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billymac1962's review against another edition
4.0
Apparently, this is the novel you have to "get through" before getting into the real meat of this series.
Stephen R. Donaldson has his fans, but those who aren't fans aren't for one particularly glaring reason: the rapes.
A lot of people took severe outrage on his character Thomas Covenant in his fantasy series for having his way with a woman in a world he did not believe really existed.
If I remember correctly, and this was a few decades ago, he committed rape because he believed this was all in his imagination and thus there were no moral boundaries crossed. I think.
Anyways, Donaldson took a lot of flak for that, or rather, his character did, and there was a lot of hate and outrage.
My problem with the book is that I just found it rather dull and didn't continue.
I am always on the lookout for great science fiction. A little while ago I was searching various web articles for this, and there was a write up on this series that intrigued me.
So I put it on the list and here we are.
Now, here's another thing. I wasn't planning on reading this just now. It just so happened that after lunch at work last week I had decided to DNF the book I was reading.
So that left me with nothing to read for my 50 minute commute home. Except for the sample of this novel. So I started this half-heartedly.
Once I got home, I was 20 pages into this, and being a short novel I figured I might as well buy it and keep going. It had a pretty good start. Essentially, it's the story of Angus, a space pirate, his prisoner Morn, and how Nick, a heroic space pirate, rescued Morn from Angus. This is all revealed in the first chapter, but the rest of the novel is, "the real story" behind this.
Back to the "get through" part of this. The rapes again!
Okay, our Stephen has a thing for rape, yes? There's a lot of rape here. But, it illustrates the abuse of technology and helps paint the complexity of these characters.
Whether you agree this was necessary and can "get through" these passages is up to you. I can see how this can be upsetting to a lot of people, but I see what he's doing here and there is no denying how this upped the stakes and intensity of the story.
I liked the story, I really liked the world-building and what I think I can anticipate as that grows, and I liked his style of storytelling, and the characters. Considering I enjoyed something that I hadn't really felt like starting in the first place is saying something.
I'm looking forward to the meat of the series to come.
Stephen R. Donaldson has his fans, but those who aren't fans aren't for one particularly glaring reason: the rapes.
A lot of people took severe outrage on his character Thomas Covenant in his fantasy series for having his way with a woman in a world he did not believe really existed.
If I remember correctly, and this was a few decades ago, he committed rape because he believed this was all in his imagination and thus there were no moral boundaries crossed. I think.
Anyways, Donaldson took a lot of flak for that, or rather, his character did, and there was a lot of hate and outrage.
My problem with the book is that I just found it rather dull and didn't continue.
I am always on the lookout for great science fiction. A little while ago I was searching various web articles for this, and there was a write up on this series that intrigued me.
So I put it on the list and here we are.
Now, here's another thing. I wasn't planning on reading this just now. It just so happened that after lunch at work last week I had decided to DNF the book I was reading.
So that left me with nothing to read for my 50 minute commute home. Except for the sample of this novel. So I started this half-heartedly.
Once I got home, I was 20 pages into this, and being a short novel I figured I might as well buy it and keep going. It had a pretty good start. Essentially, it's the story of Angus, a space pirate, his prisoner Morn, and how Nick, a heroic space pirate, rescued Morn from Angus. This is all revealed in the first chapter, but the rest of the novel is, "the real story" behind this.
Back to the "get through" part of this. The rapes again!
Okay, our Stephen has a thing for rape, yes? There's a lot of rape here. But, it illustrates the abuse of technology and helps paint the complexity of these characters.
Whether you agree this was necessary and can "get through" these passages is up to you. I can see how this can be upsetting to a lot of people, but I see what he's doing here and there is no denying how this upped the stakes and intensity of the story.
I liked the story, I really liked the world-building and what I think I can anticipate as that grows, and I liked his style of storytelling, and the characters. Considering I enjoyed something that I hadn't really felt like starting in the first place is saying something.
I'm looking forward to the meat of the series to come.
blueoccult's review against another edition
2.0
Loved the world building and prose, but it was a bit too rapey. Otherwise fun read.
scheu's review against another edition
3.0
I have a tendency to rate all of SRD's books at 5 stars because I love his work. The Real Story (The Gap Into Conflict) doesn't deserve 5 stars, but anyone who reads the book needs to understand that it serves two purposes. The first is to introduce you to the three main characters of the series. The second is to show you how awful they are (via scenes of rape, torture, degradation and evil) so that when the time for redemption arrives at the end it will have a greater impact. The first book simply isn't worth much when you rate it on its own merits.
infinispace's review against another edition
4.0
Review: http://infinispace.net/2013/01/the-real-story/
bongo_clive's review against another edition
1.0
Couldn't finish it.
Written so strangely, almost as if it were a history book, and it never sat right with me.
Written so strangely, almost as if it were a history book, and it never sat right with me.
why_do_i_need_a_username's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? No
2.0
shane_tiernan's review against another edition
3.0
This was strange. Whenever I read a book with perversion in it for some reason I always feel like it's the author writing out their fantasies and it creeps me out (even though I'm a huge pervert). In this case it's a major part of the plot so I get it, and I got over it fairly quickly. In the end this ends up being a really original sci-fi story that is character driven instead of plot driven. I'm really curious what happens in the later novels since they're quite a bit longer than this first one. Not sure I would enjoy the same kind of thing if it was twice as long.
tameekahre's review against another edition
3.0
Another well-written story I could not get into because it leans further toward science fiction than fantasy. If space operas are your thing, however, just know this is a 5-star book.
mbs1236's review against another edition
challenging
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
A very dark and difficult read though with an interesting ending that catches up mu interest to delve further into this series. If you enjoyed the Donaldson’s “Thomas Covenant Series” then you can enjoy this otherwise I’m not sure how anyone can enjoy this a lot.