Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse

16 reviews

mortonsspoon's review

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Violence

cerilouisereads's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cannibalism, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Body horror, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship

Zombie-like creatures

thewildmageslibrary's review

dark

3.5

This book was a bit darker than I usually read but I liked it! The story is set in a post-apocalyptic North America where monsters roam alongside gods and humans. Maggie was a tough heroine and I understood how she got to that point, but my heart hurt for her.

Please note that some own-voices reviewers have talked about issues with the depictions of Navajo culture and mythology by the author, who is not Navajo.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gun violence, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Cannibalism and Toxic relationship

zoe_'s review

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

This was awesome. It took me about 100 pages to get fully on board (until Coyote showed up, pretty much) but then I really was all the way on board.
I really enjoyed the fighting scenes, though I would have read a lot more of those or longer scenes (unfortunately, Maggie is either op or up against literal gods, which hardly seems fair). In general, Roanhorse knows how to write some good action scenes. She also knows how to put the reader into the mind/position of her protagonist (it might have helped that I'm socially almost as inept as Maggie). Both of these factors are very potent elements in supporting my emersion into the story. I pretty much read this book in two bursts and completely lost myself in it during each. 
The elements of character building and progression were also pretty nicely done. Sadly, I was least interested in Maggie's romantic endeavors which meant that the main relationship-aspects rushed past me, but I did enjoy the moments with the other characters all the better.
The one factor that has lowered my rating the most significantly was, sadly, that I saw the ending coming from a couple of miles away. I don't think everyone will have the same experience as I did, in this regard, but if you're decently well-versed in certain tropes it's rather predicable what will happen at the end. Luckily, I got over it pretty quickly (there's still a lot to learn and to do in the second book) so I'm really looking forward to continuing the story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Gun violence, Murder, and Police brutality

Moderate: Cannibalism, Vomit, and Toxic relationship

manarnia's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was an absolutely propulsive read. I had to continuously stop myself from skipping forwards to see what happened. I did not, however, love the main character. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Police brutality, Blood, Gun violence, and Cursing

Moderate: Grief and Toxic relationship

oksi's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gun violence, Child death, and Blood

Moderate: Body horror

Minor: Toxic relationship