A vast, grotesque city novel that sits somewhere between Dickens, Mervyn Peake, China Miéville and the medieval nightmares of Bosch.

Set in the sprawling city of Mordew, where alchemy, industrial exploitation, religion and body horror intertwine, the novel follows Nathan Treeves, a young boy whose discovery of extraordinary powers threatens the city's carefully maintained hierarchy. Yet plot is almost secondary to the world itself. Pheby constructs an entire mythology, complete with maps, glossaries, invented histories and competing religious traditions, creating a setting that feels ancient, diseased and terrifyingly alive.

What distinguishes Mordew from much contemporary fantasy is its literary ambition. It  presents a world governed by decay, class violence and surreal transformations. Every page expands the mythology while interrogating power, capitalism, faith and the manufacture of history itself. The prose is richly textured without becoming ornamental, rewarding readers who enjoy immersive, demanding fiction as much as speculative world-building. The first volume in what became The Cities of the Weft trilogy, Mordew has quickly developed a devoted following among readers looking for fantasy that feels genuinely strange and intellectually expansive.

2020 first edition hardback published by Galley Beggar Press. Very good condition with light shelf wear and a clean, unmarked interior.