[Bastard]

The Half-Made World published by British author Felix Gilman earlier this month. Looks like a wild wild west steampunk-fantasy. From what I seeing, the book is getting good reactions, some praising the book quite highly.

Anyone here has plan on reading it? I'll probably try it next month, though I have a pretty long "to read" list at the moment.

Don't know if this is a standalone or the beginning of a series. Some reviews seem to insinuate that there's more to come, but I'm not taking their word for it at the moment.

Here's an excerpt:
http://www.tor.com/stories/2010/10/the-half-made-world

Description:

A fantastical reimagining of the American West which draws its influence from steampunk, the American western tradition, and magical realism

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.

http://us.macmillan.com/thehalfmadeworld
http://www.amazon.com/Half-Made-World-Felix-Gilman/dp/0765325527/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1288278555&sr=1-1

This short story is set in the same world:
http://www.tor.com/stories/2010/10/lightbringers-and-rainmakers

[Brian R]

Sounds interesting. I always like different takes on fantasy and I love the idea of gunslingers and magic.

Let us know if you read it, I would love to hear your reactions.

[mjolnir]

The book is, apparently, the first half of a duology. So yeah there is more, but if waiting for a series to be finished is something you do there's only the one more book to wait for.

I've read most of that excerpt and it's pretty absorbing stuff, yeah. I'm looking forward to reading the book, but I find the prices for Tor's hardcovers [well, any hardcovers really] a little intimidating these days so may hold off for a while.
________
UPSKIRT VIDEOS (http://www.****tube.com/categories/42/upskirt/videos/1)

[Bastard]

The book is, apparently, the first half of a duology. So yeah there is more, but if waiting for a series to be finished is something you do there's only the one more book to wait for.

I've read most of that excerpt and it's pretty absorbing stuff, yeah. I'm looking forward to reading the book, but I find the prices for Tor's hardcovers [well, any hardcovers really] a little intimidating these days so may hold off for a while.

I got it from an Amazon Seller whose item also counts towards the Amazon free-shipping for around $10.00. So keep an eye out there, at the moment there's a $9.99 one + shipping (doesn't count for free-shipping).

[The Lord of all Things Inane]

Sounds cool as a cucumber, thanks for the heads up.
CDN

[jamieem]

There's a great review of this book on the Onion AV club, who were responsible for alerting me to the Name of the Wind and The Terror.

The 'steampunk western' tag got my attention straight away, but it seems to be much more than that... have ordered it from amazon and am eagerly awaiting it's delivery so I can get started.

[Bastard]

Here's a pretty good review by Mad Hatter that sheds some better light on what to expect from this book:
http://booktionary.blogspot.com/2010/11/review-half-made-world-by-felix-gilman.html

[Sparrow]

This book made my shortlist when this month's audible.com credit came up, but alas, I went with Jack McDevitt and his just released Echo... which so far is really good.

I'd like to know just how steampunkish Half Made World is?.. extremely so or just as sort of a backdrop? It seemed like a pretty cool scenario for a story, but, and it's a really big but, I don't like... let me correct myself, I HATE ALTERNATE HISTORY NOVELS... how much of the American Wild West/Westward Expansion am I going to get with this book? How familiar are the characters and situations?

I'd like to read Half Made World but I'm no fan of westerns or alternate history, and sort of lukewarm on steampunk.

[suciul]

This book made my shortlist when this month's audible.com credit came up, but alas, I went with Jack McDevitt and his just released Echo... which so far is really good.

I'd like to know just how steampunkish Half Made World is?.. extremely so or just as sort of a backdrop? It seemed like a pretty cool scenario for a story, but, and it's a really big but, I don't like... let me correct myself, I HATE ALTERNATE HISTORY NOVELS... how much of the American Wild West/Westward Expansion am I going to get with this book? How familiar are the characters and situations?

I'd like to read Half Made World but I'm no fan of westerns or alternate history, and sort of lukewarm on steampunk.

I put a review on Amazon (c/p of the FBC one minus the usual links) which I rarely do and I am big fan of the author from his previous two novels, so I was predisposed to like this one despite its Wild west setting which i tend to avoid (reading Karl May as a kid and his powerful and well articulated condemnation of the cultural and to a large extent physical destruction of the Native Americans makes one detest any traditional westerns with a vengeance); however the novel is basically New Weird, China Mieville territory, more than anything else, all the other elements being subordinated. Characters and weirdness dominate setting and steampunk or wild-west elements, while I tried to give as accurate, spoiler free (comparable with the blurb) a description of those in the full rv there or the impressions on Goodreads

The best idea as usual is to try a sample and see how you like the author's writing - if you read Thunderer/Gears City then imho your reaction to this book will be comparable though in itself the novel is ostensibly wildly different, but in reality it is not at the fundamental 'feel" level

For me the novel is a top 25 overall (#13 all, #11 sff, though a little bit lower than the previous 2 in their years for three reasons - loved the urban setting of Thunderer considerably more, Half Made World needs a direct sequel, while Thunderer did not and of course there were some other great sff novels in 2010)

[Sparrow]

I put a review on Amazon (c/p of the FBC one minus the usual links) which I rarely do and I am big fan of the author from his previous two novels, so I was predisposed to like this one despite its Wild west setting which i tend to avoid (reading Karl May as a kid and his powerful and well articulated condemnation of the cultural and to a large extent physical destruction of the Native Americans makes one detest any traditional westerns with a vengeance); however the novel is basically New Weird, China Mieville territory, more than anything else, all the other elements being subordinated. Characters and weirdness dominate setting and steampunk or wild-west elements, while I tried to give as accurate, spoiler free (comparable with the blurb) a description of those in the full rv there or the impressions on Goodreads

The best idea as usual is to try a sample and see how you like the author's writing - if you read Thunderer/Gears City then imho your reaction to this book will be comparable though in itself the novel is ostensibly wildly different, but in reality it is not at the fundamental 'feel" level

For me the novel is a top 25 overall (#13 all, #11 sff, though a little bit lower than the previous 2 in their years for three reasons - loved the urban setting of Thunderer considerably more, Half Made World needs a direct sequel, while Thunderer did not and of course there were some other great sff novels in 2010)



It's the main thing I worry about when it comes to Steampunk, when the setting and atmosphere overtake the characters and plot. My introduction to steampunk was with The Diamond Age and His Dark Materials books, and in both it really works well... sort of steampunk by half.

I'll sample Gilman's writing style and see if it appeals to me and maybe give it a shot.
Thanks for the input.