Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse (2018)
Directionless: unaffecting
Book cover blurb
While most of the world has drowned beneath the sudden rising waters of a climate apocalypse, Dinétah (formerly the Navajo reservation) has been reborn. The gods and heroes of legend walk the land, but so do monsters.
Maggie Hoskie is a Dinétah monster hunter, a supernaturally gifted killer. When a small town needs help finding a missing girl, Maggie is their last—and best—hope. But what Maggie uncovers about the monster is much larger and more terrifying than anything she could imagine.
Maggie reluctantly enlists the aid of Kai Arviso, an unconventional medicine man, and together they travel to the rez to unravel clues from ancient legends, trade favours with tricksters, and battle dark witchcraft in a patchwork world of deteriorating technology.
As Maggie discovers the truth behind the disappearances, she will have to confront her past—if she wants to survive.
Welcome to the Sixth World.
My Review
I'm very sorry, and I hope the author doesn't read this because it's just a personal thing, but I was utterly bored during this entire read. The only reason I stuck with it to the end was because I agreed to give it a try on a personal recommendation. So I felt obligated to read right to the end.
It's obviously just me, because this book receives quite high ratings elsewhere, but I thought the writing was abrupt, disjointed and clunky. So much so it actually prevented me from getting into the story. Come to think of it, was there a story? A plot? There seemed to be things happening but with very little forward momentum. I felt the Native American aspect was being rammed down my neck unnecessarily. There was also no emotional connection to any of the characters for me, I just couldn't make myself care, either about what was going on or what was to become of anyone. I felt no menace from the 'monsters' and the whole dystopian world just didn't feel desperate or threatening. I'm going to stop there, I don't want it to seem like I'm just trying to be nasty. This is just my honest and personal opinion.
Maybe I would have felt differently if this book wasn't in first-person perspective, I don't know.
My copy of this novel
Saga Press hardback edition.
Published in 2018
287 pages
ISBN 9781534413498