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jollygreenreader's review against another edition
The world was interesting. I tried reading this at the same time as another book and was into that book more. Will try this one again.
timinbc's review
4.0
Long ago, I got hooked on Tony Hillerman's Navajo detective series.
If that was wine, this is brandy.
Good plot, credible action (given the things that you just have to accept as Author's Privilege and Canon Myth), sassy character.
Kai is perhaps too much of the hunky frenemy, a character who turns up in too many books.
Coyote reminds us that the jolly Trickster can be vicious and amoral in ways that go far beyond our understanding. I was a tad surprised at his part in the ending, but I think we all know not to take THAT at face value.
Did Maggie REALLY not figure out Kai's second clan talent? Because Roanhorse sure filled the book with "HEY! LOOK HERE! THIS IS KAI's OTHER TALENT!'
On the other hand, were we supposed to figure out what Maggie is expecting next re Kai? Not to worry, I was going to get the second book anyway.
If that was wine, this is brandy.
Good plot, credible action (given the things that you just have to accept as Author's Privilege and Canon Myth), sassy character.
Kai is perhaps too much of the hunky frenemy, a character who turns up in too many books.
Coyote reminds us that the jolly Trickster can be vicious and amoral in ways that go far beyond our understanding. I was a tad surprised at his part in the ending, but I think we all know not to take THAT at face value.
Did Maggie REALLY not figure out Kai's second clan talent? Because Roanhorse sure filled the book with "HEY! LOOK HERE! THIS IS KAI's OTHER TALENT!'
On the other hand, were we supposed to figure out what Maggie is expecting next re Kai? Not to worry, I was going to get the second book anyway.
plush86's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
moukinnokage's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Holy shit…I haven’t enjoyed a book this much since the Kate Daniels series. Beautifully written with a plot I couldn’t see coming.
bhnmt61's review
4.0
Set in a post-environmental apocalypse where most of the US is now underwater, Maggie Hoskins is a Navajo monster slayer. Her mentor and trainer abandoned her the year before, leaving her reeling. But there are still monsters to be fought, so she pulls herself together and begins to move on, including reluctantly taking on an elderly friend’s grandson to ride shotgun. There is a horrific scene at the beginning of the book that I am hoping will be revisited in future entries in this series, because I had a lot of questions about it that were not resolved. (For the squeamish, the whole book isn’t as graphic as that first slaying.)
It’s a fully imagined future world that hangs together well and makes you root for Maggie and Kai. But two or three of the major plot twists you could see coming a mile away, so that was disappointing. All in all, a solid beginning to the series. The next book comes out this fall, I think.
It’s a fully imagined future world that hangs together well and makes you root for Maggie and Kai. But two or three of the major plot twists you could see coming a mile away, so that was disappointing. All in all, a solid beginning to the series. The next book comes out this fall, I think.
outcolder's review
4.0
There was this one climatic scene that despite being heavily telegraphed seems to be sticking with me, because it’s about boundary blurring between powerful male teacher and female student and the abusive nature of that kind of relationship: The student’s confusion, the time it takes for the grey areas to take on the necessary contrast. The more I think about it, the more I think this book did a superb job of addressing that subject in a nuanced way, even while the rest of the book felt very in your face, emotionally.
It took longer than usual for the characters to grow on me. The Navajo setting is great, but I was expecting more slow patience and mysterious silences from elders... I know that ‘s my own prejudices... but I did ask myself a few times who the target audience is, and why everyone seemed so American. Unfair comparisons with other Native authors and the Tony Hillerman crime novels, I guess. The plot also never grabbed me; I never had that need to find out what happens next. That’s fine, just not what I expect from a genre book with a kick-ass cover. Maybe it’s just the YA-ness of it? I got annoyed many times, so annoyed that I stopped reading, but I kept coming back to it and in the end, all the annoying stuff was satisfactorily resolved, the plot managed a few surprises and I do wonder what happens in the next book in the series. So I would recommend it, but don’t come at it with all the expectations I had.
It took longer than usual for the characters to grow on me. The Navajo setting is great, but I was expecting more slow patience and mysterious silences from elders... I know that ‘s my own prejudices... but I did ask myself a few times who the target audience is, and why everyone seemed so American. Unfair comparisons with other Native authors and the Tony Hillerman crime novels, I guess. The plot also never grabbed me; I never had that need to find out what happens next. That’s fine, just not what I expect from a genre book with a kick-ass cover. Maybe it’s just the YA-ness of it? I got annoyed many times, so annoyed that I stopped reading, but I kept coming back to it and in the end, all the annoying stuff was satisfactorily resolved, the plot managed a few surprises and I do wonder what happens in the next book in the series. So I would recommend it, but don’t come at it with all the expectations I had.
maddiemmn's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I so wanted to love this book, but tragically I think it wasn't for me. Reading the setting, I literally couldn't imagine a book more written to my tastes!! Climate dystopia? Badass monster hunting protagonist? Mad Max vibes?! Not to mention, I LOVED Black Sun by the same author.
The setting actually was fantastic - this future imagining of Dinétah was vivid and well-developed (the wall?!) and I really enjoyed getting to know Maggie in the first third of the story.
But,,, I think the writing is very different in Trail of Lightning than in Black Sun. Because our protagonist Maggie has been through some extreme trauma, she is a very closed-off and secretive character. Her story is told through jarring flashbacks or, more often, not told at all. I understand that this is the first in a series, but her motivations in the back half of the book were confusing and the whole finale was seriously a mystery to me. Because the reader is given so little information about a pivotal past relationship that Maggie had, it was hard to care about a confrontation later in the book. I also struggled with the pacing and narrative structure generally, where it felt like characters would whisk off onto unrelated tasks, rather than a steady build to the climax.Coyote's betrayal was indicative of this. Both his character and that of Neizghání are so mythicized, not only is it crazy that Maggie easily defeats both of them, but it was confusing and jumpy to have them both betray our main characters in pretty convoluted ways, on top of the monsters that seem to fade in and out of relevance.
My other issue is a totally personal nitpick, and his name is Kai.One of my biggest pet peeves is when an author makes a plot twist just a little too obvious. I swear, from Kai's first interaction with the Longarm I knew he could use clan powers to manipulate people. It's so blatant it's frankly unbelievable that Maggie wouldn't figure it out until the last 20 pages, and then to have such a tropey moment of shock and betrayal felt inauthentic to her whip-smart, suspicious character.
Yada yada yada. The more so-so I feel about a book, the more chatter I have about it. I think lots of people would love this, but if you're on the edge, my read it instead is Black Sun because it was just so better written.
The setting actually was fantastic - this future imagining of Dinétah was vivid and well-developed (the wall?!) and I really enjoyed getting to know Maggie in the first third of the story.
But,,, I think the writing is very different in Trail of Lightning than in Black Sun. Because our protagonist Maggie has been through some extreme trauma, she is a very closed-off and secretive character. Her story is told through jarring flashbacks or, more often, not told at all. I understand that this is the first in a series, but her motivations in the back half of the book were confusing and the whole finale was seriously a mystery to me. Because the reader is given so little information about a pivotal past relationship that Maggie had, it was hard to care about a confrontation later in the book. I also struggled with the pacing and narrative structure generally, where it felt like characters would whisk off onto unrelated tasks, rather than a steady build to the climax.
My other issue is a totally personal nitpick, and his name is Kai.
Yada yada yada. The more so-so I feel about a book, the more chatter I have about it. I think lots of people would love this, but if you're on the edge, my read it instead is Black Sun because it was just so better written.
candyms's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75