Under Ordshaw by Phil Williams
An Urban Fantasy Novel published by Rumian Publishing (05/29/18)
Summary:
“I avoided an ordinary life long enough for the extraordinary to corner me. Now I’m trying to do something about it.”
Pax Kuranes is a card player. She only works during the night, when a certain type of person is out and about. She doesn’t mind it. She enjoys her nights and her wins. With her current night’s winnings she hopes to get into a poker tournament and win big. But after a crazy spouting nonsense about a minotaur bumps into her and suddenly her winnings disappear, a mysterious man who wants to recruit her for a nearly fictitious branch of the government, rumors of monsters and creatures turn out to be true, Pax won’t be able to go back to her simple life playing cards.
Keywords:
Gambling, Winning, Money, Disappear, Fae, Fairies, Monsters, Sewers, Tunnels, Government, Ministry, Interference, Gang, Kidnapping, Family, Friendship, Weapons, Shooting, Escape, Life or Death
My Review:
The author is great at pushing the msytery early on while giving us just enough details to keep us interested as the story slowly unfolds. The language is complex and the writing style is excellent. I love that the main character is a female, but without any gendered baggage. Pax is just as sharp as the author and his writing.
I think Letty was my favorite character. She is hilariously rude. Her insults are snappy and creative. She is such a funny character. Letty is a kick-butt character who is uncompromising in her personality and I wish more female characters (good or bad) were like her.
Phil Williams has expertly mastered the art of description and sensory detail. This book was so masterfully written that I got lost in the scenes and the imagery.
As someone trying to learn better negotiating I appreciated the parts where Pax negotiated. I loved seeing negotiating in action.
Very rarely do I find an urban fantasy that is so good I can’t put it down. An urban fantasy any reader would enjoy. An urban fantasy that is well written. Typically I don’t even like this genre of fantasy, but Under Ordshaw was an amazing and shining example of a good book that happened to be urban fantasy.
I liked how the diverse characters had equal voices and equal stories. I liked how well developed the fantastical elements were and how vivid the descriptions of the beasts were. I liked How witty the dialogue was and how fast-paced the action was.
The writing is also sometimes as cheeky as the dialogues between Letty and Pax, kind of like Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
This novel was published by Rumian Publishing on 05/29/2018 and is available on Amazon here.
TL;DR Star Rating: 5.0
Links for more information:
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