Trent Jamieson is a writer of no small talent, one who suffuses his richly imagined worlds with authentic human feeling and - as a result - portrays realistic characters in extraordinary circumstances. Roil is a prodigious work of imagination. The world of Roil has a history as complex as its current social and geographical topography (and on that last point, I could have done with a map to plot the journeys of our protagonists because the place feels that real).

Roil allows Trent to give free reign to his darker imaginings and the physical threat of the roil and its denizen 'roilings' demonstrate that very well. The action is relentless, complex and delivered for the most part at breakneck speed. It's all a fantastic adventure and the ending sets up nicely for book two. The only reason I didn't give Roil five stars was firstly that some of the scenes, I felt, could have benefited from a final polish (eg the capture of the group by the cuttlefolk and their subsequent rout) because I couldn't visualise things as much as I might have liked and secondly, in all the excitement and action, I didn't feel able to bond as closely on an emotional level with Roil's protagonists as I have with other pieces written by Trent.