My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Macmillan-Tor Forge for an advanced copy of this fantasy novel.

I dislike hyperbole, especially when discussing books, but I really do hope that people are discussing Alex Pheby's first fantasy novel Mordew, the start of the Cities of Weft series. The work, the care, the style of writing shows an appreciation for the reader that you don't see much of.

Mr. Pheby approaches the story in two ways, the narrative and the Glossary at the end of the book. The narrative sets the tale, a story of a young poor child, who has gifts that he is told to hide, who gradually becomes on of the stronger beings in the city he has always lived in. Yes there are some tropes, but what sounds familiar is much more. The Glossary at the end of the book fills in the facts and, fleshes out even the most minor of characters; a sailor on a boat, a wife of a pharmacist. Plus more about the world the characters find themselves in, how it was created and what might be coming.
The idea sounds odd, but works. Yes there is some Wha? in a few places. Why is this, and what are is going on, but hold on keep reading. The journey is worth it.

Hopefully, like I wrote earlier, this will be a big book, and something that everyone will be talking about. There might be some handselling involved, some sure that book has a big old nasty dragon on it, but Mordew is gonna blow your mind. I look forward to it.

This was a very fun, enjoyable read from an author I've never read from before. I felt that this world was fully developed and, while it did pull some tropes from books we've all come to know and love, I liked Pheby's approach to it. Pick this up if you like a good, no, great fantasy story.

A wonderful fantasy world that feels as gritty as the Hunger Games but as magical as Harry Potter. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it