Trail of Lightning, Rebecca Roanhorse
Trail of Lightning is set in Dinétah, formerly the Navajo reservation, after a climate apocalypse that drowned half the world. In the post-apocalyptic landscape, old gods and spirits now prowl. Maggie ends up hunting those old gods and spirits, looking for her former mentor, trying to keep her sidekick alive, and killing some nasties along the way — you know, the usual sort of urban fantasy shtick, only with a decidedly non-usual setting.
Maggie’s got clan powers: skills which allow her to do superhuman feats in battle, and run faster than is physically possible for most humans, which come from her heritage. In principle, it’s all really interesting, and I do enjoy the setting and background. It’s not the beaten path, and that’s great.
I don’t think I liked the side characters as much as I should have, and mostly I mean Kai. I needed to feel more of a connection with him for the ending to really work, I think, and I was actually grossed out by aspects of his behaviour (which I shouldn’t spoiler!). He’s meant to be nice, but his manipulation of people is not something I admire in a character.
As for the plot, well, as soon as Coyote came along, I knew there was going to be some kind of reversal, some kind of trick. I did actually fall into part of the trap just because I disliked a particular character so much and was ready to believe the worst of him, but I was never really along for the ride because I know what Coyote is — or at least, I know a number of stories about Coyote, and about tricksters in general, and it was obvious that there was a twist coming.
I think overall I like the idea of the book more than I like the book itself, and that has sort of settled in — over the time since I finished the book — as my conclusion. I’m interested enough to read Storm of Locusts — and it’s higher in my Hugo ballot that Space Opera for sure — but I’m not in love with it.
You’ve captured my feelings about this completely. I’m glad it exists, and I’m glad I’ve read it, but I didn’t particularly enjoy it in the end. I loved the world-building, but I didn’t love many of the principal characters although I came to love Maggie – and I was glad she got the development she did. But if Kai doesn’t come back to her trailer I’d consider that a good thing. I’d rather she made peace with Grace’s kids 😛
Still, I expect to vote in favour of this one in various ballots for all the ways I do admire it. It joins the rare ranks of books I don’t have to like to appreciate what they do well 😉
imyril recently posted…May Redux: …into the fire
I really don’t think it can in all good conscience top my ballot, but it’ll be given a sort of mid-position, for sure.