Under Ordshaw

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I came to this book via the author, Phil Williams' book on English tenses. I thought I would give this a try and I am glad to say that I do not regret that decision.

The story is set in the English city of Ordshaw, a city with several million inhabitants, a healthy downtown area, a developed highway system and a series of underground tunnels which are filled with unusual fauna. The underground tunnel system is essentially unknown to the citizens of Ordshaw. Its secrecy is protected by the Ministry of Environmental Energy, but a decade or so ago, a talented group of amateurs discovered the secret. Their leader was killed, and his son went into hiding. Now, the son, Rufaizu, has reappeared and is being hunted.

Pax Kuranes meets Rufaizu in a bar after she has had a big night of winning at poker. Rufaizu is arrested by MEE agent Cano Casaria (and, basically, disappears from the book, having performed his task of starting the plot rolling.) This meeting results in Pax learning something about the underground and its many monsters. Pax also gets threatened by a foul-mouthed voice on the phone, who turns out to belong to Lettie, a three-inch tall fairy. She then goes onto meet “Citizen” Barton, who had been part of the original civilian crew fighting the monsters (and the fairies) in the past.

From there it is all plot and counterplot as Pax learns about the mysterious world that she has stumbled into.

This is the “origin story” of a series. The characters did not fit into my initial expectations. Clearly, Letty and Pax will form an alliance. Casaria, on the other hand, is a psychopath, but is also infatuated with his imagined version of Pax. Barton comes across as solid, but although his title of “Citizen” is often mentioned, it is never explained.

I like this book a lot and I recommend it.