The City's Son

''Glittering and gritty . . . Gorgeously written and brimming with bizarre urban creatures, this darkly imagined and sometimes painful tale should delight fans of Neil Gaiman, China Miéville, and Holly Black.''  — PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, (starred review) Running away from her traitorous best friend and her distant father, teenage graffiti artist Beth Bradley is looking for a new home. What she finds is Filius, the ragged crown prince of London’s underworld—a place where glassy spiders steal voices on telephone wires, railwraiths terrorize the train tubes, and deadly scaffwolves stalk the shadows. Reach, the malign god of demolition, is on a rampage, destroying the creatures of hidden London to lay claim to the skyscraper throne. Caught up in helping Filius raise an alleyway army to battle Reach, Beth soon forgets her old life. But when the enemy claims her best friend, Beth must choose between the acceptance she finds in the streets and the [...]life she left behind. Praise: ''Imaginative, innovative, and bursting with creativity, this is a wonderfully confident debut that will have even the most critical fantasy fans clamoring for more.'' — FANTASY BOOK REVIEW ''Here is a new urban mythology that reminds me of all the magic I've wished I could find hidden behind the scrawling graffiti of my own city. It's gritty, dynamic, and beautiful—I can't wait for more.'' — TESSA GRATTON , author of  Blood Magic Review 'It's gritty, dynamic, and beautiful - I can't wait for more' Tessa Gratton. 'The imagination with which Pollock reinvigorates the city is astounding ... A wonderfully confident debut that will have even the most critical fantasy fans clamouring for more' Fantasy Book Review. 'Paints a wildly inventive portrait of a London that will fill you with fearsome delight ... The writing is electrifying, the characters fascinating' Karen Mahoney. 'An impeccably dark parable, endlessly inventive and utterly compelling' Mike Carey. 'He nails that spot between utterly normal and blood-curdlingly weird perfectly' John Courtenay Grimwood. 'Bold, and weird, and quite, quite wonderful, The City's Son is the very definition of urban fantasy. Just glorious' Adam Christopher. 'I'm in love with Tom Pollock's imagination ... If you enjoy escaping reality and riding through someone's often bizarre imagination, then this is the read for you' Dog Ear Discs. 'brilliant, original, and poetic' Fantasy Book Critic. 'oozing with charisma, beautifully detailed' Fantasy Book Addict. About the Author A longtime fan of science fiction and fantasy, Tom Pollock has spectacularly failed to grow out of his obsession with things that don’t, in the strictest sense of the word, exist. He has his master of fine arts degree from Sussex University and also holds a master's degree in philosophy and economics from Edinburgh University. Pollock works for a global shipping firm based in London. His travels have taken him everywhere from Scotland to Sumatra, but the peculiar magic of London has always drawn him back.