Stephen R. Donaldson - The Gap into Conflict: The Real Story

For those of you familiar with the writing style of Stephen R. Donaldson, you already know that he likes to focus on the growth and development of his main characters. In fact, it appears to me that his favorite form of character development to is take a weak and pitiful person and develop him/her into a hero/heroine (his 'Thomas Covenant' series). 'The Gap Into Conflict' series takes this development to the extreme. When you begin reading the first book in this series, 'The Real Story', you will initially be repulsed by the introductory characters, as well as the introductory story line (like I said, this is hard-core science fiction). If you are capable of continuing past the first few chapters, you will find that you can't wait to get to the next page. The universe he creates, as well as the technologies that go along with it, are truly spectacular. But what truly made this series so much fun to read was the way Donaldson manipulated me while I was reading. It happened so subtly at first that I didn't even realize what I was doing until I was past the first few books in the series. By the time I completed the entire series, I was actually rooting for the anti-hero! To tell you the truth, I don't remember reading another science fiction book (or series) where a writer was able to lead me into cheering for the 'bad guy' and rooting for the demise of the 'good guy'. All in all, I recommend the entire series to the true science fiction fan!