Wednesday, May 7, 2008

The Gap Conflict

My rereading of science fiction novels continues with the Gap Series by Stephen Donaldson. Though I sometimes wonder why every few chapters or so. Donaldson does not present a favourable picture of humanity in this series, with characters engaging in the lowest acts in order to get ahead.
Rape, murder, pillage, violence this is not a positive view of the world. Donaldson seems to like bringing out the worst in his characters, and I find myself putting the book down every few chapters to read something else. But I keep coming back, Donaldson is a good writer and the books do fly along. The series is modeled on Wagner's Ring Cycle and there are many links between the two works.

I will keep reading, I want to finish the series and I do recommend it to others, just don't be surprised if you need a shower afterwards.