guessing about what is really going on, Donaldson also demonstrates the rare ability to get his readers to sympathize with (or at least understand) truly despicable characters. He explodes any black and white vision of right and wrong by creating situations in which characters must commit evil acts in order to serve a greater good and making the worst of bad guys play the role of hero. Other reviewers have described the ethos of this series as "depressing" and "hopeless," but I think they are wrong. While there certainly is an air of doom about the story, and more than enough evidence of the evil man can do to man, the fact remains that the whole point of what's going on is to preserve hope for human survival, on both the individual and species levels. If readers have gotten through the first two books of the Gap series, they will be well rewarded with this third volume. In another review, I compared the Gap series to Herbert's Dune. The worlds they create are vastly different and the atmosphere of their stories appear on the surface to be at odds, but Donaldson has some of Herbert's knack for amazing world building and convoluted, but ultimately logical, plotting. I'd put Herbert in the top 20 authors of the 20th century, so it's no small compliment that I put Donaldson in his company.
What do You think about The Gap Into Power: A Dark And Hungry God Arises (2009)?
Stephen Donaldson's "Gap" series is one my favorite series. My father handed me the first one, saying, "This is full of violence and rape and you'll probably hate all the characters in this first book, but the story just keeps getting better."He was right. The story begins with a space pirate attack on a police ship and the "rescue" of the last survivor on the police ship and concludes with the human race fighting the Amnion, an alien species capable of extreme genetic manipulation. Despite the ever-increasing complexity of the plot (which starts with a three main characters and ends with inter-galactic political intrigue) the characterization is what really makes these stories worth reading. It is a masterful study of hero and anti-hero.
—Emily
Hey, it's the third book in the series. If you didn't love the first two, you wouldn't even have picked this one up.I'm hooked - Donaldson is a superb, prosaic writer with a penchant for rage and a truly gifted emotional puppeteer. Not for the faint of heart or those who are uncomfortable pushing moral boundaries - or, more precisely - reading about those who do. I don't care what you think your boundaries are - Donaldson will... introduce you to new aspects of them.Completely worth the read - I'll be grabbing the fourth, "The Gap Into Madness: Chaos and Order" right after I clean my pallet.
—Sal Coraccio
Under tiden jag läste The Gap into Vision Forbidden Knowledge funderade jag ibland över om det verkligen var rätt val att fortsätta med serien. The Gap into Conflict The Real Story var ju så fulländad i sin enkelhet och fortsättningen kändes långdragen och inte alls lika tät. I denna tredje del av Gap-serien tar det sig dock rejält och jag är glad att jag fortsatte, glad att jag får uppleva det här.Äntligen möts Nick och Angus, de måste förhålla sig till varandra och sina respektive känslor gentemot Morn. Angus och Davies möts också och boken är en väl avvägd orgie i känslomässigt klaustrofobisk action. Handlingen är på ett vis relativt basic men det finns så många små sub-plotter, så många livsöden att ta del av, att Donaldson lyckas bygga ett helt universum som smyckar ut och berikar den röda tråden utan att den för ett ögonblick går förlorad. Trots att vi lär känna nya karaktärer och för första gången får vara med i huvudet på mer välkända sådana (Nick, äntligen, äntligen! Mikka, Davies med flera) är huvudfokus ändå kvar på den ursprungliga trion. Samtidigt blir det politiska spelet allt mer angeläget och intrikat och vi börjar förstå exakt hur intrasslade våra "hjältar" är i större händelser, vi börjar förstå i vilken utsträckning de bara är brickor i ett spel. Det är skickligt.Och herregud vad jag älskar, tror på, håller på Angus Thermopyle. Denne våldtäktsman och mördare. Här återkommer mycket av den första bokens storhet - för hur kan det vara okej att bry sig så mycket om en karaktär som gör det han gör? I Gap-serien är majoriteten av alla karaktärer as, ändå bryr man sig så otroligt mycket om dem. Det är kanske det bästa med den här boken - att jag bryr mig igen. I förra boken stängde jag liksom av men nu är alla sinnen åter öppna.
—Vilvery
