Trail of Lightning

I read this book after a long, dull period when I couldn’t seem to find anything to read that sparked my interest. Trail of Lightning picked me up, whirled me around, and made me fall head-over-heels in love with speculative fiction again.

Set in a bleak, post-apocalyptic world, it’s brutal and gripping, but where there should only be sadness and despair, there are unexpected moments of un-looked-for kindness. This isn’t a light read, and it isn’t exactly happy—but there’s a beautiful optimism underlying the bleakness, that after all, even in the worst of circumstances and at the worst of times,… show more.

This was the first novel by Roanhorse I ever read, after loving her short fiction. The godly aspects here are kept more to the side: this is a post-climate disaster novel with monsters and magic, and I’m a sucker for books where cli-fi aesthetics are part of the backdrop. Monster hunter Maggie carries a lot of darkness and tends to push her allies away, but that’s part of what makes her a fun and engaging character to follow. Especially when she’s bandying with a version of Coyote who’s definitely not to be trusted. 

While this book/series doesn’t actually call its characters “superheroes,” it’s spot-on for fans of the more fantasy-based, mythological side of comics (think Thor or Wonder Woman). Maggie is an unwilling chosen one and magically gifted monster hunter from Dinétah, a former reservation and now one of the last outposts of humanity in a post-apocalyptic North America. All she wants to do is protect the people she loves, but she and her allies (some with their own magical abilities) keep getting dragged into the plotting and power struggles of Coyote and the other gods who now walk among them. It’s… show more.

This book is an award-winning, fast-paced, post-apocalyptic adventure. The heroine, Maggie, is a monster killer with supernatural speed and strength and a snarky, take-no-prisoners attitude. The hero, Kai, is a medicine man who helps her in her quest to identify a new monster attacking her people. I absolutely adored reading this book and immediately sought out other stories by the same author.  he’s got an amazing talent for making a scene feel absolutely real and an excellent balance of gasp-out-loud action and repeat-it-to-yourself-later humor.

Love stories aren’t often a theme of post-apocalyptic literature. In my own book I wanted to highlight that you can find love in times of great hardship, as sometimes love is all we have to keep us going. Roanhorse’s urban fantasy is an exciting post-apocalyptic novel with a badass woman main character who is tough-as-nails but also conflicted. The love story subplot between her and another character was an element that stood out for its realism and depth. While her quest is more personal than a physical journey, the novel (and its sequel, Storm of Locusts) takes place in… show more.