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A review by mees462
The Gap Into Conflict: The Real Story by Stephen R. Donaldson
The darkest and most inhuman actions, emotions and experiences of mankind are something writers seem to like to tackle. In Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell explored (among other things) the nature of oppression, torture and betrayal; what it takes to break a person. In many of his stories, Lovecraft explored insanity and forbidden knowledge mankind simply isn’t able to comprehend. Stephen Donaldson follows this slightly sadistic trend of making his characters do and experience horrible things in The Real Story. The first in a series of five novels called The Gap Cycle, it is a harrowing tale of science-fiction that is hard to read, but just as hard to put down.
Let me set the stage in a relatively spoiler-free manner (using mostly the book’s cover text and a few details I know having read the book): We have Angus Termopyle, a pirate and a killer; we have Morn Hyland, a policewoman; and we have Nick Succorso, another pirate with less of a horrid reputation than Angus. One day, Angus walks into a bar with Morn as his companion (in more ways than one), drawing more than a few confused looks. From this premise, a series of events is described that is hard to describe without giving away details of the plot you don’t want to know if you have any intention of reading the novel. Some of the worst and most disgusting examples of cruelty and injustice. And, admittedly, some absolutely great examples of characterization, word-building and plot-twists.
The characters and their development are the most shocking, but also the most impressive part of the story: Little by little you begin to understand them and their actions. You begin to see what drives them and what brings them to do what they do. It’s a clever and gradual process that left me quite astounded. Take Angus Termopyle, for example. He commits crimes that cross more lines than I’m going to name here, but by the end of the story you sort of understand how he became the monster that he is. And it’s like this for the other two main characters as well: By the end, it’s not hard to see how things came to be as they did. That's not to say they're redeemable or likeable, though. To quote my mother, who recommended the novel to me: “It’s a search for the ‘dark side’ of humanity.”
Another strong point of the novel is its world-building. Science-fiction is genre that’s easily botched, but Donaldson manages to portray a dark, not entirely unrealistic future of mankind quite skilfully. I’ll put down the basics here: Mankind has developed space-faring technologies. Miners gather resources across space. Pirates hinder this process. There is some kind of government present that is hinted to at least have some issues with corruption. To make things more interesting, FTL Travel (‘gap drive’) is a rather nasty thing that in one-tenth of the people using it unlocks a hidden ‘trigger’ in their brain, driving them , simply put, insane. To suppress this insanity, a tool called a ‘zone implant’ has been invented. It can suppress things like pain, and the insanity brought on by this so-called gap sickness. However, it can also reduce people to slaves. Therefore, they’re illegal unless people really need them. But how does one prove it was really needed? You probably get the point.
It’s hard to say more about The Real Story without heading into definite spoiler territory. Let’s keep it simple: The novel is most definitely worth reading. It’s a great story filled with great characters and an interesting world. Some incredibly dark events will need to be stomached, but thankfully the descriptions don’t go into too much detail in that area. Just don't read it if you're sensitive to the direct implications of sexual violence. It’s safe to say that Stephen Donaldson has written an interesting introduction to a series full of intrigue and darkness.
Let me set the stage in a relatively spoiler-free manner (using mostly the book’s cover text and a few details I know having read the book): We have Angus Termopyle, a pirate and a killer; we have Morn Hyland, a policewoman; and we have Nick Succorso, another pirate with less of a horrid reputation than Angus. One day, Angus walks into a bar with Morn as his companion (in more ways than one), drawing more than a few confused looks. From this premise, a series of events is described that is hard to describe without giving away details of the plot you don’t want to know if you have any intention of reading the novel. Some of the worst and most disgusting examples of cruelty and injustice. And, admittedly, some absolutely great examples of characterization, word-building and plot-twists.
The characters and their development are the most shocking, but also the most impressive part of the story: Little by little you begin to understand them and their actions. You begin to see what drives them and what brings them to do what they do. It’s a clever and gradual process that left me quite astounded. Take Angus Termopyle, for example. He commits crimes that cross more lines than I’m going to name here, but by the end of the story you sort of understand how he became the monster that he is. And it’s like this for the other two main characters as well: By the end, it’s not hard to see how things came to be as they did. That's not to say they're redeemable or likeable, though. To quote my mother, who recommended the novel to me: “It’s a search for the ‘dark side’ of humanity.”
Another strong point of the novel is its world-building. Science-fiction is genre that’s easily botched, but Donaldson manages to portray a dark, not entirely unrealistic future of mankind quite skilfully. I’ll put down the basics here: Mankind has developed space-faring technologies. Miners gather resources across space. Pirates hinder this process. There is some kind of government present that is hinted to at least have some issues with corruption. To make things more interesting, FTL Travel (‘gap drive’) is a rather nasty thing that in one-tenth of the people using it unlocks a hidden ‘trigger’ in their brain, driving them , simply put, insane. To suppress this insanity, a tool called a ‘zone implant’ has been invented. It can suppress things like pain, and the insanity brought on by this so-called gap sickness. However, it can also reduce people to slaves. Therefore, they’re illegal unless people really need them. But how does one prove it was really needed? You probably get the point.
It’s hard to say more about The Real Story without heading into definite spoiler territory. Let’s keep it simple: The novel is most definitely worth reading. It’s a great story filled with great characters and an interesting world. Some incredibly dark events will need to be stomached, but thankfully the descriptions don’t go into too much detail in that area. Just don't read it if you're sensitive to the direct implications of sexual violence. It’s safe to say that Stephen Donaldson has written an interesting introduction to a series full of intrigue and darkness.