Rating: 
Summary: The best and the worst of the Gap Series
Review: This book definately deserved five stars. There is a lot of text that could be considered 'filler', unless you realised that Donaldson wasn't just out to tell a story, he wanted to explore the psychology of his characters and even show several different versions of the truth. However, while in the other books you loved the characters and found yourself gripping your book tightly as you watched their dilema unfold to greater and greater extremes. Here you had to let them go, and it was a completely different feeling. Unlike the other books, you are thrust into completely different settings, which gave the last half of the book a much darker and more desperate feel. The events within the Amnion warship were bad enough, Holt's domain gave me a dirty feeling. Especially because of Warden's sacrifice and Angus discovery of Holt's mother's pain. Also, the final scenes with Holt on board Motherlode truly made him seem like a disgusting human being. Finishing this book left me on a conflicting combination of high and low. The only real detractor from this text is the death of Vector Shaheed, who was one of the best characters, because unlike the others, he was almost completely innocent of anything and had only good intentions. His death added only a few paragraphs to the text, and was really unnecessary. However, this whole series was one of the best I've ever read. This final one is something of a twist in setting and plot development which makes it unlike the others, and well worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic, eye-opening conclusion to excellent series.
Review: This book wraps up one of the most complex, intriguing, and disturbing series that I have ever read. Stephen R. Donaldson brings together the loose ends of the other Gap stories, and creates a compelling conclusion. If you haven't read this series, you are missing out! The Gap series will challenge your mind with the twisting plots and conspiracies, make you love the characters you think that you hate, and make you wonder if this might be how own government works. One of the most wonderful things about Mr. Donaldson is that you don't read the same kind of series twice. This is nothing like Thomas Covenant, but it is just as wonderful. The characters come to life, and you find yourself dreaming their dreams and thinking their thoughts. Just don't get discouraged when you can't second guess what's happening. If you are offended by strong language and/or explicit sexual contents - use caution. I hope that Mr. Donaldson will give us all another wonderful world -- soon!
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic, eye-opening conclusion to excellent series.
Review: This book wraps up one of the most complex, intriguing, and disturbing series that I have ever read. Stephen R. Donaldson brings together the loose ends of the other Gap stories, and creates a compelling conclusion.
If you haven't read this series, you are missing out!
The Gap series will challenge your mind with the twisting plots and conspiracies, make you love the characters you think that you hate, and make you wonder if this might be
how own government works.
One of the most wonderful things about Mr. Donaldson is that
you don't read the same kind of series twice. This is nothing like Thomas Covenant, but it is just as wonderful. The characters come to life, and you find yourself dreaming
their dreams and thinking their thoughts. Just don't get discouraged when you can't second guess what's happening.
If you are offended by strong language and/or explicit sexual
contents - use caution.
I hope that Mr. Donaldson will give us all another wonderful
world -- soon!
Rating: 
Summary: This book is a good ending to a series which was too long.
Review: This series was somewhat of a departure for Stephen Donaldson in that it was true science fiction rather than fantasy. However, his writing style remains consistent with his previous series. A Donaldson fan will like the overall story and the character development. What they won't like is the length of the series. In each book one must wade through a thorough recap of everything which has gone before plus an approximation of what is known of each characters motivations up to that point before the action truly begins. What this means is that easily three-fourths of each book is a boring recap with one-fourth new material. The book being reviewed thank goodness is much better than the previous ones in the series in that it is over 50% new material. The fact that the ending is the usual triumph of good over evil and in this case good and evil combined in the same man does not take away from a well told story.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing captstone to the Gap series
Review: This volume caps Donaldson's amazing Gap series. Those familiar with my reviews know that I don't lightly describe something as amazing. This is easily the most captivating SF series I have read in years, and unlike many series, it does not peter out or become predictable in later volumes.As you would expect of Donaldson's work, the real story is about the characters and their flaws and struggles -- he takes us deep into the well developed personalities of each major character, and how they persevere, or fail, despite their weaknesses. The series is pretty cleanly wrapped up in this volume, with few unanswered questions left at the end. If you've come this far in the series, of course you want to read this one too!
Rating:
Summary: Amazing captstone to the Gap series
Review: This volume caps Donaldson's amazing Gap series. Those familiar with my reviews know that I don't lightly describe something as amazing. This is easily the most captivating SF series I have read in years, and unlike many series, it does not peter out or become predictable in later volumes. As you would expect of Donaldson's work, the real story is about the characters and their flaws and struggles -- he takes us deep into the well developed personalities of each major character, and how they persevere, or fail, despite their weaknesses. The series is pretty cleanly wrapped up in this volume, with few unanswered questions left at the end. If you've come this far in the series, of course you want to read this one too!
Rating:
Summary: Great Ending! I was not disappointed...
Review: This was my favorite book of this series. The way he balanced the politics of the different factions and the adventures of the main characters was well done. Although he left the fate of humankind largely a mystery, I loved the ending! I loved what happened with Angus and Fasner! I could not make myself put down this book!
Rating:
Summary: The tension in this one had me chewing the couch
Review: To be honest, I'd been a little frustrated at The Gap series. The characterisation was superb, if brutal, and Donaldson's prose turns these books into real page turners as he cranks up the tension with each new chapter. However, I always felt that I wanted more to happen in the way of action in each of the preceding four novels, these mainly being character driven pieces based around just one or two major events in over 700 pages of print. And so I came to This Day All Gods Die. I was not disappointed. The characterisation is there, the brutality is there, the tension is there in buckets and best of all a lot happens. Right from the beginning it begins an onslaught which never lets up and superbly mixes the previous successful blend with more action. A superb climax and one worth waiting for. The best in the series by far
Rating: 
Summary: No big surprises here...
Review: Well, if you've been a fan of Donaldson since Lord Foul's Bane, you're used to waiting years for sequels. You may not be used to a very predictable and obvious ending to a story, but that is what you get here. Personally, the only thing that kept me going through the ridiculous angst-ridden Thomas Covenant books was the fact that the plot was still really gripping - the characters seemed to be in danger and the outcome uncertain.
In this book however, the plot is moving fairly predictably towards it's conclusion with no great tension or mystery. Perhaps it's the author's own fault, putting his explanatory note in the first volume and explaining that the series was a close approximation to the Wagner "Ring Cycle" of operas. In any case, you don't enter this book with any real doubts about who will win or who will survive...
Honestly, does anyone believe that Angus could be killed by *anything* at all? and it seems that Donaldson has become too chicken in his old age (50?) to do away with any of his main characters. Morn survives (and finally cries, how nice) as does almost everyone who you thought would (Warden and Holt were really goners from page 1 of the author's note). It feels like we know "your hero's safety is completely assured..." so lose the tension which was buiding so well in the other books.
It annoys me that the recklessness of previous books (where Nick was allowed to wipe himself out, or, thinking of other series - when Thomas Covenant was sidelined to allow Linden Avery in) seems to have been lost here and Donaldson seems to pander to someone's (fans?, publishers?) demands for an unequivocal, slightly trite ending.
Like every other one of his fans, I will keep reading donaldson books, but I hope he regains his old form soon
Rating:
Summary: Worth the trouble of getting through the series
Review: When I started reading the series, I was wary. Various people warned me of the brutality I would encounter. Thus, I read out of curiosity. After finishing book one, I decided that I had encountered neither the brutality nor the intricate characters or plot I had expected. However, I plowed forward. As the books went on, the characters gained depth, the plot twisted and grew more precarious, and I started taking sides. By the time I reached this final book of the saga, I was fully hooked, and rightly so. Donaldson ties it all together in the final volume. The intrigue unwinds with a domino effect and plays itself out quite nicely. Further, although many plots and subplots reach fruition, he does not insult the reader by leaving us with a happy world with carefree characters. This is as it should be - a series about a period in time, not a novel claiming to encompass all relavant times. I would recommend that readers not stop with the first book of the series, or even the second. Keep reading and you will understand the politics at work, which makes this final book all the more satisfying.
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