I'm grateful to the author for an advance e-copy of this book via NetGalley.

I love a book with a big, bold premise. Trail of Lightning certainly delivers this - Maggie Hoskie is a Native American monster hunter in a post-apocalyptic world where climate change ('the Big Water') has inundated much of the US and left the Diné (Navajo) people clinging to a precarious existence on part of their ancestral land, albeit (and ironically) subject to endless drought.

Maggie herself is an orphan, rescued and raised by the god Neizgháni - who trained her as an apprentice hunter before disappearing. Put baldly that sounds a lot of backstory in a short book (and there is more) but Roanhorse very skilfully parcels it out, only revealing details and facts as they are needed and allowing the reader to piece things together. The setup gives Maggie a degree of vulnerability - she is alone and mortal, facing supernatural threats that don't pull their punches, and her past has left her unpopular among the cops ('Law Dogs'), gangs, mercenaries and trade bosses who vie for power in Dinétah. There's sexism, too, highlighted when she's negotiating with a family over the price for monster-hunting job when their daughter has been snatched away by a 'tsé-naayéé'. ('Maybe they don't want to pay because I'm a woman').

I was impressed by the gritty reality of the world that Roanhorse describes, the impoverishment and general air of scrabbling for existence in a hard world. Of course it's not too much of a stretch to suggest that for Native Americans that is less an awful dystopian future than a version of their present lives and that they are already living in a post-apocalyptic world. Indeed, as described here the Big Water and its aftereffects have brought benefits such as independence ('Dinetáh risen') and - for some - even wealth. That's not a point overtly made - the story is really too fast paced to allow much time for such comparisons (though nor does the book gloss over injustices and marginalisation, past or present). Indeed it is pretty much contentious action from introducing Maggie on that first monster hunt to a final, awful confrontation with gods, monsters and vigilantes.

In between she's basically on the run, collecting a ragged assortment of allies who (of course) have their own agendas and trying to work out what's going on. Something really bad is at large, slaughtering people in the towns and leaving that trail of lightning. Even the best organised places aren't immune.

To solve the mystery, Maggie has to dig deep into her people's traditions, telling us in the course of that of a fantastical collection of gods and heroes from the old stories who are now, it seems, all to real in Dinetáh (I loved that Roanhorse makes no concessions to the English speaker, or indeed, review writer or typesetter, using spellings that I literally can't find the symbols for - for example, a word like 'wóshdee' where the two final "e"s ought to have both an acute accent é and a little mark underneath ę. My keyboard will allow one or the other but not both at once.) I loved this sense of thinness between two worlds, of the inhabitants of story walking this world, and it's done very plausibly (one god, Ma'ii/ Coyote, is a particularly natty dresser).

Maggie herself is a wonderful character - resourceful, slightly bitter in a way that's almost noir ('I lean back and start at the ceiling of the truck, asking the heavens for help dealing with men with their heads up their assess. I'm pretty sure no help will be forthcoming, but I feel the need to ask anyway') and always, always, slightly disappointed by those around her but carrying on anyway. She doesn't know everything, she's not always right (for example, she misjudges one young man she meets - he's handy with a gun, and she's surprised when her turns out to be gay) but is always ready to admit that and do better. Is she perhaps a bit overfamiliar with present day cultural references and technology? perhaps - but who knows what's current in 2030+ Dinetáh and that's intrinsically more plausible than gods and monsters anyway.

Overall then: I loved this book. I galloped through it, enjoying the buildup to the finalé, caring about the characters, refreshed by its not being another Western European strongmen in furs type of fantasy, and thoroughly liking the plot, characters and setting.

Best of all there is a sequel coming (the e-ARC had an extract in it, hopefully the publishers books does too) and I am keen to read that.

There’s a snag to a highly anticipated read – it might not live up to my excited expectations. So I was very relieved when I quickly discovered that for all her edges, I really cared about poor, damaged Maggie and wanted her to succeed. This is important, because she spends a great deal of time pushing away those she cares about, convinced that she is also a monster.

In this post-apocalyptic world, everyone has edges. As catastrophic flooding swept away civilisation and families, those that survived had to become tough and resourceful. Roanhorse’s descriptions of this aftermath is well done. I loved the setting of a parched land that has been reshaped once more for the rise of the Native American nations and their gods – the Sixth World.

I was quickly completely immersed in this world and spend a happy afternoon relaxing while the pages turned by themselves as I was caught up in Maggie’s adventures. Alongside the monster-hunting and killing, she is also trying to cope with her own emotional problems. Actually, that’s not quite true – all she wants to do is get on and kill the monsters, but those emotional issues won’t leave her alone, as she has to confront those messing with her head.

If you enjoy richly drawn fantasy landscapes with plenty of action featuring a sympathetic, nicely complex heroine, who battles all sorts of odds without becoming whiny or pathetic, then this one comes very highly recommended. Thank you, Tammy!
10/10

Thank you to Netgalley and Hodder and Stoughton for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review.
I had heard great things about this book so I just had to request it and I really loved it!

This is an ownvoices book so I was really looking forward to reading this. The main characters are Native Americans and the story is rich with their culture and folklore. This was one of my favourite parts of the book. I especially found it fascinating because unfortunately I don’t know much about their culture but from my understanding it felt like it had really great rep.

It’s a dystopian world set in the future, a future where climate change has caused catastrophic damage to the earth and the world is not like the world we live in now. There are water shortages and not much technology like we’re used to now. And the gods walk among us and so do the monsters.

Maggie is a monster slayer and is well known amongst Dinetah, right from the beginning we see her fight a monster and her abilities that make her such a lethal monster killer. We are thrown right into the action and I loved that. She makes difficult decisions and is brave yet she has difficulty with expressing how she feels. She has a great character arc and grows to learn to accept herself.

We also get a lot of information about the history of the clans and tribes and the stories and at times it felt a little info dumpy at times but I understand why the author felt it was necessary and I actually really enjoyed reading about the stories and history.

We are also introduced to another character, Kai, who joins Maggie to try and figure out where the monsters are coming from who keep killing people all over Dinetah. I loved Kai from the moment we meet him and my love for him just grows as we learn more about him and see what type of person he is. One of my favourite things about Kai is that he is kind and supportive and doesn’t push Maggie to do something she isn’t comfortable with. He also helps Maggie learn that she is more than just a killer and deserves more in life.

The story was really interesting and can get quite dark and brutal at times. There are some plot twists and although I had an idea of what they could be I still enjoyed the revelations. I really enjoyed learning more about Ma’ii and his trickster ways. He was such a complicated and interesting character and you can’t quite figure out his motives. Both Maggie and Kai are complex and mysterious and there is more to both of them than we see initially.

I really enjoyed this book and I cannot wait to be able to read book two because I really need to know what happens after THAT ending!

This one took me a minute to get used to the writing style, but once I was into the story, it swept me up and away with the Big Water. We follow Maggie, a monster hunter as she tries to track down the witch causing havoc while trying to break in a new partner with secrets of his own and dealing with Ma ii - the mischief maker. Given Maggie's stand-offish nature, it makes sense that the prose is also designed to hold the reader at a distance, but as a mentioned, it did take a few chapters to get used to this. The world is absolutely fascinating and well realised, but there is definitely room for further exploration in the upcoming instalments. I loved Grace and her family and thought that the relationships were interesting and felt authentic. The magic system is a little underdeveloped, but again, this allows for scope in future novels. Overall, I thought that this was a very promising first instalment and I will definitely look forward to the next book.
I received a free copy of this book from the publishers for a fair and honest review.

I love urban fantasy and this was just brilliant, loved how much the author tied mythology and folklore into the story, wonderful to read about Native American main characters, so under represented in books. An amazing read with a well crafted plot and complex characters, highly recommended

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

Maggie Hoskie is a Diné (Navajo) hunter in a post-apocalyptic world, gifted with hereditary clan powers that give her an edge over the monsters she hunts. Brought out of self-imposed exile by a group of locals being terrorised by a new type of monster, she soon finds herself chasing after the witch who is apparently creating these monsters. Along the way she picks up the help of Kai, a young man with big medicine, and Ma’ii, the Coyote of Diné legend. But as Maggie soon begins to learn, nothing is truly what it seems in what’s left of the world after the destruction wrought by the Big Water.

This book came out in the States last year and I’d been planning on picking a copy up at some point, so when the UK edition turned up on NetGalley a couple of months ago I didn’t think twice about requesting a copy. I was intrigued by the premise, a traditional Navajo monster hunter in a post-apocalyptic world, and as a result I was eager to give it a read.

I’ll admit this is a book you really need to focus your attention on; it’s not one you can skim read and hope to take in. The narrative relies quite heavily on the use of Navajo folklore and as a result the text is liberally peppered with Diné terms, which can be quite difficult to keep track of if you’re not paying attention. However, if you give it the time and manage to keep those terms straight in your mind this is a pretty rewarding read.

Once you get past the linguistic barrier, the writing style is punchy and relatively easy to read, especially during the various action sequences that are scattered through the story. In addition, the principal characters are reasonably well written and interesting enough to make the reader want them to succeed, though Maggie’s constant self-doubt did occasionally make me want to yell at her to just get on with it. Still, with a little help from friends she does manage to get over herself in time for the final showdown between the good guys and the bad guys.

This is definitely an entertaining read, and the use of Native American folklore certainly makes it stand out from the crowd somewhat. I’d recommend it to anyone who likes contemporary urban fantasy with a twist and a genuinely strong female protagonist. Not quite worth a full four stars, though it only just falls short.

This is a fast and action packed urban fantasy placed in a dystopian world with a main character who is well trained, has scary clan powers and has just started to face her biggest challenge yet, facing her own fears and facing the trauma that brought her to this lonely place filled with monsters and a very narrow understanding of herself.

It is a story or is it a tale that discusses family and friendship, trust and mistrust, facing your own denials and distruths but mostly tells about a process of healing that starts and takes its time and then, coming out the other side, lets you find an answer that you can start to build upon.

This is the second time I read this book. And I even loved it better this second time round.

The book offers a good closure to the mystery held within the pages, but my feeling is that Rebecca Roanhorse has cast her net wide and far and we certainly are not yet at the end of the story and the mythologies involved. It has come but to a moment's pause at the end of this book.

Again, I felt excited to be back in the Sixth World and discover the world building that surrounds this dystopian Native American lands, the inside and outside it creates. And again, I just want more stories about this Sixth World, the Big Water, the Wall, and Maggie Hoskie and the people that start to group around her and the Immortals that also have their hands in the game.

I got the copy this time from the publisher here in the UK via Netgalley, as, Yes, this book gets its own UK edition and I am so very pleased about this.

This book was spectacular.

I could not get enough of this book, but it did take me a little while to get into it. In fact, I was not in the mood for this book when I first started it but it was an ARC due for the end of November and I knew that I needed to get to reading it. When I started it, I knew the writing was good, I got the vibe from the book, but I still felt a little meh about it as I wasn’t in the mood and wasn’t sucked in to the story. By Thursday/Friday I did a mega 180 attitude change and I was hooked.

I started this after DNFing To Kill A Queen. I was so excited about reading that book, I had hyped it up in my mind and it fell totally flat. I’m saying this because I was in a negative mood starting this book so I did need to work to get out of that mood and it may have influenced my initial thoughts on this one. Once I gave this book a proper chance and stopped dipping in and out of it, I was hooked and it was so good. I’d been excited to read it before, ever since it was released in the US, in fact. It has been on my radar and I’m so glad I braved it and requested this because this was so worth it and I’m just glad I got approved!

My negative mood was not the only thing stopping me from getting totally into this book. This is book is set in the Dinetah (the former Navajo reservation) and most of the characters are Native Americans from various clans and it is written by Rebecca Roanhorse who is a Native American author. I admit, I know nothing about Native American culture and so I need a whole education, but I was thrown by the various words and terms in the book which were Navajo but I didn’t know them or understand them and I hope that the finished book has some kind of glossary of terms which can be used for reference when reading because I kind of needed that. I will be going to the shop to try and get a physical copy so I will check that out in the final copy. My arc didn’t and it would have been nice… it wasn’t a deal-breaker, though. I mean, I figured it out, I’m a smart cookie, but it relied on my ability to remember words. It wasn’t a must-have but it would have been nice.

Now I’ve gone on about the background a little maybe I should talk about the character and the actual book. The book focuses on Maggie, a monster hunter. She defined herself as a hunter and a killer, especially a killer. She was a bit of a recluse and was hurting after her mentor (and the man she loved) abandoned her with no word almost a year ago. She had a whole heap of emotional scars from her past and was quite happy being left alone. She was dragged into a monster mystery when a clan called upon her for help when a girl was kidnapped from her bed by a monster and they wanted Maggie to rescue her. Once she got dragged into this mystery she needed to follow it through and find out who started all of this. Especially when she found the monster and didn't recognise what kind of monster it was so turns to Tah, the one man who she thinks may have an idea of what monster she found. That's when it got good. She goes to Tah who introduced her to his grandson who he thought could help unravel the mystery. Especially as he had skills (the full extent of said skills to be revealed later in the book and I will not spoil it for you).

Kai was a total babe who was both good-looking, a nice guy and a broody mystery (yes he can be all of those things at once stop with your judgey judgey faces). Once he started helping Maggie well I was hooked. I didn't actually like him at first, like Mags I was wary of this slick-talking good-looking man and why he was being so genial with her but he won me over fast. He was just a genuinely good guy and me and Mags weren't used to such things. I mean, the man had secrets but I totally didn't guess those and I was shocked as Maggie when we found them out. But even after the secrets were revealed, looking back he was still a good guy who wanted to support Maggie in seeing better things about herself because she was so negative about herself and this was due to past trauma and the terrible influence of her mentor on her mindset and self beliefs.

The book follows Maggie trying to find out where this monster she killed came from and who is behind those who keep coming. I admit I was surprised by the whodunnit… but also not because it made more sense than who Maggie originally thought did it. This book also looked at Maggie examine her past a little more and some of the many emotional scars that have been left behind and with the answers which came at the end of the book you just know there'll be more exploration of that to come because there were even more emotional wounds revealed by the whodunnit and that ending! Hot damn. I need more answers because I have a lot of questions. Luckily the second book is out in the UK on Thursday alongside the first so guess who's headed to Waterstones for a little shopping!

Look, this is probably a terrible review but your girl here has realised she's a shoddy reviewer sometimes but this book was good and I am so ready to return to this world. I adored the Native American history intertwined with this story and I really feel like the world of this book with The Big Water and the lead up to the creation of this world is realistic and relevant to today.

And writing that paragraph all set to wrap up this review I realise I haven't even mentioned worldbuilding (see, shoddy reviewer) the world of this book was basically a post-apocalyptic world where the sea levels have risen (sound familiar) and the US has shrunk. There was a large native reserve which had walls around it (inspired by the US building a wall to the south…yes, seriously) and this land had the Dine people living within. Look, I can't remember the specifics and I'm thinking maybe I've missed chunks of history which either weren't revealed yet or I just full-on forgot but the things is the world flooded, the US shrunk and the map got all kinds of rewritten because of it. For some reason water is a scarce resource there was something about fuel being hoarded and that's all I remember. God, I'm the worst.

I think I loved this book so much because apart from the good story and awesome characters the world just felt real. This felt like a future which could happen and it was scary. I mean, I’m less certain the magic and monsters are likely to happen in the future (but never say never) but this bleak future is possible.

This book was above and beyond my already high expectations considering my friends had all raved about it. They were all correct. Roanhorse gives us this lush and amazing world and background and history and magic and character development and lore, well, you get the point. This was a SUPERB read and I can't believe I hadn't read it before today. I would say that Mags is a completely complex and full protagonist, with wonderful flaws and an amazing spirit. The sub-characters were just as great, and though I did adore Kai, I think perhaps Tah was my favorite.

It's high time I read a book where the focus was on Native Americans blended into this scifi/dystopia and magic to bring around a flawless first book in The Sixth World.

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).

I'm not often a fan of urban fantasy but i have to admit this book won me over.
The concept was super unique and i loved that much of the plot was driven by folklore and mythology.
Props for the Native American rep, i think this is my first time reading a book with a Native American main character and as a minority myself it was lovely to see another underrepresented group and culture written about in a non - exploitative way.

A quick urban fantasy that features a Native American kick ass heroine monster hunter looking for a missing girl in an apocalyptic world.

This was fast paced and full of action throughout, dropping the reader right into the action and not letting go until the end. The world building, for such a short book, is well done and interesting with plenty of descriptions to give the reader enough answers without compromising on plot development and pace.

Maggie is a great main character, full of sass and power without coming across as too unrealistic or unlikeable. She’s a bit of a tortured soul, with a dark past, but I didn’t find her standoffish or unapproachable as a result. I found her multifaceted and interesting, morally ambiguous and complicated. I did find the romance elements a bit tired and forced, and felt they brought down the strength of Maggie’s characterisation slightly - although her overall character arc in such a short amount of time more than made up for this.

I would have liked this to have been longer, and for more secondary character development, but I can’t deny this was fun, entertaining and featuring a protagonist who is fully fleshed out and culturally diverse - which is something definitely needed within the genre. I’d be interested in reading more from this world.

Did INR like the romance, feel forced.

This gets filed as urban fantasy (not my favourite sub-genre) but it's got a definite dystopian setting, which I've always enjoyed. Fantastic to see some different mythology to the usual werewolves/vampires/fae, I like variety. A good first instalment, lots of action and plotting, and the cast of supporting characters has a lot of potential to develop as the series goes on. The romance didn't dominate the main plot, and I did enjoy the fact that Maggie had so many different problems and enemies to complicate matters! She's a very abrasive, tough-girl character but I did feel there was enough depth to stop her becoming a cliche.

My only complaint would be the twist with Kai's powers, or more specifically, that it had been so obvious throughout the book I'm not sure how Maggie was taken by surprise by it. Still, the resolution was suitably dramatic and unexpected, I'll be keen to see where it goes in the sequel.

There were so many things that drew me about this book. Post-climate apocalypse fantasy based around Native American folklore and culture, it sounded like nothing I’d ever read before. The fact that it had a female lead was just the icing on top of the fictional cake. I understand this book has been out in the USA for a while, but it’s not released in the UK until 26th November. For anyone who’s not picked it up, I absolutely cannot recommend it enough.

First, however, some trigger warnings. It gets violent, and the violence is brutal. It isn’t glossed over, and some of it is horrific. There’s torture, cannibalism, and the death of children. These aren’t long sections for the most part, but they’re there, and Roanhorse’s writing is so vivid that they can be difficult. It opens with Maggie being hired to find a young girl who has been kidnapped by a monster, and the narrative starts hard, dropping you directly into the action to give you a sense of the worst of things in this futuristic world.

Climate change has meant the world has flooded, while simultaneously being scorched. Most of the USA is underwater, but Dinétah, walled off from the rest of the country, is a scorched desert but has been protected from the worst of the damage as an already self-sufficient nation. But the climate disaster brought with it an awakening of old gods and monsters, and Maggie has been trained to hunt them, to kill them. Unfortunately she also comes with her own traumas and issues and struggles to trust or find her place in the world.

I’m going to say something which may sound a little out of context here, but I have spent several years frustrated that I haven’t been able to find a book like The Dresden Files, but with a woman as the main character. I enjoy The Dresden Files, but its narrative can be frustrating. It constantly discusses the relative attractiveness of every woman who appears (they’re all hot, but different kinds of hot) and also he is apparently freakishly good at identifying exactly how much makeup women are wearing. There’s also a lot of focus on how he has to be chivalrous all the time, even if the women had explicitly told him to stop. Harry Dresden is a bit of an ass.

This book gives me what I’ve been looking for. While The Dresden Files is contemporary urban fantasy, and Trail of Lightning is post-apocalyptic fantasy, the narrative style, the story structure, the exploration of existing lore and mythology and the translation of that into a system and culture of magic… Everything about it reminded me of what I enjoyed most about The Dresden Files, but it filled the gaps that I needed. It gave me a woman’s perspective, so I didn’t get a constantly bombarded by a parade of beautiful women and ugly men – the characters felt like people, and were described in a way that didn’t seem to be assessing their sexual viability constantly. Even the love interest was mostly described in passing physically until later in the book. It’s hard to explain how a book can feel so similar but be tonally so different, but there you have it. For me, this felt like the book I’ve been looking for to improve on the problems I had with another series. I’ll still read The Dresden Files, I’ve sunk an awful lot of time into finding out how it ends, but God Trail of Lightning felt like a breath of clean air. I read it in just over a day. I couldn’t put it down.

I loved Maggie, I loved how strong and principled she was, and I love that she was allowed to be aggressive and unpleasant and unlikeable. No-one tried to make her be feminine, no-one tried to make her to be smaller or more dainty. She is a force of fury and aggression, people are scared of her because she is strong. It was empowering to read about this woman who has a physical presence like that. But she’s sympathetic too. Her struggles are internal, so the reader becomes intimately acquainted with them in a way her peers aren’t. So while we read about her companions reacting to her behaviours, we know why she’s doing them, we know that she’s trying to deal with her demons, her powers, and her PTSD.

There’s a little thing as well, but I liked that she was tall, and explicitly that she was taller than Kai, the partner she reluctantly acquires. It’s not often there are stories where the woman is the taller part of a mixed-gender team, and while it’s not even really noted except for right at the start, I enjoyed it. Maggie is allowed to be the physically large, powerful presence, while Kai is described as pretty, as delicate, and acts as the mediator. It’s an absolute reversal of traditional Western gender roles and tropes (although whether the same tropes necessarily exist within Native American culture I don’t know, this set up may be common in that context), and I just loved it.

It’s these little details, mixed with the careful, casual world building as myths and magic and monsters fit in around a world where water is scarce and the environment is as hostile and dangerous as the things which go bump in the night. I loved Roanhorse’s writing and voice, I loved the collected cast of supporting characters (Tah, the elderly medicine man, is an absolute delight). Kai and Maggie’s relationship develops fantastically, and their chemistry is almost entirely my exact jam. A soft one and a grumpy one! The soft one isn’t as simple as everyone thinks! The grumpy one has hidden softness! The perfect combo of character traits.

I adored this book and I can’t wait for the next instalment to come to the UK.

Briefly:

A fantastic fantasy that combines post climate disaster novel with Native American mythology and folklore. I adored being introduced to legends I had only a passing knowledge of before reading, and it’s made me want to learn more.
You know that scene in Wonder Woman, where she’s fighting and it goes slow-mo, and zooms in to show her snapping that rifle in half across her back and you see all her muscles and it’s just about her sheer strength? This book makes me feel the way that shot made me feel. Powerful and indestructible.
I really enjoyed seeing the characters change and develop through the book as the different perspectives made them think differently about themselves and each other. I’m looking forward to seeing that grow in the next book.
Rating: 5/5 – going against my usual rule of not giving full marks to the first book in a series, honestly this book spoke to me in unexpected ways and got under my skin.

Trail of Lightning is released in the UK on 28th November 2019.

I read this courtesy of NetGalley, my review is my own.

I admit I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did! I am not the biggest fan of urban fantasy , I guess, but I sort of get the appeal sometimes, and Trail of Lightning combines its pulpy pleasures with genuinely fascinating worldbuilding; and yes, I am always interested in stories in which deities walk the same world as humans. I read this right after Gods of Jade and Shadow, and the two stories present fascinatingly different and yet somewhat similar interventions into the girl-and-gods genre that I think benefit from reading side-by-side.

I am not sure the protagonist was that interesting for me (I am not big on warriors in general) but I took it as the price of admission, and the writing and plotting are very effective in conveying the atmosphere and emotions. One thing I didn't expect was how this would take on trauma and abuse, and while I'm not sure the themes fully reverberate by the end of this volume, I am sure they will be further addressed in later volumes. Trail of Lightning seems to have the potential for a fun pulpy series of urban fantasy novels with a kick-ass heroine at the centre while simultaneously doing something new and refreshing with the world and the themes.

My one complaint would be that some plot twists are so obvious it does seem like Maggie should have seen them coming; not sure if it's a problem with writing or intentional character flaw.

I would be curious to check out the next volume, and have already recommended this to a few friends. (less)

Thanks to NetGalley for an early copy of this book for review.

I really wish I liked this book. Don't get me wrong, there were elements that were good, but there was one overwhelming thing that I just couldn't get over.
But anyway. Let's start with the positives.
The world-building in this was strong. There was magic and there were gods, and their presence in the story was completely justified. The story is set in post-apocalyptic America, with indigenous/native characters and an Own Voices author to match. The world has been ruined by climate change (a frighteningly not so distant future for us), leaving the world sparse with resources and rife with monsters.
But, despite promising monsters, do you know what the overwhelming thing I noticed was? Romance. Or a lack of romance. Or a desire to be in one.
This book promised a kickass female monsterslayer and, whilst she did perform to that, she was constantly pining over the loss of her mentor. And I mean constant. She was always complaining about the fact that he'd just ditched her out of nowhere and, if she wasn't moaning about that, she was fantasizing about how she wishes they'd be involved romantically.
To be fair, it does eventually let up, but that's only to let her new male companion take the spotlight. Whilst man #1 was rugged, handsome and strong, man #2 is soft, kind and pretty. And everyone's pushing them together.
For a heroine that kicks monsters' butts, I was expecting a lot more kicking butts and a lot less trying to do everything to please the men around her. I just could never get over the fact that everything Maggie did was because of what she wanted a guy to think.

As someone of native descent, it has been so incredible to see indigenous authors finally getting mainstream recognition for their incredible contributions to the literary world. To see this expanding into my favorite genre is one of the most refreshing and delightful reading experiences I've ever had. With so much of our history tied up with oral traditions and lore, it seems a no brainer that it would translate well into the science fiction and fantasy genres. Rebecca Roanhorse has now more than proved that with her powerful and wonderful debut, Trail of Lightning.

It didn't take me long to read this gritty, urban fantasy because once I started I couldn't stop. The characters, the world building, the plot- everything about this book was incredible. Even if it wasn't personally relevant to me I would have loved this story. I've been shouting from the rooftop to anyone who will listen that they need to read this book because it is a story that can be easily appreciated by the masses, whether native or not. It's an accessible and wondrous tale that has the added benefit of potentially giving a new appreciation and insight into native culture for those who are not as familiar with it.

I have seen a little grumbling about a Pueblo author writing from a Dine perspective, but honestly I'm just glad it wasn't a white author appropriating Indian culture for a book gimmick. I'm Yaqui descent so I can't really say with any authority about anything she may have gotten wrong, but for me it was nice to see people similar to me and my family represented so well in a story that didn't exploit our histories or stereotypes.

Trail of Lightning breathes new life into the fantasy and dystopia genres, giving them a fantastical and gripping element that will keep you reading until the last page and leave you wanting more. Roanhorse has proven herself to be a true master of storytelling. I absolutely cannot wait to see what else she will craft for her readers.

Thank you so much to the publisher and Netgalley for a chance to read this truly superb story.

Trail of Lightning defies being neatly boxed into one genre.  Its post-apocalyptic urban fantasy and is written by a Native American about Navajo characters and concepts.  This was new ground for me as a reader and whilst I’ve read a lot of Urban Fantasy set in the US the vast majority has been written by caucasian writers and The Sixth World feels fresh and different. The world-building is superlative, evocative and immediate and a reason why we need more own voices out there for readers to engage with.

The main characters are drawn well and are both compelling and flawed.

Maggie is a tracker and a Dinetah monster hunter trained by Neizghání an ancestor/god figure to her people she is an outsider and the best tracker there is.  She is employed by some folks to find a missing girl. 

She has a good friend and ally Tah who is a monster expert he is her touchstone to her past and it is he who introduces her to our other main character Kai.

Kai is supposed to be a medicine man, but initially, Maggie doesn't feel the potential. I love the rapport that grows between the two of them, having to learn to work together whilst things are going to hell around them.

She ends up trading favours with Coyote – trickster character and has to look after Kai a friend’s nephew a medicine man of unusual means.

The pacing is good, throughout the tension ebbs and flows building to a climactic showdown. The ending felt a little bit rushed but it felt like there was a lot more story to come and I've got high hopes of a sequel soon.

One thing I struggled with was having the lack of context with some words which were not familiar to me and weren't always guessable contextually.  I would love a glossary to fill in some blanks so that I can learn something.  It's an excellent read and I certainly felt it had a lot to offer.

Maggie is a Monsterslayer, trying not to become the monster. Hunting down a new threat, she finds herself partnered with a guy that seems too good to be true; and an immortal that has more than mischief on his mind.

I received a free copy from Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

In a post-apocalyptic world, where the everybody has lost somebody to the Big Water, the country is a lawless place.
The story follows Maggie Hoskie, a young woman who happens to be a professional monster hunter. Her clan powers were awoken after an attack on her family, and she became an apprentice to an immortal hero. Now going alone, she takes on jobs that help to satisfy her bloodlust and keep the evil part of her at bay.
One straightforward job leads to something bigger, as Maggie suspects someone is behind this new and hard-to-kill monster.

Kai is the grandson of Maggie's close friend Tah. When he turns up unexpectedly, his Big Medicine clan magic is bound to come in very handy. He's the picture of charm and sophistication, Kai's so shiny he stands out wherever he goes. As the mission continues, he starts to show his true self, as he gets closer to Maggie.

I love the world that Roanhorse has created. It has Native American main characters and the plot is driven by clan powers and mythology. It felt solid and wonderfully authentic.
This story also felt like a futuristic Western, as Maggie, new boy Kai, and occasionally her reluctant band of gunmen, ride across the state on missions and shout-outs.

The not-so-good.
This felt very disjointed. It's hard to explain - each chapter built towards the overall plot arc; but I don't think anyone informed Maggie and Kai. Yes, the Coyote wants them to do a job and is pulling their strings, but they dawdle and dither, going back to the start repeatedly. The characters just weren't pro-active - if I'd hired Maggie to do a job, I'd be pissed too.

The twists were fairly good, but again, it felt disconnected to the story. The big fight scene at the end felt somewhat chaotic, so when the twists happened, I was too distracted to be surprised.

Overall, this was a great idea. This is Roanhorse's debut, and I would be interested to see how her writing develops.

A solid urban fantasy that's strongly rooted in Naive American traditions and folklore, Trail of Lightning has extremely few surprises. I don't know if my expectations were simply too high going in- it's impossible, at this stage, to go into reading Trail of Lightning and not be aware of the acclaim it's garnered- or maybe it's just that urban fantasy has never been my favourite genre, but I just wasn't gripped by it.

Don't get me wrong, though- I didn't hate it. It's not a 'bad' book. There were some wonderfully interesting ideas (Grace and her family were a highlight, and I especially loved the post-apocalyptic elements and wished there had been more of them), but the whole seemed much lesser than the sum of its parts. Add to that my awareness of the controversy surrounding Roanhorse's appropriation of Diné cultural practices (see: https://newsmaven.io/indiancountrytoday/opinion/trail-of-lightning-is-an-appropriation-of-din%C3%A9-cultural-beliefs-4tvSMvEfNE-i7AE10W7nQg/ ) and I was underwhelmed.

All in all, I enjoyed it, but I have no real desire to seek out the sequel.