Up on the Roof - The Drifters

The Deserter
The Bone World Trilogy, Book 2

Author: Peadar Ó Guilín
Pages: 441
ARC Acquired from: David Fickling Books via NetGalley

Warning: This is the second book in a series. This review will contain spoilers for book one.

Brief Summary:
Stopmouth is back, determined both to save the humans in his small tribe and to get Indrani back. His task is made more difficult by the fact that, even though he knows the methods of his old tribe did keep the race as a whole going, he doesn't want to resort to such harsh methods. When the digger threat rises to high levels again, Stopmouth decides he can wait no longer for Indrani; he must go to the Roof and bring her back, along with the promised weapons to fight the Diggers.

Review:
I didn't particularly like The Inferior; although it was well done, I just had trouble relating to or getting into something so wildly different. My experience with The Deserter was better, probably largely due to the fact that I knew what to expect. Now, when I say better, I don't mean that I loved it or even really liked it, but I did enjoy the experience more.

Ó Guilín deserves some serious praise, and I would like to start with that. Although I have not gotten into this series, his worldbuilding is simply amazing. A ton of work has gone into the Bone World Trilogy and it is really evident. This is much better thought out than a lot of the YA dystopias I've read. He keeps peeling back layers and revealing more sliminess and dystopian-ness at the core of this world. That is, simply put, astounding.

This book was a lot more interesting to me, largely because most of this book was spent in the Roof. The cannibals running around on the surface of the planet throughout book one were just too weird and creepy. The Roof, and its occasional parallels to our modern society's ills, was much more captivating.

Still, the real downfall of the books for me, I think, is character. I'm through two fairly long books now, and I still just don't especially care about anyone. Stopmouth and Indrani are okay; I do want them to win over the other people, but I am not hugely invested either way.

At this point, I'll probably finish out the trilogy when book three comes out, just to check out the worldbuilding. If you're fascinated by the feats of an author's imagination, Ó Guilín's books might be for you.

Rating: 2.5/5

P.S. How perfect is this song? I thought of it and couldn't resist.

"When this old world starts getting me down
And people are just too much for me to face
I climb way up to the top of the stairs
And all my cares just drift right into space
On the roof, it's peaceful as can be
And there the world below can't bother me"