Number 83 - Mordew by Alex Pheby

 

You have to hand it to the fellows at Galley Beggar Press, these black paperback editions are rather handsome and distinctive.  The postcard in the picture shows the artwork on the hardback edition they sell and is a thing of beauty in itself.

GBP are a small press who release only 4 books a year normally.  Unlike a lot of small presses, they don't charge through the nose for the books, even the signed  limited editions (which the black paperback copies all are).

Any company only printing 4 books a year, you have to assume is applying strict quality control on the writing contained therein.  So far, I can only agree with the editor's fgood taste in the few of their books I've received so far.

Alex Pheby is a new name to me, but has been published through GBP before.  This is the first book of a new trilogy, set appropriately enough in the city of Mordew.

As you might guess from the picture on the postcard, it's a fantasy novel. Mordew is an unusual place.  The mud in the slums is living mud which births strange creatures at random, known as flukes. This is because of the corpse of God which is buried deep beneath the surface after it was murdered many many years ago.

Our hero is Nathan Treeves, a womb-born boy who has a spark inside him. This is a source of incredible power. The first we learn of this is when he can create his own flukes in the living mud rather than randomly fishing for them like all the other peasant children.  Unknown to him, forces are gathering that want to use his power and he soon finds himself an unwilling pawn in battles he struggles to understand.  He encounters new friendships, betrayal and double-crosses.

A lot of the individual ingredients in this are admittedly cliches of the genre - young boy with magical powers - check.  Family secrets - check. Magical spellbooks - check. Evil overlord - check. Or is the overlord evil or just misunderstood? - check.

However, the execution of the storytelling is really very good indeed. The prose is never less than a pleasure to read.  Before this book I never thought that a narration could feel so whimsical, almost twee in places, but have such a dark heart at the centre of it all. Nathan is a magical Oliver Twist, passed from pillar to post, conned and cheated and betrayed by the people he should trust.  Despite the familiarity of the concepts and the plot details in the story, I was constantly wrong-footed - and the ending of the novel itself left me begginig for more, which is always a very good sign.

 I'm not sure that the glossary at the end of the book is strictly necessary - the length of it cries a little of pretentiousness, but there are some really nice hints about future developments which make me want to get the next book in the trilogy even sooner.   

This is one of the more memorable books I've read this year and scores an easy 8/10.

I should have another GBP book on the way very soon and I can't wait.  They have a buddy scheme, where for less than the price of  a p[late of fish and chips a month, they send you every one of their books as they're released.  And that's a really good deal.  You can find them here.

 https://www.galleybeggar.co.uk/ 

Alternatively, you can just buy the individual books as they come out.