They call it the City of a Hundred Rows. The ancient city of Thaiburley is unfeasibly tall, with a staggering number of tiers, each tier with its own type of citizen and its own social standing. A vast metropolis where the privileged live in comfort, the poor are banished to the City Below, and demons are said to dwell in the Upper Heights, Thaiburley operates via a blend of magic and technology, and at its heart lies a secret unsuspected even by its citizenry…

 

City of Dreams and Nightmare

Tom is in the wrong place at the wrong time. A lowly street-nick, he ventures into a part of the city he should never have been in on a dare. There he witnesses a murder, but is seen by the killer. Accused of the crime himself, Tom has no choice but to run… back to the City Below, Thaiburley’s unsavoury basement world. Pursued by sky-borne assassins, Kite Guards, and agents of a darker force intent on destabilising the whole city, his only ally is Kat, a fellow renegade. Bribed to watch over Tom by the alien Jeradine, Kat is a survivor of the infamous Pits, and proves to have secrets of her own…

 

“Whates’s assured prose, slick pacing and inventive imagination make for a gripping read. His first novel is the work of a born storyteller.” – The Guardian

“City of Dreams & Nightmare is a brilliantly executed novel, perfectly paced, beautifully described and a true joy to read.” – ScienceFictionandFantasy

“Born storyteller Ian Whates takes us on a gripping trip-of-a-lifetime through the heights and depths of the exotically grim city of Thaiburley in this excellent fantasy.” – Tanith Lee

“Adventures in a nightmare citadel – a story that hits the ground running and doesn’t let up.” – Liz Williams, author of the Detective Inspector Chen series

“Possibly the most amazing and mind-blowing cityscape I have yet encountered.” – Temple Library Reviews

“All in all an excellent book. The city is almost a character on its own.” – Gnostalgia

 

City of Hope and Despair

The street-nick Tom must venture beyond the secure walls of Thaiburley to find the source of the great river Thair and perhaps learn the secret of his own strange abilities…

The assassin Dewar must redeem himself…

The Prime Master desperately seeks the cure for bone flu – a mysterious and deadly malady that is striking down the talented in Thaiburley’s highest Rows…

Kat, the renegade nick, forms an uneasy alliance with her sister Charveve, and the two lead the Tattooed Men through the dark streets of the City Below in search of the Soul Thief: the evil monster that murdered their mother and consigned both girls to the gladitorial hellhole known as the Pits…

Welcome back to Thaiburley, the City of 100 Rows, where the nightmare has only just begun…

“City of Hope & Despair moves fast and is a page turner with everything that made City Dreams and Nightmares entertaining.” – Fantasy Book Critic

“City of Hope and Despair is a fantastic book, full of emotional ups and downs, turmoil and adventure, drawn with a steady, deft hand by Whates, whose authorial control is magnificent.” – Libris Leonis

“Whates’ imagination is energetic and enchanting and similarities to the novels of Ian Watts, Michael Moorcock, China Mièville, and Mervyn Peake inevitable.” – Hub Magazine

 

City of Light and Shadow

The Monstrous Rust Warriors are Back! With Thaiburley in the grip of the dreaded bone flu, the Blade’s ancient enemy return from beyond the grave to heap further misery on the city’s inhabitants. With the very future of the city at stake, somehow Tom and his allies must stop them.

In this thrilling conclusion to the City of 100 Rows trilogy, the Street-nick Tom, Dewar the Assassin, the renegade Kat, and the Prime Master all reach the ends of their journeys, but who will survive? And can anything in Thaiburley ever be the same?

 

“A deft mix of intrigue, assassination and romance culminates in a desperate fight for Thaiburley’s existence, and along the way Whates finally reveals the true nature of the city itself. Compulsively readable.” – The Guardian