Book Review: Roil (The Nightbound Land #1) by Trent Jamieson

Roil is the first book in the The Nightbound Land duology by Trent Jamieson.

Book Description

Shale is in trouble - the creature-filled darkness known as the Roil is expanding, consuming the land, swallowing cities whole. Where once there were 12 metropolises, now only 4 remain.


It's up to a drug addict, an old man and a woman bent on revenge to try to save their city - and the world.

Ack.  Spiders.

Sometimes I suffer from skimming the back of the book and then purposefully forgetting what I've read.  Normally it saves me from unwanted spoilers, but in this case it would have been better to have the description - "A vast, chaotic, monster-bearing storm known only as the Roil is expanding, consuming the land." - fresh in my mind.  It took me a while to figure out just what was going on.  Once I caught up to speed, though, I became more invested in the story.  The Roil reminded me a lot of "The Nothing" from The Neverending Story (but more torturous).

Overall, I enjoyed reading Roil.  The action and the gadgetry were enough to hold my interest, and I really wanted to get in there and dissect all of the layers of the Roil.

That being said, I did struggle a lot, too.  There were a lot of characters to follow in Roil.  I didn't feel like I was able to really connect with anyone until more than halfway into the book.  I think then it was only because characters joined together and I had less to keep track of.

I have a hard time entering fantasy worlds in general.  Roil was no exception to this and for the most part I was more of an outsider looking in than actually being in the Roil world.  (Which could be good I guess... considering the spiders.)

Despite my struggles, I enjoyed Roil enough to want to read the next release in the The Nightbound Land duology, Night's Engine.

6/10: Good Read

One of the greatest mysteries of my childhood is what-on-earth name does Bastian give his mother when he is shouting out that window at the end of The Neverending Story??  No wait, don't tell me!  I'd hate to lose that part of my childhood.  :D  I obviously haven't read the book.

Review copy provided by the publisher