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A review by thehaileybirdie
Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse
5.0
I really enjoyed this book! I loved the characters, I loved the setting, the Native American folklore, the exploration of a truly gritty female antihero, the plot, the writing, and it just overall was a pleasure to read.
I love Maggie and Kai and how they are developed through the story. Maggie reminds me of Alex Stern from Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo mixed with Geralt of Rivia of the Witcher series. She’s a badass Native American monster hunter who has these dark powers that are perfect for swift kills. Her whole life she sees herself almost as if she’s one of the monsters she should be hunting and that’s she was only born to be a weapon of destruction. Throughout the book she has some serious character growth and decides that she can be so much more than what her master trained her to be. She’s incredibly observant and tactical and never shies away from conflict. Usually you only see grizzly battle hardened men as the main characters in these kinds of monster hunting novels so it was really refreshing to see a woman as this rough around the edges, shoot first ask questions later kind of hero. Maggie felt like the real deal and I was rooting for her the whole time!
Kai is this very charming and flashy looking pretty boy who you’re supposed to write off in the face of this powerhouse of a character we see in Maggie but by the end of the book he is so much more. To be fair, I saw his silver tongue powers from the first time he talks to Longarm and get them out of being shot after leaving Tah’s. It wasn’t very shocking to me during the final reveal but at a few points I was confused cuz he seemed to have so many other powers like healing and elemental abilities too. At one point air was like...is this kid the avatar?? But he was so charming and sweet and has some pretty unique power that act as a foil to Maggie. He has the healing and the peace talking ability and that is something she sorely lacks.
The Native American folklore was so interesting to me and a i love how tied to nature it is. The spirits of this world are very mischievous and tricky to deal with and I think that sense of unpredictability makes them hard to pin down. You never know exactly what angle they’re playing and even if they tell you their angle they may not be truthful.
The pace was a little slow going for me but ai understand that the characters needed to have all of their background fleshed out in a more piecemeal way and I don’t think the plot suffered too much for it. The events that occurred may have seemed small but it all led up to that ending! Sometimes in novels the ending is 1/3 of the book and it’s all fast paced non-stop action and it’s overwhelming when the first 2/3 were really slow. This book got to the point in a few pages and didn’t feel like it was all happening so fast!
Overall, I loved this book with the characters and the magic and the gods and I’m literally going to the bookstore ASAP to order the next one!!
I love Maggie and Kai and how they are developed through the story. Maggie reminds me of Alex Stern from Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo mixed with Geralt of Rivia of the Witcher series. She’s a badass Native American monster hunter who has these dark powers that are perfect for swift kills. Her whole life she sees herself almost as if she’s one of the monsters she should be hunting and that’s she was only born to be a weapon of destruction. Throughout the book she has some serious character growth and decides that she can be so much more than what her master trained her to be. She’s incredibly observant and tactical and never shies away from conflict. Usually you only see grizzly battle hardened men as the main characters in these kinds of monster hunting novels so it was really refreshing to see a woman as this rough around the edges, shoot first ask questions later kind of hero. Maggie felt like the real deal and I was rooting for her the whole time!
Kai is this very charming and flashy looking pretty boy who you’re supposed to write off in the face of this powerhouse of a character we see in Maggie but by the end of the book he is so much more. To be fair, I saw his silver tongue powers from the first time he talks to Longarm and get them out of being shot after leaving Tah’s. It wasn’t very shocking to me during the final reveal but at a few points I was confused cuz he seemed to have so many other powers like healing and elemental abilities too. At one point air was like...is this kid the avatar?? But he was so charming and sweet and has some pretty unique power that act as a foil to Maggie. He has the healing and the peace talking ability and that is something she sorely lacks.
The Native American folklore was so interesting to me and a i love how tied to nature it is. The spirits of this world are very mischievous and tricky to deal with and I think that sense of unpredictability makes them hard to pin down. You never know exactly what angle they’re playing and even if they tell you their angle they may not be truthful.
The pace was a little slow going for me but ai understand that the characters needed to have all of their background fleshed out in a more piecemeal way and I don’t think the plot suffered too much for it. The events that occurred may have seemed small but it all led up to that ending! Sometimes in novels the ending is 1/3 of the book and it’s all fast paced non-stop action and it’s overwhelming when the first 2/3 were really slow. This book got to the point in a few pages and didn’t feel like it was all happening so fast!
Overall, I loved this book with the characters and the magic and the gods and I’m literally going to the bookstore ASAP to order the next one!!