The Half-Made World

Imagine if Steven King had an editor who was strong enough to tell him to cut most of the crap, and leave out the meta-meet-the-author-as-a-character-in-the-book while writing The Dark Tower series. Throw in a dash of the Deadwood, Carnivale TV sensibility with the characters, and you get this gem. The book was a page turner, but written well enough that you wouldn’t skim, for fear of missing Gilman’s excellent prose style. The story follows three characters: Creedmore, a reluctant agent of a demon gun; Lowry, a power hungry servant of equally demonic Engines; and Dr. Alverhyusen, a doctor in the budding field of psychology. The one drawback is that the characters are in a vast, expanding world with interesting mythology that often times is skipped over for action. There is great potential to flesh out the world and create the larger Mythos that this book demands in the sequels that were set up as the three characters converge at the climax as this book.