Rating: 
Summary: An excellent Finale!
Review: In 'The Real Story', Donaldson ruminates on how he permuted Wagner's 'Ring' into what would become this series. All through the books I was anxiosuly awaiting to see how it would wind up. I was considerably worried in the in-betweener books (if I see another analysis of what the hell happened on the illegal station again, I'll barf.) However, in this book, we are not bored to tears, and the intrigue is actually exciting and interesting. My doubts were turned to admiration as i closed the last page, after reading extracts from Hashi's diaries, I could appreciate the title even more. Now, I think I'm going to curl up wiht my bilingual copy of the ring and the elder edda.
Rating:
Summary: Satisfying if open-ended conclusion to an excellent series
Review: In the fifth and concluding novel of the 'Gap' cycle (following 'The Real Story','Forbidden Knowledge','Dark and Hungry God','Chaos and Order'), the central character Morn is curiously downplayed as she takes a backseat to the efforts of others and the political side of the story moves into high gear.I have a special appreciation for Donaldson's doing without a happily-ever-after conclusion. Clearly this series is but a single passage in the enormous history of the universe Donaldson has created, which leaves the reader with a sense of it having been all the more real.
Rating:
Summary: Climactic and conclusive. Warden Dios' gambit succeeds.
Review: Sadism and back-stabbing wind down as the fifth and last book in the Gap Series closes in on the final showdown between humanity and the Amnion. Caught in the middle of the colossal conflict are Angus Thermopyle and Morn Hyland, the "proteges" of UMCP Director Warden Dios. Angus is a superhuman cyborg devoid of free will, Morn a UMCP cop who has been to hell and back in the worst possible ways. Warden Dios has gambled wildly -- and treasonously -- in engineering their sufferings, but his gambit pays off in the end. Dios is a paradoxical figure, one who brings himself and others down in order to expose Holt Fasner and defeat the Amnion. Although Angus and Morn have been the main characters throughout the series, Warden Dios proves to be the "key" character: On his shoulders rests the fate of humanity. While this book doesn't match the excitement level of the previous two novels ("A Dark and Hungry God Arises", "Chaos and Order"), it's a fine conclusion to one of the best space epics (my personal favorite) ever written. P.S. The brief encounter between Angus and Holt Fasner at the end is sweet.
Rating: 
Summary: Virtuosic conclusion of a complicated tale
Review: Stephen Donaldson infuses his fiction with the ideas and import of great art and philosophy of the past. The Thomas Covenant Chronicles is largely a Biblical allegory. The Mordant's Need series has its roots in King Lear. The Gap series, as Donaldson points out in the afterword to the first of five volumes, is a functional allegory to Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen (the Ring of the Nibelungen), a cycle of four operas based in the Norse and Teutonic mythologies that also gave considerable inspiration to Tolkien. Though the novels function more than adequately without a working knowledge of the Ring, the power and intricacy of Donaldson's plotting and structure is all the more powerful when the allegory is understood. Some of the reviews below confuse me in the points they find to be unpleasant -- predictability, etc. There seems to be a general consternation in the fact that "the good guys win." Yet, as far as I can remember, they do so in Tolkien, earlier Donaldson, Brooks, Eddings, and every other fantasy series, science fiction movie and "genre" entertainment that I've ever run across. What needs to be remembered here is Donaldson's ability to structure and create is absolutely virtuosic. The first novel was originally conceived as a stand-alone short story and it remains the weakest of the five. It is unbearably brutal, harsh, and a character study, as his afterwords points out, in changing the roles of victim, persecutor and rescuer among the three characters. In its closed goal, it's still hard to read, but nonetheless succeeds in changing Morn Hyland from victim to rescuer, Angus Thermopylae from persecutor to victim, and Nick Succorso from rescuer to persecutor within a particualr context.
Donaldson's idea of expansion into the Ring allegory took the story on different dimensions, and it is fascinating to see his science-fiction translations of the mythical story of the Ring. Granted, sometimes Donaldson became a little playful with what he was doing. In Wagner, the two giants Fasolt and Fafner fight over the ability to control the Ring; Fafner kills Fasolt, flees to the woods with the treasure and turns into a dragon. Donaldson's representative character is known as the Dragon and named Holt Fasner -- Fasner beign a combination of Fasolt and Fafner. It's not so much an in-joke as it is a "bonus" to the reader who knows the source material.
However, the series as a whole is a brilliant, brilliant story. It serves the Ring by reiterating that its themes really are universal, and have meaning well beyond any Wagner intended. It serves science fiction by being an intense character drama, wedged in among political and xenophobic tensions. Too much science fiction is motivated off laser battles and implausible technologies. Donaldson's writing in the same manner that Wagner did. The reality of the presentation is separate from the message and the drama. Gods and myths were no more real to Wagner's audience than spaceships and Gap drives are to us. But the drama that unfolds around them has had relevance and resonance to millions of hearers, and Donaldson's story (of course the good guys win! It's a story about the recreation of humanity in a better image -- it would be *much* too dark for them to fail)no less so to its attentive readers.
Rating:
Summary: Donaldson Scores Again
Review: Stephen Donaldson is one of my favorite authors. Anyone who enjoys good fantasy/sf knows that he is the best contemporary writer the genre has to offer (now that Zelazney is gone). It is amazing to me that so many critics bash this guy, when there is so much absolute trash filling the bookshelves in the SF section of your local Borders. The Gap series was not too long, as many in this review have opined, and every volume is a treasure. A great story, excellent characters, and extremely well written - his best work since The One Tree (OK, so I hated White Gold Wielder - who didn't?) The only question I have is: What's next?
Rating:
Summary: The absolute must-read dark sci-fi novel of the decade.
Review: The conclusion to the Gap Saga ends the series with an intense novel that will leave the pages scorching. This book features a finale to end all finales, pitting the evil Amnioni against the slime of humanity, the cyborg Angus Thermopyle and his unlikely ally, the UMCP.From the beautiful Morn Hyland attempting to escape the ghosts of her past, to the despicable Angus battling for his freedom, to the loathesome Nick Succorso and his petty vengeance, this novel has characters that will pull you in and not let go. With interesting futuristic technologies and sinister power hungry governments, the future looks bleak, but you will find yourself only hoping for more adversity for the protagonists to overcome. Though they are charged with saving humanity from an evil alien race and facing the Dragon in an all out battle for supremacy, our unlikely band of heroes presevere. Perhaps the most aptly named book in the series, This Day All Gods Die provides all the drama and adventure the title suggests. Donaldson by far stands alone as the master of dark sci-fi. Even the great Alfred Bester's dark and forbidding vision of the future pales beside Donaldson's chilling and riviting conception. After reading this book (series), all other science fiction will pale in comparison
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic
Review: The Gap series is even better than Thomas Covenant, gripping throughout and very thought provoking.
Rating:
Summary: So good it gave me shivers.
Review: The gap series is the only series that I have read by Donaldson and I must say I'm impressed. The characters are the best aspect of the story (not to mention the kick-ass plot). I was disgusted by Milos Taverner, I felt sorry for Morn, I loved Dolph's sarcastic humor. While reading this series I feared for the well being of the characters. Hashi is one of my favorite characters of all time. This is the greatest line: "Free Lunch? Conventional wisdom asserts that no such thing exists." What can I say? I love these books.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant but lacks something....
Review: There is no doubt that the Gap Series it the best stuff that Donaldson has ever wrote. The characters are complex, the plot is even more so; little things that seem to be only meticulous details at first become important and the story unfolds.
Though one has to admit: the ending is not really satisfying...the Dragon gets obliterated, and the good guys win. But the best part of the series is also embedded in this somewhat unsatisfying ending. The central characters, Morn, Angus and Warden Dios, are neither good nor bad guys. Is Warden Dios' compromising just so he could bring the Dragon down good? Could he have done something else that would have had the same effect without all the bloodshed? Is Angus worth pitying for the crimes commited against his soul, given all the things he as done? Therein lies the best part of the series: the ambiguity of Donaldson's characters. Warden Dios reminds me somewhat of King Joyse in Mordant's Need. When a book continues to make you think long after the book itself has been put to collect dust on your bookshelf, then that is truly a good book.
Rating: 
Summary: Painfull!
Review: There is no intellectual meat here. If you like Hack, Slash, Boom -- go ahead read this book, if you like ideas, plots, characters, and internal dialogue don't waste your money
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