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A review by teapoweredrobot
Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A post-apocalypse book from a Navajo viewpoint, a new to me take on the trope that I very much enjoyed. It's clearly post-apocalypse, but it doesn't carry the heaviness of many of the post-apocalypse books I've read. It's important and impacts the story but it's not a desperate survival story.
I have read most of the Mercy Thompson series, which also features a Pacific Northwest Native American main character - the overlap and divergence between the PNW and Navajo lore of Coyote, or how it's told in these stories was fun to compare. He seems to be a universal trickster who wants to appear to be helpful to the characters. The main characters are compelling and you're trickle fed information about them, their powers, and their history in a very compelling way.
I'm super glad I got the audiobook because I'm sure I would not have pronounced half of the Navajo words correctly. (Side note: I sometimes found the reader's intonation to fluctuate in a weird way and would sometimes jar me out of the story.)
I have read most of the Mercy Thompson series, which also features a Pacific Northwest Native American main character - the overlap and divergence between the PNW and Navajo lore of Coyote, or how it's told in these stories was fun to compare. He seems to be a universal trickster who wants to appear to be helpful to the characters. The main characters are compelling and you're trickle fed information about them, their powers, and their history in a very compelling way.
I'm super glad I got the audiobook because I'm sure I would not have pronounced half of the Navajo words correctly. (Side note: I sometimes found the reader's intonation to fluctuate in a weird way and would sometimes jar me out of the story.)
Content Warnings
Minor: Murder