The Half-Made World by Felix Gilman is a wild, inventive ride. It takes place in a seriously alternate version of our world in the late 1800s, where technology and mind-altering demons go hand in hand. Fortunately, this crazy land is peopled with deep, well-developed characters, a rare occurrence amidst so much intricate world-building.

A female brain scientist must travel west to the edge of the made world (beyond is an ocean of muddled creation where things like land and air and fire mix together) to learn the secrets trapped in an old general’s brain. On her tail is a violent, near-superhuman gunslinger and a bitter near-subhuman bureaucrat who will do anything for a promotion.

Recommendation: Buy it. This book opens my mind whenever I just think about it.