Rating: 
Summary: Forbidden Knowlege should have stayed that way
Review: Gap into Vision: Forbidden Knowledge is a utter waste of time, effort and paper. The story meanders aimlessly around characters that are neither noteworthy or intellegent. the story revolves around Morn (the victim) ex cop, insane and electrically mind controlled being held "captive" inside a space ship by captain Nick. The victim attempts several times to distroy the ship, while the captain alternatly hates, then loves, then hates her. not one of the other characters in this book are believable,including a non sensical side story of Angus (the original abuser of the victim) having mind control electronics installed.
If this were mearly badly written, the lack of intellegent plottingand cardboard characters could be waved off as another poor effort by a second rate author. but to make matters worse, what plot exists IS competently written, and well paced. however none of these few pluses are able to make this "book" woth reading. Useful for wrapping fish.
Rating: 
Summary: Now the fun begins
Review: My, how big and unfriendly the universe seems! Of course, all events are out of the main characters' control. As you read the Gap Cycle note, as in Wagner's operas, the authors use of the "leitmotif" to describe a complex emotional jumble in only a few words (i.e., "the crib"). For those of you who have read this book, you *know* what "the crib" means. And you have a taste for what it feels like, don't you? Masterful. On a couple of side notes: Holt Fasner is *sick*, and Hashi Lebwohl is the best! Note how powerful Warden Dios is here compared to later novels as the main characters, especially Angus, grow in power. For true Donaldson fans, begin to note commons themes from Covenant such as Despite (the love of other's misery and self-hate) equalling one form of power. How different are Holt Fasner and Lord Foul anyway? For that matter, how different are Despite and "the Dark Side"? Anyway, great second book.
Rating:
Summary: Perfect on Several Levels
Review: NOW we are into the story. Humans are threatened by some of the creepiest aliens ever conceived. They are not after mass genocide or the destruction of Earth. No, they want a chilling "partnership" that also happens to include the loss of our humanity.
This is another space opera where the swashbuckling hero (Nick) meets the damsel in distress (Morn). But Morn has evolved into a strong-willed character on her own. I loved the interplay between the two and then there's evil but intriguing Angus involved in playing both ends against the middle. The mood again is dark, almost industrial, like Guidi Prime, the machine world of the Harkonen's in DUNE.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent series.
Review: The series is an excellenct one, however each book does review events to date a bit too extensively, however if one had just started reading in the middle of the series this is not all together a bad thing. Of course this is not an "and they lived happily ever after" type of book, but for some of us that is ok. If you like things like Quake, DOOM, Duke Nukem 3D and such computer games this is a excellent series of books with evil alies that deserve to get blasted away. However, if you do not like "brutality" this is probably a series that would offend you with it's ugly and hiddeous aliens and some of the "slimier" human characters. In my opinio though it was well written, much like if Stephen King were to write Sci-Fi instead of horror/suspense.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant
Review: There are two things that Stephen R. Donaldson always does remarkably well. The first is character. His people, be they heroes, antiheroes, villains, winners, losers, manipulators, or manipulated, are boldly drawn and astonishingly real. A Donaldson character does not blend into the background and become indistinguishable from dozens of others you've read. These people stick around inside your head, awing you with their overwhelming personalities long after you've finished the book. His other great talent is for conflict. Having set up two titanic personas, he then sets them against each other. The result is amazing to see.I'm pleased to report that both of these talents are on full display in "The Gap into vision: Forbidden Knowledge". The personalities this time around are Morn Hyland and Nick Succurso. Morn, seen earlier almost entirely as a victim, comes into her own as a dynamic and strong-willed person. In "Forbidden Knowledge", she draws on a staggering amount of tenacity and courage to continue fighting for what she needs against all odds. Nick, for his part, gives us previously unrevealed levels of depth as he struggles to keep control of his ship and his crew. When these two come into conflict, the result is breathtaking to see, one of the best character duels ever written in imaginative fiction. And that's not all. While those two battle the twists of fate and each other, Angus Thermopylae is caught in a different web of intrigue. Furthermore, the plot and the universe keep expanding. Like many Donaldson fans, I found "The Real Story" entertaining but mildly disappointing, partly because the future world we saw there seemed somewhat cliché. Well, suffice to say that I can lodge no such complaint against "Forbidden Knowledge". The story leaps suddenly from being small and simple to being complex and epic. The Amnion who reside in 'Forbidden Space', a topic barely mentioned in the first book, come fully into the picture now. Through brief snippets of past history and a few suggestions of multi-layered conspiracies lurking beneath the surface, we start to see that Donaldson is developing a bigger picture. This book, in short, is awesome.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant
Review: There are two things that Stephen R. Donaldson always does remarkably well. The first is character. His people, be they heroes, antiheroes, villains, winners, losers, manipulators, or manipulated, are boldly drawn and astonishingly real. A Donaldson character does not blend into the background and become indistinguishable from dozens of others you've read. These people stick around inside your head, awing you with their overwhelming personalities long after you've finished the book. His other great talent is for conflict. Having set up two titanic personas, he then sets them against each other. The result is amazing to see. I'm pleased to report that both of these talents are on full display in "The Gap into vision: Forbidden Knowledge". The personalities this time around are Morn Hyland and Nick Succurso. Morn, seen earlier almost entirely as a victim, comes into her own as a dynamic and strong-willed person. In "Forbidden Knowledge", she draws on a staggering amount of tenacity and courage to continue fighting for what she needs against all odds. Nick, for his part, gives us previously unrevealed levels of depth as he struggles to keep control of his ship and his crew. When these two come into conflict, the result is breathtaking to see, one of the best character duels ever written in imaginative fiction. And that's not all. While those two battle the twists of fate and each other, Angus Thermopylae is caught in a different web of intrigue. Furthermore, the plot and the universe keep expanding. Like many Donaldson fans, I found "The Real Story" entertaining but mildly disappointing, partly because the future world we saw there seemed somewhat cliché. Well, suffice to say that I can lodge no such complaint against "Forbidden Knowledge". The story leaps suddenly from being small and simple to being complex and epic. The Amnion who reside in 'Forbidden Space', a topic barely mentioned in the first book, come fully into the picture now. Through brief snippets of past history and a few suggestions of multi-layered conspiracies lurking beneath the surface, we start to see that Donaldson is developing a bigger picture. This book, in short, is awesome.
Rating: 
Summary: More tolerable, slightly less bleak than The Real Story.
Review: This second book in the Gap cycle is a lot more informative about what's going on in the universe and deals a lot with the very interesting Amnion which were only hinted at in Gap #1. Forbidden Knowledge is actually much more complex, interesting and engrossing, and somehow manages through this to become less bleak and dismal than the first entry, The Real Story.
Rating:
Summary: More tolerable, slightly less bleak than The Real Story.
Review: This second book in the Gap cycle is a lot more informative about what's going on in the universe and deals a lot with the very interesting Amnion which were only hinted at in Gap #1. Forbidden Knowledge is actually much more complex, interesting and engrossing, and somehow manages through this to become less bleak and dismal than the first entry, The Real Story.
Rating:
Summary: Yech.
Review: To be fair, I didn't finish the book. The last I saw of it (ca. 1993), it was on fire and heading into a South Carolina bayou out the Amtrak train window beside my seat, as I recited the 23rd psalm and genuflected, in hopes that it had neither devoured my mortal soul nor remembered my home address. This was definitely not a book that I wanted to have find me again.
I was very disappointed in this set of books, as I thought the Thomas Covenant series (also by Donaldson) was top-notch, and the Mirror of Her Dreams series was excellent as well. Mr Covenant would better serve his readers if he didn't feel obligated to beat the living crap out of each and every one of his lead characters (both physically and psychologically) before allowing them to take action. Watching yet one more character be ceaselessly tortured was just too much for me. I had a lighter, a shot of brandy, and the conductor wasn't looking. I siezed the opportunity. It's a shame Morn Hyland didn't do the same.
I highly recommend the Thomas Covenant series by the same author, particularly the first three books. Hile Troy -- now that's a character I can work with!
Rating:
Summary: Much Better
Review: While I enjoyed The Real Story, it left much to be desired--there were only three characters of any relevance in the book: Nick, Angus, and Morn. What we learned about Nick was mostly through his reputation, not through confrontation in the book, further narrowing the available characters down to two. Morn and Angus's story was compelling yet hindered due to the compressed nature of the book. I'm happy to report that The Gap Into Vision has started spiraling into the epic that I hear this series is.
Nick and Morn are the main characters this time around, though there are ~15 shipmates that are significant, some of whom are very well developed. Then there are the skulking Amnion, the alien race that strives for domination through genetic mutation via drug injections.
As with the first book in the series, this isn't for the faint of heart--Morn went through hell with Angus in The Real Story, and in this version she's going through even worse with Nick. Only the aid of her zone implant keeps her from collapsing into a writhing body of agony.
This book is equally dark as its predecessor, though it's a much better story due to the vastly increased number of characters and the jacked-up stakes.
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