Roil by Trent Jamieson - review

Roil

Book one of The Nightbound Land duology
Trent Jamieson
fantasy (with some steampunk elements)
2011

****** 
cover - I love this cover; there's something about the completely pissed look on her face.  Reminds me of Kiera Knightly playing Domino.  Bad-assed and deadly. That is kind of why I even picked up the book.  Then I bought it because it sounded so....gnarly (in a good way, which makes no sense at all).


It seems as though any book published by Angry Robot turns out to be wicked good. They're not your typical steampunk or urban fantasy novels.  Roil is another example of a crazy good book. 

This continent, Shale, - even the entire world, is being consumed by this thing called the Roil.  Heat loving monsters like you've never heard of before....quarg hounds, witmoths, garment flutes...lots of baddies.  From the back of the book - "It's up to a decadent wastrel, a four thousand year old man and a young woman bent on revenge to try to save their city - and the world." 

I enjoyed this book, even though it seemed so hopeless that any of them would survive.  The Roil is relentless and just consumes whole cities, people with them.  The witmoths take over the people, and the whole thing is changing.  What was once seemingly random monsters now seem to have  a plan, and to be using strategy.    Added to that you have a mayor of one city who has tried to convince the people there's no danger until the last minute, there's these other people called cuttlefolk who have an uneasy truce with people, and yet will kill.  And that four thousand year old man?  a very dangerous man who barely keeps himself in check, but is still trying to help save humanity.

The narration as well as the dialogue is very well done, making the book just flow.  I've tried one other book by Trent Jamieson and it doesn't even seem like the same writer (couldn't get past the first few chapters, though I'm willing to go back and try again).  I would love to get hold of the second in this duology - find out who wins in the end.  

The characters were great - the old man, creepy as hell and very powerful.  The young man, David - who at first can only think of his drug, but of course, life intervenes (as it usually does), and Margaret.  Margaret is soooo angry.  She escaped a Roil invasion and wants to destroy the Roils - she's ready to kill.

Good reading, highly recommended.