Trail of Lightning
The Sixth World series, Book 1
Rebecca Roanhorse
Saga Press
Fiction, Fantasy
***+ (Okay/Good)
DESCRIPTION: When the Big Water came, drowning most of the world and shattering civilization, the people of Dinetah - once the Navajo Reservation - were prepared, protected by a wall built with power rooted in their ancestral tales and pantheon. With the rising water came the return of old forces, ancestral powers, inhuman beings... and meddlesome gods.
When her grandmother was slain, the girl Maggie Hoskie was saved by Neizghani, immortal Monsterslayer and wielder of a blade forged by pure lightning. He took her on as apprentice, and she grew to love him, even as he trained her to be as great a killer as himself - only to abandon her, suddenly and inexplicably, as though she'd become too much a monster herself for him to consort with. When a new breed of monster begins preying on Dinetah, Maggie must tackle the challenge on her own - a challenge that entangles her with the charming apprentice medicine man Kai, some old and not-so-friendly acquaintances, and the conniving trickster Coyote himself. If only she could be certain that the greatest threat to the Dine people was the monsters, and not herself...
REVIEW: This quick-reading novel, a post-apocalyptic tale based on Native American mythos, has been nominated for several awards, and I can certainly see why. Not only is the concept exciting and fresh, but Maggie's a decent antihero to follow, competent and clever enough to root for without being either too perfect or too brooding. Roanhorse builds an interesting world, with ancestral powers that can be as much a burden as a gift and monsters that aren't simple rehashes of vampires or zombies, plus gods that retain their inscrutable immortal mentality even when interacting with "five-fingered people" (ordinary mortals.) The action starts quickly and rarely slackens. Unfortunately, at some point it becomes apparent that Maggie and her partner of convenience Kai aren't really solving anything, but are being led around by external forces. This culminates in a finale that left me cold for reasons I can't elaborate on without spoilers. (I will say that there's an underlying measure of... possessiveness, I suppose is the word, concerning how Maggie is viewed by others in her life that rubbed me the wrong way, especially given how independent she had been until then.) The wrap-up feels too abrupt, as well, clearly meant to lure me into the second volume. This disappointment nearly dropped the book to a flat three stars, but the earlier originality, the distinctive characters and world, managed to claw back a half-star. If you're looking for a different sort of post-apocalyptic fantasy, it's worth reading; just be prepared for the ending.
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