Trail of Lightning

By: Rebecca Roanhorse

Narrated by: Tanis Parenteau

Length: 8 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

The sudden rising waters of a climate apocalypse have destroyed most of the planet…yet out of these waters, Dinétah, a former Navajo reservation, has been miraculously reborn. Listen along as Tanis Parenteau's impeccable narration, capturing the rhythms of Navajo speech, fully envelopes you into the Sixth World.

When Dinétah needs help finding a missing girl, Maggie - a monster hunter and supernatural killer - is its last, best hope. Trail of Lightning follows our heroine as she walks the land alongside gods, heroes of legend, and monsters alike. Reluctantly, she enlists the aid of an unconventional medicine man, and together they travel Dinétah, unraveling clues from ancient legends and trading favors with tricksters. As Maggie discovers the truth behind the killings, she will have to confront her past if she wants to survive - for what she uncovers about the monster she is sent to find is much more terrifying than anything she could imagine.

©2018 Rebecca Roanhorse (P)2018 Audible, Inc.

Enjoyable, but not outstanding

I wanted to like this a lot more than I ended up doing. I really enjoyed the Indigenous American spin on the fantasy, with all the mythos wrapped into the story. It brought the story to life in a way that fantasy normally doesn't for me.

The narrator's voice was pretty good except for when she was doing the old man. Then it scraped my ears and was just not enjoyable. I don't know how on point her saying the IA words were, but she sounded confident and the rhythm felt correct, so I bought it.

This felt a bit YAish, what with the hammering in of an attempt at a love triangle, but that ended satisfactorily enough that I can't really complain.

Overall, I can't say I'd pick up the next one in the series, but I don't regret snagging this one while it was on sale.

Descendant of American Gods

If you like Neil Gaiman’s American Gods I believe you will enjoy this book. It’s full of interesting characters, demigods, and urban fantasy. Some of the way the main character’s powers work reminded me of RPGs, which was cool.

My biggest gripe is a fair amount is predictable but the plot clips along quickly and the characters are entertaining and the setting is interesting.

Give it a shot I think you’ll be entertained.

A refreshing take on the urban fantasy genre.

I think we have just about seen everything come and go in the Urban fantasy series. I've read quite a bit of British fantasy from King Arthur to the Nightside saga. But as a proud Beige(Or pink in the summer)American I can appreciate reading about the myths and legends in my own country for once.

Granted half the time I don't know what they are talking about, it's more due to my attention drifting to far into the imagination land the author has created.

To be perfectly honest I was going to put this one back on the shelf if it turned out to be Another Mage driven urban fantasy. I'm glad to see it was not.

I look forward to the next book, but as an interesting side note I find it intriguing the only pale face in this story wasnt really what he appeared to be. I really don't think there's any 'safe' way to broach the topic of how poorly the Native Americans (who, to this day, are still mistakenly called Indians by the ignorant) were treated. They really got the short end of the stick, that's for sure. Just read about the Long Walk she mentions a few times in the book. It was basically a holocaust on wheels (hooves feet what have you). Only unlike Holocaust victims no one ever saved them.

Anyways. Look forward to the next book, and how the author deals with, or tries to avoid the surving beige americans. I mean pale faces.
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

light diversion

interesting ideas presented well, but don't quite live up to their potential. still fun though, and a good narration

A good listen, but ending slightly disappointing.

As stated above, the world building and the characters were all well written. The ending however left me with a bitter taste in my mouth.

Not terrible, nothing special

The plot was basic, characters had some depth but nothing that really made you care.

Great debut novel with a unique perspective

This was a very quick read and interesting twist on the dystopian/Urban fantasy genre. While a more seasoned author might have been able to weave a tighter tale, I thought that this was very readable and I very much enjoyed the rhythm and pacing of the book. I felt the narrator's voice to be perfect although I have no idea if her pronunciation of Native American words was accurate (it certainly sounded like it). I'm definitely planning on checking out the second book in this series.

6/5 stars

I LOVED this book. The narration really adds to the experience of this book, I really felt like the protagonist was speaking. 10/10 would recommend

Wonderful surprise

I love this story! I'm not native to the US and my knowledge of Native American cultures is shallow, to say the least, but I feel that in listening to this story I've been granted a deeper insight, and I'm thoroughly fascinated and inspired to learn more.

The genre is right up my alley, and the story was refreshing. I'm excited to read the next novel in this series, and I hope we'll learn more about one of the scenes that was (in my opinion) glossed over and left to our imagination. (Pretty please?)


***Potential spoiler if you read on***

In case someone needs to know about age appropriateness, I personally recommend 14+, but please read on so you can decide for yourself. There's quite a bit of violence with graphic descriptions of injuries but not really gruesome horror-style (in my opinion), and there are enough f-bombs to make the dialogue feel absolutely realistic. There's also only one truly sexual description that I remember -- a very brief description of self-touching -- but it wasn't a description of an actual scene and instead something said by one character in an attempt to upset the heroine. I felt that it definitely helped build the character.

With two vastly different young teenagers of my own, it's hard for me to give guidance to another parent, but I'd say it's at the very least PG-13/TV-14 , but others may feel it's a solid R/TV-MA, so I recommend listening to the story first and deciding for yourself. In my opinion, it's definitely worth a second listen. :)

Native Magic In A Pre-Event America

Roanhorse is a visionary, and a champion for marginalized Americans. Trail of Lightning is wonderfully violent and full of so much heart, and I can't wait to see what she has planned next!