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justplainrain's review
2.0
This book has everything I like (A miserable oppressive bureaucracy with accompanying architecture! Weird West! Possessed demon guns!). However, the native inhabitants of said Weird West, which is being colonized by European-but-in-name countries, are inhuman creatures with apparently less-than-human intelligence. They are in tune with the wilds, and have various supernatural powers. It's impossible to ignore.
mellhay's review against another edition
2.0
Dr. Liv Alverhuysen, a young widowed psychology doctor is going to the edge of the made world, or close to it. Out West. To help with victims of the four century war between The Guns, The Engines, and Hill Folk. All of the victims including the ones who had their minds shattered.
Creedmoor, we meet while he is traveling on a gambling boat. To the edged of the world he is sent by his masters, The Guns, in search of a mad man. Creedmoor's character will have you curious of his history right away.
Lowry, a Sub-Invigilator for the Line and servant to the Engines, is sent to extract the General, from the West. Lowry will not stop for anything and will not fail his mission and the only thing at the end of failure is death.
This is a hard one for me to review as I have mixed feelings on this book. I enjoyed the blend of demons and guns, the engines and demons (which may be what many consider steampunk), and the un-made world not yet ready for time and so many new creatures - the Wild West we could say. This idea and world was unique to me, and made me curious about the connection of the two. I even liked the idea of the general having a knowledge that could end all, but felt that I never got any more information to move the story plot further forward. I felt it kind of stalled in the plot movement for me. The story telling style reminds me of a similarity to Joe Abercrombie, yet different as it's not as abrupt with battles nor character drawing for me.
I enjoyed two of the characters out of the whole cast: John Creedmoor and the General. Yet, as much as I enjoyed reading of the scenes with John Creedmoor or seeing if the General will get better, they seemed to be the only characters I could get into. John Creedmoor and his attachment to the Guns was one of darkness and yet almost feel as he's fighting for something that just might be good.
In the end I new more of the world and characters created here, but nothing more of the happenings of the story plot. I might pick up the next book to see if I can find more out.
Creedmoor, we meet while he is traveling on a gambling boat. To the edged of the world he is sent by his masters, The Guns, in search of a mad man. Creedmoor's character will have you curious of his history right away.
Lowry, a Sub-Invigilator for the Line and servant to the Engines, is sent to extract the General, from the West. Lowry will not stop for anything and will not fail his mission and the only thing at the end of failure is death.
This is a hard one for me to review as I have mixed feelings on this book. I enjoyed the blend of demons and guns, the engines and demons (which may be what many consider steampunk), and the un-made world not yet ready for time and so many new creatures - the Wild West we could say. This idea and world was unique to me, and made me curious about the connection of the two. I even liked the idea of the general having a knowledge that could end all, but felt that I never got any more information to move the story plot further forward. I felt it kind of stalled in the plot movement for me. The story telling style reminds me of a similarity to Joe Abercrombie, yet different as it's not as abrupt with battles nor character drawing for me.
I enjoyed two of the characters out of the whole cast: John Creedmoor and the General. Yet, as much as I enjoyed reading of the scenes with John Creedmoor or seeing if the General will get better, they seemed to be the only characters I could get into. John Creedmoor and his attachment to the Guns was one of darkness and yet almost feel as he's fighting for something that just might be good.
In the end I new more of the world and characters created here, but nothing more of the happenings of the story plot. I might pick up the next book to see if I can find more out.
whiskyrob's review against another edition
2.0
It was alright, a bit long. Interesting concepts wrapped around a not so interesting plot.
beastreader's review against another edition
4.0
The year is 1889.
Thirty years ago, The General built the Red Valley Republic. At this time the world was lush with trees and grass. The world was evolving. Flash forward to present day. The world is desolate…thanks to the battle between the Lines and the rebel Guns. The Lines are focused on industry and spreading it across the world as quickly as possible. The Guns are the bandits of the world. They fight not with words but with weapons and violence.
Liv Alverhuysen is a doctor of Psychology. Dr. Alverhuysen receives a letter addressed to her late husband from Mr. Howell. Mr. Howell is the director of the House Dolorous. Mr. Howell wants Liv’s husband to come out West and share his teachings with the world. Liv is in need of some adventure and packs her bags and travels West.
John Creedmoor is an Agent of the Gun. The General has a secret locked away in his mind. A secret that who ever possess this knowledge will gain ultimate power. John wants this power for himself. He is a loner and likes it this way. While aboard the steam ship John meets Doctor Alverhuysen. John must make a choice…protect Liv or watch out for himself.
The Half-Made World is the first book I have read by Mr. Gilman. After reading this book, I now have Felix Gilman on my radar and plan to read more of his work. This book is a mixture of sci-fi and a Western. I absolutely fell for this book.
A good pairing by Liv and John. Liv is stable minded, whereas, John is balls to the wall guns a flaring. I would want to be a loner like John. Neither the Lines or Guns would be ideal to join up with. They each had their flaws. I must admit though that there were a few times when I did wish that the story line would more faster. Overall, A Half-Made World is better than I could imagine it to be.
Thirty years ago, The General built the Red Valley Republic. At this time the world was lush with trees and grass. The world was evolving. Flash forward to present day. The world is desolate…thanks to the battle between the Lines and the rebel Guns. The Lines are focused on industry and spreading it across the world as quickly as possible. The Guns are the bandits of the world. They fight not with words but with weapons and violence.
Liv Alverhuysen is a doctor of Psychology. Dr. Alverhuysen receives a letter addressed to her late husband from Mr. Howell. Mr. Howell is the director of the House Dolorous. Mr. Howell wants Liv’s husband to come out West and share his teachings with the world. Liv is in need of some adventure and packs her bags and travels West.
John Creedmoor is an Agent of the Gun. The General has a secret locked away in his mind. A secret that who ever possess this knowledge will gain ultimate power. John wants this power for himself. He is a loner and likes it this way. While aboard the steam ship John meets Doctor Alverhuysen. John must make a choice…protect Liv or watch out for himself.
The Half-Made World is the first book I have read by Mr. Gilman. After reading this book, I now have Felix Gilman on my radar and plan to read more of his work. This book is a mixture of sci-fi and a Western. I absolutely fell for this book.
A good pairing by Liv and John. Liv is stable minded, whereas, John is balls to the wall guns a flaring. I would want to be a loner like John. Neither the Lines or Guns would be ideal to join up with. They each had their flaws. I must admit though that there were a few times when I did wish that the story line would more faster. Overall, A Half-Made World is better than I could imagine it to be.
scopique's review against another edition
3.0
I really liked Gilman's urban fantasy books, Thunderer and Gears of the City. This one takes place in the American West-steampunk universe, and is nowhere near urban fantasy. I'm not generally a fan of steampunk, but this time the usual anachronistic technology was melded with supernatural elements that seemed pretty incongruous at first, but started to grow on my about midway through.
It wasn't a chore to read (unlike Mieville's The City And The City), but I didn't really feel super-compelled either. I didn't really care for many of the characters, with the exception of John Creedmore, who was SUPPOSED to be a horrible killer, but who came off as a mix between Mark Twain and Val Kilmer's portrayal of Doc Holliday from the movie Tombstone (at least in my mind XD). The rest of the characters were pretty transient, which is sad because the protagonist is supposed to be the doctor, Liv Alverhuysen.
Maybe it's because the characters are actually in the service of much higher powers: The Line and The Gun, two supernatural forces who inhabit machinery (massive steam engines for The Line, and finely crafted firearms for The Gun). With these two forces at war, constantly looming over everything and basically destroying everything they come into contact to for their own selfish reasons, any and all characters are pretty much throw-aways in the service of one or the other. It's the neutral characters who suffer the most, since they can't possibly stand up to either without spiritual support of their own (which is actually present in the form of a hospital. Seriously).
Overall, it's a well written book, IMO. Steampunk fans may get a bigger kick out of it then I did, but it was a quick and easy read, so long as you're not expecting a groundbreaking or groundshaking novel of millennial importance.
It wasn't a chore to read (unlike Mieville's The City And The City), but I didn't really feel super-compelled either. I didn't really care for many of the characters, with the exception of John Creedmore, who was SUPPOSED to be a horrible killer, but who came off as a mix between Mark Twain and Val Kilmer's portrayal of Doc Holliday from the movie Tombstone (at least in my mind XD). The rest of the characters were pretty transient, which is sad because the protagonist is supposed to be the doctor, Liv Alverhuysen.
Maybe it's because the characters are actually in the service of much higher powers: The Line and The Gun, two supernatural forces who inhabit machinery (massive steam engines for The Line, and finely crafted firearms for The Gun). With these two forces at war, constantly looming over everything and basically destroying everything they come into contact to for their own selfish reasons, any and all characters are pretty much throw-aways in the service of one or the other. It's the neutral characters who suffer the most, since they can't possibly stand up to either without spiritual support of their own (which is actually present in the form of a hospital. Seriously).
Overall, it's a well written book, IMO. Steampunk fans may get a bigger kick out of it then I did, but it was a quick and easy read, so long as you're not expecting a groundbreaking or groundshaking novel of millennial importance.
davidsteinsaltz's review against another edition
4.0
The strangest book I have read in a very long time. A science fantasy, or a fantasy about technology. An alternative history as far as one could imagine from "what if?"
Looking at other reviews makes clear that this book has links to the "steampunk" genre, which I'm not at all familiar with, so maybe not as idiosyncratic as I suppose.
Looking at other reviews makes clear that this book has links to the "steampunk" genre, which I'm not at all familiar with, so maybe not as idiosyncratic as I suppose.
radbear76's review against another edition
5.0
Truly unlike anything I have read before. I had trouble putting it down.
pnw_afox's review against another edition
3.0
There are parts of this book that I really like, but finishing the book was a bit of a slog for me. I enjoyed the world building very much and the first part of the book with each lead character on a journey across the half-made world. In the latter half of the book, I felt bogged down by minute details when I really wanted some action to happen. But when faced with reading narrative about the Line or the Gun in the second half of the book, I preferred the Gun. And my, dare I say, boredom with Lowry and the Line caused me to lose most of the tension by the end. I did like Creedmoor very much. And I would not call this steampunk, even though it is making the rounds with that descriptor attached to it.
mandragora's review against another edition
5.0
It's really hard to write a good steampunky novel without it being an alt-history piece, but Gilman pulls it off extremely well by boiling it down to the bare bones of the old west; anarchism versus imperial expansionism. Both are taken to extremes here, and are equally unsympathetic. The Line apply machinelike precision to every aspect of their lives and place no value whatsoever on individuality. The Gun are a lodge of extradimensional demons that place extreme value on specific individuals and none on anyone who gets in their way.
You see the world from the perspective of each faction and from a tertiary neutral party, and between the three they weave a minimalist but engrossing setting where the East has been completely brought under the oppressive heel of the Line, but the West is quite literally in the process of being made by supernatural forces, with the ground reshaped daily and the only native inhabitants fairylike hill folk (quickly enslaved, run off their land of genocided in a grim fantasy reflection of the Trail of Tears) and powerful spirits alien to both the Line and Gun.
It left me wanting a lot more, and I hope we get many more books set in the Half-Made World.
You see the world from the perspective of each faction and from a tertiary neutral party, and between the three they weave a minimalist but engrossing setting where the East has been completely brought under the oppressive heel of the Line, but the West is quite literally in the process of being made by supernatural forces, with the ground reshaped daily and the only native inhabitants fairylike hill folk (quickly enslaved, run off their land of genocided in a grim fantasy reflection of the Trail of Tears) and powerful spirits alien to both the Line and Gun.
It left me wanting a lot more, and I hope we get many more books set in the Half-Made World.