In a not-so-distant future, on the island of Galveston, Texas, civilization is slowly slipping away and decaying, and no amount of plaster can fix the crumbling marble walls. While the rich, high-class citiens enjoy drinking the last dregs of what life was before the Flood, all others are left to suffer, to live as best they can, as the medicine runs out and the civilization runs out and all the miracles, the nightmares, the horrifying shamanistic dreams and realities of magic run in.

I'm a great fan of Stewart and his previous works, having been lured into the fold, as it were, by Nobody's Son, and falling in love with his realistic, yet fantastical style of writing. From pure fantasy in Cloud's End and Nobody's Son, to sci fi futures in Passion Play and The Night Watch, to my favorites, these real worlds sick with magic, he's held my imagination and attention.

Galveston, stylistically, is one of the best he's ever written. I cringe as Josh and Ham are stranded on the peninsula, surviving heat and bugs and snake bites, and can almost feel the decaying artificial cool of Sloane's big mansion. The story, like most of his works, is very dense, and will take you a while to read, but is VERY worth it.

Galveston is my second favorite of Stewart's works, right underneath Ressurection Man, and I advise any fan of fantasy or magic-realism to pick it up. It's worth it.