The eastern portion of The Half-Made World looks a
bit like Europe or the eastern United States in the Victorian age. Out
west, over the mountains, is a country in the process of being settled,
sort of equivalent to the American west of the same time period.But
further west, beyond that, things get wild. Part and parcel of that is a
native population that is more in tune with the unmade world than the
more "civilized" parts of it.
Our journey into this world comes with the aid of
Liv, a practitioner of the budding field of psychology who, leaves her
life in the east to work at a hospital on the edge of the settled west;
Creedmore, the agent of one powerful faction who kidnaps her and one of
her charges; and Lowry, commander of another power faction trying to
track all down.
The factions are a pair of ruthless forces that are
more ideology than physical things. The Gun favors chaos and
destruction, wrought through its agents who are controlled (to a greater
or lesser extent) by demons that live in their firearms. The Line, on
the other hand, preaches mechanical progress (it's main instrument are
engines, which appear to be sentient trains) and converts everything in
its past to a world that sounds slightly like a predecessor to Terry
Gilliam's Brazil (that the Line's commander is named Lowry is surely not
a coincidence).
The Half-Made World has two things really going for
it. The first is the world in builds (so to speak), particularly the
way it turns an age old order/chaos conflict into the running battle of
the Line and the Gun. There isn't much time spent on why each faction
does what it does or where they come from - I kind of like the
ambiguity. Instead, the book focuses on how out west everyone's lives
are controlled by their relationship to one of those two factions (ally,
foe, or wary neutral).
I also wonder if the way the Line and the Gun are
meant to be a metaphor for American anti-terrorism activities in the
21st century. The Gun are the ultimate terrorists, causing damage and
death for the heck of it. The deeds are committed by scattered agents
that number, perhaps, in the dozens, as opposed to a kind of formal
militarized force. The Line, on the other hand, is precisely that kind
of militarized force, deploying a formidable array of clever weaponry
that obliterates basically everything in its path.
Early on, as the Line is in pursuit of Creedmore
before he arrives at the hospital, he winds up in a small town, Kloan. When
his identity is revealed a firefight ensues that leaves most of the
town's prominent citizens dead and much of the town on fire. In spite
of all that, Creedmore escapes. What's left behind is a town now under
control of the line, one that was truly destroyed so it could be saved.
If that echo of our anti-terrorism policies abroad wasn't intended
commentary, it's a hell of a coincidence.
The other thing The Half-Made World really has going
for it is Creedmore. He's the only of the three main characters who
really stands out in your mind.T he Line commander is just a cog in a
wheel, easily replaceable, which doesn't make for great characterization.
And Liv, while fully realized in her own right, just doesn't have a
lot to do. Creedmore, on the other hand, has a fascinating past - he
fell into a life of crime only after trying just about every do-gooder
organization in this world (abolitionists, advocates for the native
"hill folk," religious groups, etc.). But he's a good criminal, which
is what attracted him to the Gun in the end. But now, a long way down a
life extended by the Gun's magic, Creedmore is having second thoughts
about his master, with whom he has nearly constant running discussions.
I appreciate that the book presents all this as an ongoing matter and
dodges the easy cliche of a "bad" man who turns "good." Creedmore is
much more interesting than that.
Unfortunately, there's an awful lot of chasing that
doesn't add up to a whole lot. The unmade part of the world isn't as
interesting as the Line/Gun lands. This shift about and are generally
"weird," but not all that dangerous. As someone else pointed out
elsewhere, there's still air to breathe and food to eat. Still, the
chase comes to an end, so that means something, right? Not really. The
great secret that all parties have been chasing is never explained,
although it's hinted at. More importantly, the main characters don't
seem to have arrived at any sort of end point in their stories. The book
ends like it's the first of a series, but although there is a second
book set in this world it isn't a direct sequel. So the lack of a hard
ending is a big disappointment.
Not big enough to avoid recommending the book,
however. The world is inventive and it's worth spending time with
Creedmore as the action spills out over the west. That it might have
been better doesn't stop it from being very very good.
The Details
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The Half-Made World
By Felix Gilman
Published 2010
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