Surely one of the best titles ever.

Morn's personal dedication to persevering what remains of her integrity as a woman, person, human and cop has taken her to the illegal stronghold of Thanatos Minor, on the Borders of human space. Here she's reunited with a strangely changed Angus - who by rights shouldn't be here at all, the last she knew of him he was bound for Com-Mine's detention indefinitely, but not executed. She'd chosen to withhold her evidence that would have ensured that outcome. However Angus isn't her only problem: Nick is still disgusted and dismayed at the depths of her betrayal of his feelings, and determined to exact revenge; meanwhile the Alien Amnion remain desperate for her son, Davis and the knowledge he represents to convert the rest of humanity. Morn starts to come into her own here, she's amazingly resilient and resourceful, capable of thought and action, and still manages to care intensely for her son and the fate of humanity that she once represented as a cop.

The voice switches between several key characters, including for the first time the background politicians who'd instigated this peril. In this respect it's much like Game of Thrones (although was written decades earlier), in that the chapters are brilliant, but you'd much rather remain focused on Morn, rather than jumping elsewhere, unlike GRRM the action remains centered in just one location. The continued exposition chapters remain irrelevant but strangely compelling. It is the introduction of Ward and the earthbound politicians that lift this from just a story about pirates in space, to a far more intriguing narrative on how and why war and diplomacy, corporate power and elected governments should and could interact, whilst retaining the power of the individual and all of our abilities to make an difference by our actions. ( )

Fantastic. ( )

Murder, mystery, metaphysics, psychology. A sci-fi re-take on Wagner's Ring Cycle. This series is long, dark, absorbing read. Better read together and in order than as individual books, as the many-threaded plot winds through the whole series.

In the third book of the Gap series Donaldson begins to back off from the gratuitous rape and violence and gets into the meat of his universe. He expands his cast of characters and presents a much broader view of the schemes established in the first two books. This one starts to feel more like a planned-out story and less like an exercise in catharsis. ( )

This is one of the most compelling and yet disturbing books I have ever read - yet I couldn't put it down and had to read the whole series. ( )