This review was written for and first published by Bookmunch.
“Isn’t it always the way, with powerful things, that the possession and exercise of their power is a more important thing to them than the things for which they can use that power?”
Waterblack is the third book in the author’s Cities of the Weft fantasy trilogy that started with Mordew and then Malarchoi. It consolidates the world building of the previous two books, explaining and expanding on details, particularly the magical elements and the roles of the many gods. These details can be complex although are well explained and justified.
The book opens with a summary of the previous volumes, presented in the form of a list that provides an aide-mémoire for readers of those works – it would be advisable to read all three in order. There follows a Dramatis Personae that again serves as a useful reminder of the roles of key characters. As with the previous books there is then a section that offers tantalising hints of what is to come. I found myself particularly interested to discover the
“scenes the writer refuses to write, and that the reader shouldn’t wish to read”
When I got to this part I agreed fully with the reasoning given – oh that other authors could be so judicious.
Book One of the main text tells the story of Sharli, a child growing up in Malarkoi who escapes to eventually become an assassin in Mordew. Before getting fully into her story there are a few pages explaining The Soul Propagandas. These are beliefs held by the Assembly – a distant group who have waged recurrent wars on the cities – and are presented in parts scattered between main chapters. After 40 pages, which serve to draw the reader back into this imaginative world, we are brought back to Malarkoi during a golden era under the rule of its powerful Mistress.
As in any society, life in this tent city – located at the base of the Mistress’s pyramid – remains calm while its citizens buy into the rules and culture. That it sacrifices children is accepted, as is the breeding of firebirds whose purpose is to die flying into the Sea Wall protecting its enemy – the Master of Mordew. Although Sharli avoids certain death in leaving her homeland, what comes next in her life may be regarded by many as scarcely better. All of this is brilliantly rendered in tight but never gratuitous explanatory prose. Her experiences serve to depict the worst of which man is capable and how the desires of the powerful are catered for to maximise profit for a few. As with everything Pheby writes, this is cleverly done within engaging storytelling. Voices harnessed ooze originality.
There are slower sections, such as Sharli’s time preparing to join the war offensive. What is covered here is, however, necessary to better understand what will happen later. Time is a slippery concept and this too is explained well.
Book Two takes the reader to Waterblack, the City of Death, where Nathan Treeves is destined to become the Master. Again, pace slowed as it was necessary to ensure readers understood the workings of this undersea city. An important part of this was making the fact the dead could be brought back to life plausible. The role of The Soul Propagandas and how these are used to justify the actions of the Assembly now made sense.
“Since we are not ghosts, and require material context, we must step back and see a wider picture before we can step in again to see the details.”
Within this section is An Interlude that features the magical dogs in a wonderfully imaginative drawing together of several strands.
After this things really go into overdrive. Nathan discovers the extent of his powers. Book Three opens with preparations for the attack Sharli is now a part of. When the workings of the weft are disrupted effects are dramatic. So much is happening all at once and everywhere yet the author deals deftly with the how, why and wherefores – incredible drama played out without hyperbole despite being vast in scope and concept.
What becomes clear is that there are no goodies or baddies to root for. Those with power lack compassion, acting with thoughtless cruelty to achieve their own ends. Beliefs are promoted with followers willing to die for what they are brainwashed into thinking is the greater good. All of this is presented through the experiences of individuals alongside explanations of how the weft works.
“this is a failure of our sympathies, an impossible and inaccurate compromise that our own fixation with individuality forces us to make.
There is no fate.
There is only what happens, and how those who survive need to understand it.”
The denouement is necessarily long as threads woven throughout the trilogy are being tied and the outcome of characters provided. It is brilliantly enacted and paced, imaginative yet also astutely relevant to our own current times.
I did ponder the brief aside naming cities readers will recognise from reality, and then the throwback to a house party. The author no doubt has his reasons for grounding his realm in this way.
Waterblack closes with a series of Appendices that offer further detail on characters’ reasoning and outcomes. At the very end is a suggestion for a possible spin off, although this would not be necessary given the strength and completeness of all that has gone before.
Not always easy reading yet this volume is endlessly rewarding. Perhaps not a book for the faint-hearted but offering a wealth of concepts to consider within a world that is both brutal and fascinating. Pheby, it seems, has thought of everything a reader may question providing clarification alongside his story, including why timescales may sometimes be manipulated.
Any Cop?: A trilogy that just gets better and better.
Jackie Law
Waterblack is published by Galley Beggar
