I'm totally loving this series all over again.

I remember the main points, and the details are great. It's a step above a space opera for me. The universe is dark, misogynistic, empty and the feeling of doom pervades the corners. Power and control are the most valuable currencies.

The characters are perverse and lush. This isn't a story of heroes or heroines. There's not a single likeable person, nor is there a single character who can't be understood to one degree or another.

Even Morn does horrible things to people who don't play to her self-interest. She's a terribly abused and naive person who can't grasp what's happening to her. She is her own worst enemy in Forbidden Knowledge. She's been blind for so long that she can't grasp reality and clings to anything that will ease her battered mind and allow escape. But, everyone does it in Forbidden Knowledge. They deal with their own limitations by skirting them dishonestly. ( )

Vivid and compelling, if quite cynical and grim. Sets some interesting things in motion for the next book, which I definitely want to read. ( )

I have to confess, I've had it with this book. Now, there is nothing I like more than a book where nothing happens, but this one has got to a point where I can't stand another thing not happening. Sorry, The Gap. I'm moving on.

The beginning on of the real story if you like, it's also the most violent, as poor Morn endures yet more abuse at the hands of various pirates. She eventually ends up in the alien Ennoblement Station, where she can have her child "force grown" to maturity. At this point the answer she's found to violence comes back to haunt her - one of the many themes of the series is revealed: personal integrity. AT the same it's the begiining of the decline in fortunes of the various characters' who have put her into this position.

Strangely dated a bit in technology, with the entire contents of a spaceship's data folder coming to about 1Tb - smaller than the average PC harddrive these days. Written in 1993 or so, it was an unimaginable volume. Likewise the genetics have been somewhat superseded by new discoveries. Much of the exposition in world building is delivered in a deliberate decision by the author as several dedicated chapters of commentary interspersed with the main plot. It's somewhat odd, not a style he's repeated in any of his other works, and one that I'm sure will annoy many readers. However it does work, and he manages to include asides on the integration of technology to society etc as well as explaining some of his more esoteric inventions.

The writing style has settled into Donaldson's eloquent prose, slow but detailed, very heavily character focused. You know, feel, intimately what drives the motivations of the various players. All that remains to find out how the conclusions will come about. ( )

Still a great read. Love it 20+ years later. ( )