Complex sentence: Gullivar is a more hapless character, however, paling beside the heroic and accomplished Carter; he stumbles in and out of trouble and never quite succeeds in mastering it.
Split into simpler sentences: Gullivar is a more hapless character, however, paling beside the heroic and accomplished Carter. Gullivar, in contrast, stumbles in and out of trouble and never quite succeeds in mastering it.