Race to the Sun

By: Rebecca Roanhorse

Narrated by: Kinsale Hueston

Best-selling author Rick Riordan welcomes indigenous fantasy writer Rebecca Roanhorse to his imprint with this thrilling adventure about a Navajo girl who discovers she's a monsterslayer.

Lately, seventh grader Nizhoni Begay has been able to detect monsters, like that man in the fancy suit who was in the bleachers at her basketball game. Turns out he's Mr. Charles, her dad's new boss at the oil and gas company, and he's alarmingly interested in Nizhoni and her brother, Mac, their Navajo heritage, and the legend of the Hero Twins. When Dad disappears the next day, leaving behind a message that says "Run!", the siblings and Nizhoni's best friend, Davery, are thrust into a rescue mission, which can only be done with the help of Navajo gods, all disguised as quirky "rez" personalities. After a series of dangerous--and mind-bending--trials, Nizhoni, Mac, and Davery finally reach the sun god, who outfits them with the weapons they need to take down Mr. Charles and the ancient monsters he has unleashed. But it will take more than weapons for Nizhoni to become the hero she was destined to be....

©2020 Rebecca Roanhorse (P)2020 Listening Library

adventure thur Diné culture in a modern era

this story was easy to follow, got my 8 year old to take more interest and questions about his culture the Diné. Help me pass on everything I know. he wanted to know intend of my trying to get his interest

great story

love the stoey and flow. Gripping! my daughter snd I both enjoyed it. we would love to hear more

Good for 7 & 10 yr olds

Fun story w lots of Navajo words and culture. Our girls loved it and honestly I listened to it with them and enjoyed it too!

Great Storytelling

The narrator did a phenomenal job when speaking Diné Bizaad (Navajo language). I applaud Rebecca Roanhorse for preserving Diné (Navajo) culture & beliefs through her novels. This book can be enjoyed by audiences of all ages.

Very enjoyable

The story isn’t perfect of course but it is very enjoyable and unique. I wish that it did a bit more world building and showed more of the finale conflict but I don’t regret reading it and would love to see the story continue.


Spoilers!!!

The ending was underwhelming a bit, there was supposed to be this big thing with all these monsters getting released but they where just one kind, the same birds as earlier but bigger, I also wish there was a bit more show don’t tell especially with the final blow to the villain , it was kind of a cliche to easy end but I will say the way it was written made it work well. You where sucked into the action. I just hope the next book if there is one is bigger. I’d love to learn more about the lore and meet more creatures and beings/ gods/ spirits/ guardians est . The author played it safe and simple but I feel like she’s capable of more and I hope she explores that. Definitely recommend this book. 8 if not 9/10

finally

my children and myself are Native American listening to the story and relating to certain backgrounds was amazing at one point it made me cry as a Mom to hear my kids relate to certain descriptions of family this is an amazing book the flow of the story is a solid pace for children overall 10 out of 10

a spectacularly fun adventure

Race to the Sun is an exciting imaginative adventure with sincere and memorable characters and necessary life lessons woven throughout like a beautiful Navajo tapestry.

Grandmother here! Loved the story!

I bought this audiobook and the paperback book which I gave to my middle school grandchild. I enjoyed this in particular because we lived in Arizona years ago when my son was born and I really liked the land around the 4 corners states. So when the characters talk about New Mexico, Shiprock and Canyon de Chelly I could picture those places because we had visited them. It brought back great memories and reminded me of the Native American stories that I had loved. I can’t wait for Ronan to have time to read it too.

Great Story (if you’re willing to take a 53-year-old white guy’s word for it)

To start with, Race to the Sun is a fun, engaging story of adventure, quest, and monster slaying for anyone, or at least anyone over eight or so willing to follow an 8 hour book.

As an adult who strongly believes that representation matters, this book goes beyond that.

The protagonist and narrator is a 13-year-old Navajo young lady, and her co-heroes are her 12-year-old brother and her Navajo/African American best friend. And, she struggles with her identity and loss, her friend is bookish, and her brother is an artist and fan of comics.

Children and adults, both Indian/Native American and other will find these heroes identifiable. And many will see heroes like them here for the first time.

Roanhorse also weaves aspects and characters from the Navajo legends and culture deftly into this story creating many interesting and likable allies and fearsome opponents.

Extremely entertaining amd very true to form

Rebecca Roanhorse's writing always has a very down to earth and somewhat gritty feel, even in her young adult novels. Here she once again shows her immense talent in the children's genre with characters that sound and feel like actual kids with all their greatness and nonsense. The narrator, also being a poet herself, had a great feel for the vocal needs of portraying young kids. Not too stilted in the energy of young kids who are running on pure adrenaline the whole story but just enough bc kids. Her narration is also perfect speed, very comfortable and not too fast or slow, very easy to follw and get absorbed in her reading.

The plot is great amd reminds me so much of the choose your own adventure books I read as a kid except these kids are making the choices and we get to experience their way through their stories