With the release of Waterblack, Alex Pheby completes The Cities of The Weft trilogy with the grit and style to which his readers have become accustomed. As with its predecessors — Mordew and Malarkoi — Waterblack can be best summarised as an epic, dark fantasy, with a surreal weirdness that permeates every page. From its prose to its worldbuilding, Pheby has once again defied the workings of a genre that relies heavily on established tropes and has created something wholly unique within today’s landscape.
In this final instalment, Nathan Treeves leads an army of ghosts from the underwater city of Waterblack, heading to the final, destructive confrontation with the forces ranged against him. But although he is more powerful than ever, he also has new challenges to face. Most notably, Sharli, an assassin whose journey we follow – from her perilous childhood in Malarkoi, to slavery in Mordew, working in a nail factory, to making murder her trade under the ever
watchful eye of the terrifying Mr Padge, and on to the final climactic encounter between Nathan, The Master, The Mistress and the Atheistic Crusade…
Whether it’s the wriggling-limb creatures that reside in the Living Mud, or a talking dog gaining divinity, Pheby’s series has revelled in an array of odd grotesqueries that the audience have never seen before. Waterblack is no exception, full of interesting characters, places, and unexpected narrative choices. Thus, if you’ve come looking for a comparison, I fear the best I can offer is something equally strange; perhaps if Joe Abercrombie and Terry Pratchett combined to write their own version of Tamsyn Muir’s The Locked Tomb? Perhaps then you might get something close to the tone of The Cities of the Weft.
Waterblack depicts a world defined by its harsh realities, but its characters are equally defined by their drive to survive and, ultimately, their love. In such settings it would be easy for the characters to become gross caricatures of hedonism and violence, but, even in their worst moments, the cast remain quintessentially human. As such, it is in its characterisation where Waterblack truly excels.
Series protagonist, Nathan Treeves, journey that began as an urchin on the streets of Mordew, culminates in him leading an army of angels into a final, cataclysmic battle. Nathan’s growth throughout the series has been well crafted, with no moment on his journey wasted or insubstantial. Similarly, Waterblack thrusts Sharli to the centre stage, a character that readers have barely met before, and develops her into one of the most interesting characters I’ve read in some time. I found her journey from nail girl to god-killer was the most surprisingly engaging aspect of the novel.
Pheby writes with deep, flourishing prose, that contributes to the strangeness of the series, but also to its emotional resonance. I struggle to name a writer who captures animal companions in such a heart-breaking way.
As the long-awaited conclusion to the trilogy, Waterblack finishes on a high and serves as a satisfying end to the journey of the Nathan Treeves. It overcomes the likely pit-falls by grounding it’s strangeness in universal themes of trauma, abandonment, loyalty, and power. Pheby has executed this series with great skill and maturity, building to a climax that I believe will keep fans thinking long after they close the final page.
9781913111595 | GALLEY BEGGAR PRESS | Hardcover | Out Now | £20.00
