Tuesday, 7 December 2021 09:22 pm
Book Review: Trail of Lightning
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
deckardcanineI mentioned before that this adds diversity to the list of authors I've read. Rebecca Roanhorse is part Pueblo and part Black. Oddly enough, no explicit Pueblo characters turn up in her 2018 debut novel. The focus is on a better-known tribe: the Navajo, or Diné as they may prefer.
In a future too near for technology we don't have yet, most of the Earth is flooded, and the only land we know to be still inhabited by humans is the high-altitude ex-reservation they call Dinétah. This disaster does not appear to result from anthropogenic climate change (which shouldn't cause a series of quakes at a fault line) so much as divine intervention. Figures out of Diné legend have reappeared, and some Diné individuals gain access to superpowers by invoking their ancestral clans.
If you think the Diné rejoice at coming out on top at last, think again. A few years into the "Sixth World" (per Diné lore), Dinétah could use a lot more resources, including, ironically, water. Thugs are filling the void of authority. Powers awaken only after trauma, and they don't need long to take the wind out of their users. And some of the returning faces spell deep trouble.
The first-person, usually present-tense narrator is Maggie Hoskie, a young woman whose powers, weapon collection, and training under fabled invincible hero Naayééʼ Neizghání make her a pretty effective Monsterslayer. Alas, she's very unpopular, not least because one of her clans is associated with undue bloodlust. Her manners leave something to be desired as well. But with Neizghání missing for months, people hire her in desperation.
After discovering a curious humanoid menace, Maggie turns to perhaps her only human friend, old medicine man Tah, who identifies it as a product of strong witchcraft. He introduces her to his apprenticed grandson, Kai, who can help on her journey to stop the witch from making more monsters. Maggie has misgivings about Kai, first because he seems too innocent for danger and then because he's clearly secretive, but it soon becomes obvious that his charm will soften her heart bit by bit. That same charm may be the key to getting reluctant allies on board, if not dissuading certain enemies.
The character you're most likely to have heard of is Coyote, the trickster god whose Diné name is Mąʼii. Mąʼii takes a rather personal interest in Maggie and repeatedly shows up in her life, claiming to be her friend but getting less tolerable all the time. It's hard to guess what he's up to. That said, Neizghání might be even less understandable. That's polytheistic mythology for ya. As it is, I could only occasionally predict events.
If you're not turned off by post-apocalyptic bleakness and violence, then my main warning to you is that there are a lot of Diné words, not all of which are clarified in the text. I couldn't even find definitions for some of them online. Not that the special characters are easy to enter on a smartphone.
Maggie reminds me a little of Wolverine: a bitter badass who seldom bothers with a pretense at care or friendliness. Loss of loved ones and abandonment by a crush who tells you you're tainted with evil can make social closeness look like a bad idea. And when your biggest talent if not your biggest joy is in killing, you get leery about hanging around people you might like.
Her head is an interesting place to visit, but I'm unsure whether I'll come back to the Sixth World series. An excerpt from the sequel, Storm of Locusts, promises more of the same. Some reviewers say it's better. Maybe we meet more storied characters, and maybe they're more intriguing. Maybe the ending's more heartwarming. I wouldn't count on it.
I feel ready for another tome, so I picked up The Elfstones of Shannara by Terry Brooks. It's more than 550 pages; ToL has about half as many.
In a future too near for technology we don't have yet, most of the Earth is flooded, and the only land we know to be still inhabited by humans is the high-altitude ex-reservation they call Dinétah. This disaster does not appear to result from anthropogenic climate change (which shouldn't cause a series of quakes at a fault line) so much as divine intervention. Figures out of Diné legend have reappeared, and some Diné individuals gain access to superpowers by invoking their ancestral clans.
If you think the Diné rejoice at coming out on top at last, think again. A few years into the "Sixth World" (per Diné lore), Dinétah could use a lot more resources, including, ironically, water. Thugs are filling the void of authority. Powers awaken only after trauma, and they don't need long to take the wind out of their users. And some of the returning faces spell deep trouble.
The first-person, usually present-tense narrator is Maggie Hoskie, a young woman whose powers, weapon collection, and training under fabled invincible hero Naayééʼ Neizghání make her a pretty effective Monsterslayer. Alas, she's very unpopular, not least because one of her clans is associated with undue bloodlust. Her manners leave something to be desired as well. But with Neizghání missing for months, people hire her in desperation.
After discovering a curious humanoid menace, Maggie turns to perhaps her only human friend, old medicine man Tah, who identifies it as a product of strong witchcraft. He introduces her to his apprenticed grandson, Kai, who can help on her journey to stop the witch from making more monsters. Maggie has misgivings about Kai, first because he seems too innocent for danger and then because he's clearly secretive, but it soon becomes obvious that his charm will soften her heart bit by bit. That same charm may be the key to getting reluctant allies on board, if not dissuading certain enemies.
The character you're most likely to have heard of is Coyote, the trickster god whose Diné name is Mąʼii. Mąʼii takes a rather personal interest in Maggie and repeatedly shows up in her life, claiming to be her friend but getting less tolerable all the time. It's hard to guess what he's up to. That said, Neizghání might be even less understandable. That's polytheistic mythology for ya. As it is, I could only occasionally predict events.
If you're not turned off by post-apocalyptic bleakness and violence, then my main warning to you is that there are a lot of Diné words, not all of which are clarified in the text. I couldn't even find definitions for some of them online. Not that the special characters are easy to enter on a smartphone.
Maggie reminds me a little of Wolverine: a bitter badass who seldom bothers with a pretense at care or friendliness. Loss of loved ones and abandonment by a crush who tells you you're tainted with evil can make social closeness look like a bad idea. And when your biggest talent if not your biggest joy is in killing, you get leery about hanging around people you might like.
Her head is an interesting place to visit, but I'm unsure whether I'll come back to the Sixth World series. An excerpt from the sequel, Storm of Locusts, promises more of the same. Some reviewers say it's better. Maybe we meet more storied characters, and maybe they're more intriguing. Maybe the ending's more heartwarming. I wouldn't count on it.
I feel ready for another tome, so I picked up The Elfstones of Shannara by Terry Brooks. It's more than 550 pages; ToL has about half as many.