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3.97 AVERAGE
3.97 AVERAGE
This is the best book I've ever read in a LONG TIME. Just, simply wow.
Everything from the characters, our amazing protagonist Meg who is filled with pain and believes herself a monster, to the charming yet soft healer love interest. To the enigmatic Coyote who got style and is so much fun to read about. The setting and magic system that draws heavily from indigenous lore. The quirky antagonists and morally ambiguous immortal heroes who don't think like humans. The fast paced action scenes and organically developed character relationship and chemistry.
This book has no flaw. I am so thoroughly satisfied.
Ps. I'm a sucker for angry figher girl x soft healing boy trope. Gimme that and i eat that shit up.
Everything from the characters, our amazing protagonist Meg who is filled with pain and believes herself a monster, to the charming yet soft healer love interest. To the enigmatic Coyote who got style and is so much fun to read about. The setting and magic system that draws heavily from indigenous lore. The quirky antagonists and morally ambiguous immortal heroes who don't think like humans. The fast paced action scenes and organically developed character relationship and chemistry.
This book has no flaw. I am so thoroughly satisfied.
Ps. I'm a sucker for angry figher girl x soft healing boy trope. Gimme that and i eat that shit up.
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Reminiscent of American Gods, but with #ownstories realness and a badass femininity. A wild ride, violent and beautiful.
Trail of Lightning was Rebecca Roanhorse’s debut novel released in 2018. It won the Locus Award for Best First Novel that year and must have caught someone’s eye because she is now writing in the Star Wars universe, her latest book being Resistance Reborn – a prequel to the final Skywalker film. Trail of Lightning is a long way from Star Wars – fantasy based on Navajo (Diné) mythology based in a future world called “The Sixth World” (our current age being the Fifth). I can’t say often enough how refreshing it is to read myth-based fantasy that draws from something other than the Western tradition (cf Shadows of the Short Days).
Maggie Hoskis is a monster hunter. She has been trained by Neizghání, a supernatural being himself, to hunt down and kill the monsters that stalk her world. She has been in hiding since Neizghání’s disappearance by the kidnapping of a young girl by a monstrous figure brings her out of retirement. This is part of a more insidious series of events and soon Maggie is drawn in to finding out who is behind the monster attacks. She is paired with a young man called Kai, who has healing powers, but before long the two are on the run from local law enforcement and called on to do a job by the Navajo trickster spirit Coyote. This is just the start of their problems.
The world that Maggie inhabits is the traditional Navajo lands, surrounded now by a massive wall that keeps out the waters that have drowned most of the rest of the United States and the world. The coming of the Big Water was accompanied by the return of Navajo gods and spirits and the ability of Maggie and her fellow tribespeople to access powers inherent in different clans. Maggie’s powers, which she bridles against and fights to keep down, make her both fast and deadly. They give her a bloodlust that makes her deadly to monsters but also dangerous around anyone who threatens her.
The tale itself feels like it meanders with side quests and missions that are designed to flesh out Maggie’s world but also, in the end, are all critical pieces of the puzzle and all provide clues to the finale. There is plenty of Navajo lore and terminology throughout the book, most of which is explained sufficiently to appreciate the story, as for the rest, the best advice is to go with the flow. This was an assured debut that invites further exploration of the Sixth World (and a sequel Storm of Locusts did come out in 2019 and is now on the Pile).
Maggie Hoskis is a monster hunter. She has been trained by Neizghání, a supernatural being himself, to hunt down and kill the monsters that stalk her world. She has been in hiding since Neizghání’s disappearance by the kidnapping of a young girl by a monstrous figure brings her out of retirement. This is part of a more insidious series of events and soon Maggie is drawn in to finding out who is behind the monster attacks. She is paired with a young man called Kai, who has healing powers, but before long the two are on the run from local law enforcement and called on to do a job by the Navajo trickster spirit Coyote. This is just the start of their problems.
The world that Maggie inhabits is the traditional Navajo lands, surrounded now by a massive wall that keeps out the waters that have drowned most of the rest of the United States and the world. The coming of the Big Water was accompanied by the return of Navajo gods and spirits and the ability of Maggie and her fellow tribespeople to access powers inherent in different clans. Maggie’s powers, which she bridles against and fights to keep down, make her both fast and deadly. They give her a bloodlust that makes her deadly to monsters but also dangerous around anyone who threatens her.
The tale itself feels like it meanders with side quests and missions that are designed to flesh out Maggie’s world but also, in the end, are all critical pieces of the puzzle and all provide clues to the finale. There is plenty of Navajo lore and terminology throughout the book, most of which is explained sufficiently to appreciate the story, as for the rest, the best advice is to go with the flow. This was an assured debut that invites further exploration of the Sixth World (and a sequel Storm of Locusts did come out in 2019 and is now on the Pile).
I should never start a series before all of it is published. Can't wait to read the rest of the titles
Fast read, interesting concept. I enjoyed a post-apocalyptic story in an indigenous perspective. I'll try a more in-depth review after I read it again. I can't wait for the next one!
There was a good story but a little melodramatic about some things and the romance was like two 8th graders in heat rather than bad asses. Will probably read the second to see if it coalesces a bit better.
3.5/5
Maggie Hoskie is a monsterslayer, and she’s supernaturally good at it. She’s on the trail of a monster she’s never seen before, and reluctantly agrees to have Kai Arviso, a gifted medicine man, help her. The two embark on a journey that will force Maggie to confront her past if she wants to stop what is coming.
An own voices book with hero who thinks she’s a villain in a dystopian setting where Native Americans have taken back their land. Am I dreaming? I’m so excited that this was a Bookclub pick, otherwise I’m sure I would have missed it and it is not to be missed.
Maggie is such a great flawed character. Her development through the story is so great, and I loved learning with her. One of my favorite topics is the MC who has the potential to go very bad. Maggie’s Clan powers would allow to be an actual killing machine, and she knows it.
My main issue with this book is the lack of main plot line. There’s an over arching theme with solving the monster problem and witch bad witch created them, but it just never solidified for me. It felt like Kai and Maggie would start off and then get sidetracked, and that was the whole book. It felt like reading a video game, side quests galore.
I can’t wait to continue with this series! It has amazing world building, and the ending of Trail of Lightning gives me hope for a solid plot in the next book. Also, can we just take a moment for this cover
Maggie Hoskie is a monsterslayer, and she’s supernaturally good at it. She’s on the trail of a monster she’s never seen before, and reluctantly agrees to have Kai Arviso, a gifted medicine man, help her. The two embark on a journey that will force Maggie to confront her past if she wants to stop what is coming.
An own voices book with hero who thinks she’s a villain in a dystopian setting where Native Americans have taken back their land. Am I dreaming? I’m so excited that this was a Bookclub pick, otherwise I’m sure I would have missed it and it is not to be missed.
Maggie is such a great flawed character. Her development through the story is so great, and I loved learning with her. One of my favorite topics is the MC who has the potential to go very bad. Maggie’s Clan powers would allow to be an actual killing machine, and she knows it.
My main issue with this book is the lack of main plot line. There’s an over arching theme with solving the monster problem and witch bad witch created them, but it just never solidified for me. It felt like Kai and Maggie would start off and then get sidetracked, and that was the whole book. It felt like reading a video game, side quests galore.
I can’t wait to continue with this series! It has amazing world building, and the ending of Trail of Lightning gives me hope for a solid plot in the next book. Also, can we just take a moment for this cover
Let me begin by saying, that as a Diné (Navajo) woman who grew up with many of coyote stories and traditional creation stories, I wanted to love this book. But I just couldn’t. I couldn’t wrap my head around the portrayals of certain characters. Modernizing is one thing but to turn some of them into evil beings - I just cringed and couldn’t imagine it. I actually walked away feeling nothing and rather uneasy about it. We have a a superstition about an appropriate time of year to tell these stories and to do so out of season feels very wrong. That’s the feeling I got from this book. Despite all that, even the romanic connection was weak. Maggie could’ve been a fantastic character and her partnership with Kai was mediocre. It took me a long time to gather my thoughts about it to even know what to say in a review and this is all I can say about it.