The Gap into Vision: Forbidden Knowledge

I'm totally loving this series all over again.

I remember the main points, and the details are great. It's a step above a space opera for me. The universe is dark, misogynistic, empty and the feeling of doom pervades the corners. Power and control are the most valuable currencies.

The characters are perverse and lush. This isn't a story of heroes or heroines. There's not a single likeable person, nor is there a single character who can't be understood to one degree or another.

Even Morn does horrible things to people who don't play to her self-interest. She's a terribly abused and naive person who can't grasp what's happening to her. She is her own worst enemy in Forbidden Knowledge. She's been blind for so long that she can't grasp show more reality and clings to anything that will ease her battered mind and allow escape. But, everyone does it in Forbidden Knowledge. They deal with their own limitations by skirting them dishonestly. show less

I'm totally loving this series all over again.

I remember the main points, and the details are great. It's a step above a space opera for me. The universe is dark, misogynistic, empty and the feeling of doom pervades the corners. Power and control are the most valuable currencies.

The characters are perverse and lush. This isn't a story of heroes or heroines. There's not a single likeable person, nor is there a single character who can't be understood to one degree or another.

Even Morn does horrible things to people who don't play to her self-interest. She's a terribly abused and naive person who can't grasp what's happening to her. She is her own worst enemy in Forbidden Knowledge. She's been blind for so long that she can't grasp show more reality and clings to anything that will ease her battered mind and allow escape. But, everyone does it in Forbidden Knowledge. They deal with their own limitations by skirting them dishonestly. show less

After a rather tame beginning in The Real Story, this second volume in the series ratchets up the action substantially. Picking up where the first book left off in the story, Forbidden Knowledge rockets us around through sabotage, some minor space battles, the introduction of alien invasion, not to mention the ongoing personal drama of Morn. Donaldson also starts to reveal the larger story line of intrigue and betrayal. There's a bit of Gibson's "Johnny Mnemonic" corporate/political situation coupled with a cyborg motif that looks to be the basis of the next few books. While I think that it was fairly easy to stop reading after The Real Story (I almost did), it might be harder to stop after this book. The former was really a complete show more book unto itself; this one ends in the middle of events. It's not a cliffhanger, but Donaldson has raised a number of questions, none of which have been answered.

I do think the book lost a bit in writing style. Despite its lack of action, The Real Story was well written. Donaldson set up the premise of "what the world knows vs. what really happened" and then proceeded to peel back the layers, letting you in on the real story. In this volume, he switches more to straight space opera...stuff happens, he tells you about it. He's fine at this, but there's a little less anticipation for the reader.

If you're the kind of reader that wants heroes, then this may not be the series for you. Certainly we haven't met a male, yet, whom we can admire. We went from the first volume, where Morn was in the power of a man who delighted in raping and beating the stuffing out of her, to this volume where she's in the power of a different man who delights in raping her, beating the stuffing out of her and inflicting substantial psychological horror upon her. With one minor bit player exception, the male portion of the supporting cast are all traitors, murderers, rapists or men willing to get her back on her feet for the express purpose of allowing the captain to beat on her some more.

The women aren't much better. Morn, herself, may end up a hero, but we haven't gotten there, yet. She was the victim through the entire first book and through much of this second volume. Toward the end, having bottomed out to abuse and addiction, she starts to build enough of a shell around herself to start taking control of situations. We'll see in the later volumes.

Several of my friends consider the Gap books Donaldson's best work. At this point, I think the Mordant books are still his best, but I'm willing to keep reading these to see how they fare over the entire series. show less

The beginning on of the real story if you like, it's also the most violent, as poor Morn endures yet more abuse at the hands of various pirates. She eventually ends up in the alien Ennoblement Station, where she can have her child "force grown" to maturity. At this point the answer she's found to violence comes back to haunt her - one of the many themes of the series is revealed: personal integrity. AT the same it's the begiining of the decline in fortunes of the various characters' who have put her into this position.

Strangely dated a bit in technology, with the entire contents of a spaceship's data folder coming to about 1Tb - smaller than the average PC harddrive these days. Written in 1993 or so, it was an unimaginable volume. show more Likewise the genetics have been somewhat superseded by new discoveries. Much of the exposition in world building is delivered in a deliberate decision by the author as several dedicated chapters of commentary interspersed with the main plot. It's somewhat odd, not a style he's repeated in any of his other works, and one that I'm sure will annoy many readers. However it does work, and he manages to include asides on the integration of technology to society etc as well as explaining some of his more esoteric inventions.

The writing style has settled into Donaldson's eloquent prose, slow but detailed, very heavily character focused. You know, feel, intimately what drives the motivations of the various players. All that remains to find out how the conclusions will come about. show less

Donaldson adds to the list of horrible things that he enjoys imagining doing to women. He even adds small children to the list just for good measure.
I like the idea of a book that follows the inner thoughts of abusers engaging in abuse. It fits well with the goal of sci/fi being pushing at our comfort level, but he pushes a bit too far and a bit too often with the same stuff.
As space opera, this book is very successful, it creates some excellent melodrama in a fully fleshed out universe that is consistent in all meaningful ways. If you like space ships and laser guns and can stomach seven or eight graphic rapes, go for it! Otherwise, stick to the Buck Rogers.

Donaldson seems to hate his characters, but in their suffering he creates art.

Vivid and compelling, if quite cynical and grim. Sets some interesting things in motion for the next book, which I definitely want to read.