BOOK REVIEW: MORDEW BY ALEX PHEBY

Mordew by Alex Pheby is the opening instalment of The Cities of the Weft trilogy, a much-praised novel and one I’d been looking forward to reading. And it didn’t disappoint…

The main character in the book is Nathan Treeves, a boy from the slums of Mordew who possesses a mysterious power. His father is slowly and painfully dying, and the city itself is rotting and diseased. The ruler of Mordew is the almost god-like Master, who seems to control every aspect of the city, from the ‘Living Mud’, which gives birth to strange mutated creatures, to the rigid social hierarchy. When the Master notices Nathan’s abilities, he draws the boy into a world of privilege and danger, and the novel becomes a dark, twisted coming‑of‑age tale, eschewing the usual moral clarity.

Although a compelling protagonist, Nathan is far from a conventional hero. He’s frightened, angry, and often morally compromised. His choices are shaped by desperation, and the novel is honest about the way poverty distorts agency. The friendships Nathan develops with a gang of street children—Prissy, Gam, and the Joes (a clever character/s creation) —give the book emotional weight, helping to ground the more fantastical elements. But these relationships prove unstable, threatened by the city’s violence and by Nathan’s own growing power. All the characters in the novel are complex and layered, with first impressions often undone by later actions and revelations.

Mordew by Alex Pheby

The book’s focus on poverty (which is shown with an unflinching eye) and the corruptive nature of power feels almost Dickensian, but with a feverish, surreal imagination that reminded me of Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast series. Pheby’s prose draws you in, using rich sensory detail to bring this disturbing but fascinating world to life.

It’s not possible to discuss Mordew without reference to its excellent world-building, and I found this to be one of the most immersive fantasy settings I’ve encountered for some time. For readers who really like to go deep in this area, there are maps, a dramatis personae and a glossary. For all the horror, fantasy and odd beauty of this world, it never feels anything other than real. So many elements of the world-building showcase the scale and depth of Pheby’s imagination, for example the magical book the Master gives to Nathan, the primordial Living Mud and the unnerving Gill-Men. And through the twisted lens of Mordew, we perhaps see more clearly the injustices and inequalities in our own world.  

Mordew is an unsettling and extravagant fantasy novel, which creates strong foundations for the later novels in the series, for as many riches as the reader experiences in this first book, there’s a sense of a lot more of this world to be discovered, of many more secrets to be revealed. Mordew takes place in a mouldy, rot-filled city, but this is a fresh voice in the world of fantasy fiction, and I look forward to reading the other books in the series.