Book Review: The Half-Made World by Felix Gilman
The Half-Made World by Felix Gilman. © 2010 Tor. ISBN 9780765325525. Hardcover. Historical/Science Fiction/Western. 479 pages. Source: review copy furnished by the publisher.
Synopsis: The world is only half made. What exists has been carved out amidst a war between two rival factions: the Line, paving the world with industry and claiming its residents as slaves; and the Gun, a cult of terror and violence that cripples the population with fear. The only hope at stopping them has seemingly disappeared—the Red Republic that once battled the Gun and the Line, and almost won. Now they’re just a myth, a bedtime story parents tell their children, of hope.
To the west lies a vast, uncharted world, inhabited only by the legends of the immortal and powerful Hill People, who live at one with the earth and its elements. Liv Alverhyusen, a doctor of the new science of psychology, travels to the edge of the made world to a spiritually protected mental institution in order to study the minds of those broken by the Gun and the Line. In its rooms lies an old general of the Red Republic, a man whose shattered mind just may hold the secret to stopping the Gun and the Line. And either side will do anything to understand how.
Review: My father is a John Wayne fan and since I grew up with those movies (films I consider to be just slightly racist on a good day and completely bigoted on not so good days), you can imagine they colored how I view westerns. I began warming up to the genre once I came in contact with more modern films, like Lonesome Dove and Open Range, so I decided perhaps it’s time to give modern western books a chance as well.
The Half-Made World is an imaginative adventure set in an alternative, uncreated West and settled East, and was a lot more than I was expecting—magic, science fiction and fantasy with a definite steampunk flair. Gilman’s writing is strong and there is no doubting his ability to create a believable world and mythology. We have epic power struggles, violence and more. I was really impressed that unlike most westerns, Gilman’s heroes include females, homosexuals and non-whites. A plus in my book!
I haven’t read any of Mr. King’s work but The Half-Made World has been compared to Stephen King’s Dark Tower series, so that’s got to be a sign of things to come with this series. 4/5.
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