Perdido Street Station - China Mieville

Kiniko90 "All manner of aliens and humans coexist in the strange, world-spanning city of New Crobuzon. Here, dark magic and advanced science flourish amid an atmosphere of mysticism and madness, under a government that uses cruel military repression to enforce its laws. Independent cultures and civilizations exist side by side, occasionally overlapping and breeding increasingly grotesque oddities. Mutants and hybrids of every order can be found: those with extra limbs grafted to their bodies or with their heads joined to arcane machinery. Scientist Isaac der Grimnebulin seeks to verify his unified theory that will link alchemy, biology, and mechanics into what he calls crisis energy. He is visited by the wealthy Yagharek, who belongs to the Garuda, a race capable of flight. Yagharek, though, has had his wings cut from him as punishment for an obscure crime, and he seeks assistance from Isaac to recapture his ability to fly. Isaac engages in wild experimentation as he tries to help, growing more and more obsessive in his lab while he delves deeper into magic and fantastic technology. He gathers together numerous flying creatures and imprisons a mysterious giant caterpillar that feeds on a hallucinogen, giving it the ability to induce nightmares in others and steal their dreams. When the caterpillar metamorphoses and escapes the lab, it terrorizes the denizens of New Crobuzon, leaving its victims mindless zombies and bringing the full wrath of Parliament down on Isaac s head." - [i]goodreads.com[/i]