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cass_ward's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Blood, and Gore
Moderate: Child death and Cannibalism
janchamp's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Solid 4 stars! The audiobook is very well narrated and brings a lot of depth to the story. My only regret with the audiobook is that I felt I missed out on what the Diné words LOOKED like, which is probably weird, but whatever.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Gun violence, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Emotional abuse
Minor: Alcoholism
mireillecum's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Blood, Cannibalism, Death, Grief, Murder, Police brutality, Violence, Vomit, Death of parent, and Gun violence
aggielexi's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
I did like this book, I ate it up, finished it in less than 24 hours. Why, because I wanted to see this world get built out! I loved the idea of a "Big Water" catastrophe that decimated the world and we've got broken up United States, and the Diné are their own power in this world. I LOVED this idea. The book didn't deliver. I eagerly devoured this book looking for any tidbits on when "The Big Water" took place. Teeeny drops of information, even in passing. Spoiler alert (not really, just read other reviews), the world building doesn't happen.
You get maybe a paragraph on "The Big Water" and that's it. I was also excited about the Diné Gods, I loved this idea of seeing them in the real world and interacting with them. It doesn't really deliver there either. We're just kind of expected to take everything at face value. And then I thought about it after reading this book. This was a YA, plug and play book.
Go ahead and think the usual. You've got your main character, who is "your not average, doesn't know she's pretty, very angsty orphan teen girl, mentor found her in the time of need and taught her to be a warrior." You've got the estranged mentor she's in love with. The love interest who has a shady past, and isn't being fully truthful, but his roguish smile and silver tongue solve all problems.
Plug characters into some plot about needing to kill monsters, a-la Sam and Dean from Supernatural style (season 1-4) , and there's the book. I liked Supernatural the early season though, so I did really want to read the next one.
The worse part though, is finishing the book and then doing research and learning that our author is not of the Diné culture. I understand it is a book of fiction, but something doesn't feel quite right knowing now that she is not creating a character of her own ancestry and is depicting another culture that she may not be as intimately familiar with.
You get maybe a paragraph on "The Big Water" and that's it. I was also excited about the Diné Gods, I loved this idea of seeing them in the real world and interacting with them. It doesn't really deliver there either. We're just kind of expected to take everything at face value. And then I thought about it after reading this book. This was a YA, plug and play book.
Go ahead and think the usual. You've got your main character, who is "your not average, doesn't know she's pretty, very angsty orphan teen girl, mentor found her in the time of need and taught her to be a warrior." You've got the estranged mentor she's in love with. The love interest who has a shady past, and isn't being fully truthful, but his roguish smile and silver tongue solve all problems.
Plug characters into some plot about needing to kill monsters, a-la Sam and Dean from Supernatural style (season 1-4) , and there's the book. I liked Supernatural the early season though, so I did really want to read the next one.
The worse part though, is finishing the book and then doing research and learning that our author is not of the Diné culture. I understand it is a book of fiction, but something doesn't feel quite right knowing now that she is not creating a character of her own ancestry and is depicting another culture that she may not be as intimately familiar with.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Death of parent, Cannibalism, and Cultural appropriation
Moderate: Abandonment
ren_dragon's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder, Death of parent, Grief, Blood, and Gore
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Violence, and Police brutality
Minor: Cursing
kelseyd's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I was looking for a book to replicate the vibe of "The Last of Us" and boy, did this book deliver. Creepy, otherworldly, plus a badass monsterslayer who is a woman for once? So good. Maggie is living in the (dystopian) Sixth World, with only the Navajo Nation left above water, and legends and monsters walking amongst the humans. Maggie was raised by an immortal and then abandoned; now she fights monsters for bounty and basically pisses off everyone around her. The only person she likes asks her to take on his grandson as her partner (and guess what? He's cute!) and they go on adventures trying to find out who is creating the zombies walking around. It wasn't a perfect book but I am so excited to see where this series goes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, Gun violence, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, and Gore
wickedgrumpy's review against another edition
I think what I read of the book was fine. It's a post-apocalyptic earth with gods and monsters aplenty but I didn't like the main characters. It's right at the point where I stopped (almost halfway through the book) when you finally start getting some explanations about what is going on/how things work and it wasn't interesting to me.
I don't want to force myself to finish another book I am not enjoying and my tentative rating before quitting the book was somewhere in the 2 star region.
I don't want to force myself to finish another book I am not enjoying and my tentative rating before quitting the book was somewhere in the 2 star region.
Content Warnings
Minor: Death of parent, Gore, Sexual harassment, Torture, Gun violence, Sexism, Death, Misogyny, Murder, Police brutality, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Violence, Alcohol, Cannibalism, Child death, and Toxic friendship
devy_ka's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death, and Death of parent
Minor: Blood
booksthatburn's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
TRAIL OF LIGHTING is a bright light in my reading life, a book with urban fantasy feels but nary a city in sight. Maggie is conflicted and messy, with a supernatural ability to bring death (helped by her gun and very large knife) and not much help reconciling that with the rest of herself.
It's about legacies of trauma and the nature of monstrosity, as Maggie grapples with her understanding of herself. Is she a person who kills monsters? Or a monster who's trying to take other monsters down with her/ Part of this is shown early on when she deliberately withholds her expected part of a culturally important greeting, not wanting to show this part of herself to people she is technically in community with. She feels alienated from them by her deeds. Complicating this is the fact that she's useful to them for the very thing that makes them feel uncomfortable around her, i.e. her talent for death which she uses for monster hunting and retribution.
I love the worldbuilding and setting, blending real climate change fears with Indigenous (specifically Diné) mythology to create a new world from the remains of our own. Some things are directly explained, especially if they relate to her personal history or the particular quirks of this particular dystopian existence, but a lot of specific definitions are left to context clues.
I enjoyed this portrayal of Coyote, Maggie's interactions with him are interestingly tense. I like Kai, he seems like a good counterbalance for Maggie. My few complaints about him have excellent in-story justifications which come together in the end and turn them from annoying to appropriately mysteriously and foreshadow-y.
The big reveal is excellent, I'm very pleased by that part of the ending. This was great and I'm excited for the next one!
It's about legacies of trauma and the nature of monstrosity, as Maggie grapples with her understanding of herself. Is she a person who kills monsters? Or a monster who's trying to take other monsters down with her/ Part of this is shown early on when she deliberately withholds her expected part of a culturally important greeting, not wanting to show this part of herself to people she is technically in community with. She feels alienated from them by her deeds. Complicating this is the fact that she's useful to them for the very thing that makes them feel uncomfortable around her, i.e. her talent for death which she uses for monster hunting and retribution.
I love the worldbuilding and setting, blending real climate change fears with Indigenous (specifically Diné) mythology to create a new world from the remains of our own. Some things are directly explained, especially if they relate to her personal history or the particular quirks of this particular dystopian existence, but a lot of specific definitions are left to context clues.
I enjoyed this portrayal of Coyote, Maggie's interactions with him are interestingly tense. I like Kai, he seems like a good counterbalance for Maggie. My few complaints about him have excellent in-story justifications which come together in the end and turn them from annoying to appropriately mysteriously and foreshadow-y.
The big reveal is excellent, I'm very pleased by that part of the ending. This was great and I'm excited for the next one!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Sexual content, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Gore, Violence, Gun violence, Cannibalism, Murder, Child death, and Death
Moderate: Sexual harassment, Misogyny, Alcohol, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Child abuse, and Death of parent
Minor: Ableism
redus_reuse_recycle's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Police brutality, Violence, and Gore
Moderate: Death of parent, Cannibalism, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Sexual assault