Chaos and Order: The Gap Into Madness [Mass Market Paperback]

Stephen R. Donaldson (Author)

Book Description

Series: Gap | Publication Date: June 1, 1995

As the planetoid Thanatos Minor explodes into atoms, a specially-fitted cruiser escapes the mass destruction and hurtles into space only a step ahead of hostile pursuit. On board Trumpet are a handful of bedraggled fugitives from an outlaw world - old enemies suddenly and violently thrown together in a desperate bid for survival. Among this unlikely crew of allies are Morn Hyland, once a UMC cop, now a prisoner to the electrodes implanted in her brain; her son, Davies, "force-grown" to adulthood by the alien Amnion and struggling to understand his true identity; the amoral space buccaneer Nick Succorso, whose most daring act of piracy could be his last; and Angus Thermopyle, unstoppable cyborg struggling to wrest control of his own mind from his UMC programmers.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Punisher is on the run from Billingate Space Station, as well as other predators that follow: UMCP Enforcement Division director Min Donner aboard a crippled Punisher, Nick's archenemy (and slave to the aliens) Sorus Chatelaine aboard Soar, and the mysterious hired gun, Free Lunch. Corrupt cyborg Angus Thermopyle and ruthless Nick Succorso battle for control of the ship and the situation. Their trail leads to Valdor Industrial, where geneticist/engineer Vector Shaheed seeks to redeem himself by manufacturing an antidote to the mutagen used by the alien Amnioni to mutate human beings against their will. Brutalized yet resilient Morn Hyland, her clone/son Davies, tough officer Mikki, Pup, Sib, and the rest continue their suffering and sacrificing.

Meanwhile, back in Earth space, police and politicians battle for power as UMCP director Dios continues his grim revolution against the Dragon. Assassin kazes, political fears, and provocative bills threaten to paralyze the Governing Council for Earth and Space.

Ships battling in space? Laboratory space stations developing antimutagen antidotes against the aliens who seek to conquer humankind by mutation? Outrage, brutality, betrayal, and secrets? Donaldson lays it all out with sharp dialogue, tense scenes, and zippy action.

From Publishers Weekly

This fourth installment of Donaldson's Gap series may at first confuse even those who have read the previous volumes, since there's no summary of what has gone before and the plot is extremely convoluted. Once it gets going, though, the action moves forward like a juggernaut. Pursued by a police battle cruiser, by a bounty hunter and by a ship commanded by human agents of the dreaded Amnion, an alien race, Angus Thermopyle heads his ship, Trumpet , for an illegal lab hidden in a chaotic asteroid belt. There, Thermopyle, once a fearsome pirate, now a cyborg partially controlled by police programming, plans to have the secret "antimutagen," which protects humans against the forced mutation practiced by the Amnion, replicated for mass distribution. Aboard Trumpet are the survivors from the pirate ship Captain's Fancy , including Morn Hyland (the series' long-suffering heroine) and her erstwhile tormentor, Nick Succorso. The larger conflict between Warden Dios, head of the United Mining Companies police, and Holt Fasner, CEO of the powerful megacorporation, moves closer to its climax; but the real excitement comes with the extended chase and battle in the asteroid swarm. Series readers will be glad to see that this installment, which at last begins to resolve the overall plot, offers plenty of thrills and an exciting finish that will leave them eager for the fifth and final volume.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 684 pages
• Publisher: Spectra (June 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553572539
• ISBN-13: 978-0553572537
• Product Dimensions: 4.1 x 1.2 x 6.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #567,995 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Like all of Donaldson's books, excellent, August 2, 2000

By 

Dylan Bruzenak (Minneapolis, MN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chaos and Order: The Gap Into Madness (Mass Market Paperback)

This book is not so much about the world that the characters are living in, but the characters themselves. Donaldson seems to take real people and fold them into the page, bringing them alive. They all have a sense of balance and reality to them, so that you even find yourself interested in 'the bad guys'. They are set out into a unique universe and sucked into an expansive and dramatic struggle that makes all of the books in this series 'page turners'. Donaldson is simply the best. I suggest giving it a try(start with 'the real story'). If you like this series give his fantasy series, Thomas Covenant the unbeliever, a try. Even if you don't usually like fantasy, his characters make it worthwhile. Summation: If you haven't already, READ THIS BOOK.... and then review it so that more word gets out.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Great book ruined by horrible quality control, March 4, 2011

By 

Brendon Towle (Pittsburgh, PA United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Chaos and Order: The Gap Into Madness (Kindle Edition)

If I were reviewing the paperback edition, I'd give it 5 stars; I love the story, love the book, love Donaldson's writing. But, I'm not reviewing the paperback. I'm reviewing the Kindle edition. And, my friends, the Kindle edition is a leprous turd of a book.

Why, you may ask? Well, because it's a poorly-proofread OCR scan, and the typos and formatting errors show up fast and furious. By the time I reached the end of the book, I was annoyed enough to start counting them. 13 in the final 8 chapters that I noticed, which is on a pace for about 80 in the book. Some samples, for your edification and amusement:

From Chapter 46:
That was the first attack, the first nard g. (should be "hard g.")

From Chapter 48:
"Do it now I Hit those keys!" (should be "Do it now! Hit those keys!")

From Chapter 50:
"Jesus, that's gravity] There must be a black hole back there!" (should be an exclamation point instead of a square bracket.)

From Chapter 51:
Carrying her flesh like a bur den which had grown too heavy, ... (should be "burden", without the internal space)


All of these are errors which don't exist in the paperback. Somehow, Amazon decided that they didn't need the source files, and could just OCR the book to get the Kindle edition without checking the results. It's painful. It's annoying. It should be embarrassing for Amazon. I'll be requesting a refund; don't waste your money until someone at Amazon decides that ebooks need quality control too.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A wild ride, October 19, 2004

By 

Avid Reader (Franklin, Tn) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chaos and Order: The Gap Into Madness (Mass Market Paperback)

Yet again there is action, counter-action, plot twists, side stories..it's almost dizzying in its MTVish momentary presentation. Maybe that's why it was either widely acclaimed or panned to the skies. For some time, humans have been working on an anti-alien (mutagen) drug that prevents them from converting to something not human.

Thantos, that hell of a place, explodes and Nick manages to rescue several people including Nick (downgraded from hero to simple pirate with illusions of grandeur), Morn, Davies, her son who was aged rapidy by the evil aliens, the sadist Angus, etc. We have lovers, family, enemies -the whole gambit, from good and bad and they are all on the same small vessel. One undercurrent is the struggle against the evil mining company that has control of their brain.