I was speaking of world-building
and it occurred to me that, even half-way through, I cannot wait to recommend NK Jemisin's The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. It is made of so much awesome and win. It...it...defies any description I attempt to give it, and that is hard. I can usually summarize a book cogently in three sentences or less. But something is stopping me. Perhaps it's because I haven't finished yet and my brain won't let me. Either way, awesome world-building, dude.
Here, have a link to the first chapter: http://nkjemisin.com/books/the-inheritance-trilogy/the-hundred-thousand-kingdoms/the-hundred-thousand-kingdoms-sample-chapter-1/