Trail of Lightning (The Sixth World, #1)

by Rebecca Roanhorse

[nannah]

When I first started Trail of Lightning, I was reading some of the best prose I’d seen probably all year, and maybe all of last year too (or longer? Maybe longer!). This could’ve been a book and a universe I could finally really dig my teeth into and fall in love with … until the plot and a bunch of tired tropes messed that up.

Content warnings:
- sexual assault
- past domestic abuse (heavily hinted)
- LOTS of heavily described gore (I don’t think this is YA … Actually, it’s published by Saga, an adult imprint. It should probably be shelved as adult; actually, it's shelved as adult in my library, too)
- ableist language!

Maggie Hoskie is a Dinétah Monsterslayer in a post-apocalyptic world where the Dinétah land (formerly Navajo reservations) are some of the only land still standing after climate change’s surging waters covered most of the earth -- and nearly all of the United States. In this new world (aka the “Sixth World”), the old gods have awakened, including the tricksy Coyote and Maggie’s immortal mentor, Neizgháni.

On her first monster-hunting mission without her mentor, Maggie discovers a new kind of synthetic monster that sends her on a new journey with a new partner, Kai, a medicine man who’s more than meets the eye.

The beginning promised epic world building, beautiful writing, and an wide-spanning plot involving reborn gods and magical weapons. But halfway the book kind of lost its vision. Maggie and Kai received some magical hoops and a mission from the Coyote. I expected things to pick up, but instead the two protagonists hopped between two locations. They forgot something, then went back to the other one, then went back to talk to someone, etc. Past halfway, and there was no increase in momentum, no plotline actually ever taken hold of. Was it the hoops? Was it a witch-hunt to find who made these new types of monsters Maggie came across in the beginning? Was it just this aimless slingshotting?

And then … the end. Suddenly the book’s plot became a romance about love triangle that felt like it shoved this book back in the YA/(is NA still a thing?)NA categories. Not only was it out of the blue (I don’t want to spoil too much), but it contained so many harmful and awful tropes that if I wasn’t so close to the end, I probably wouldn’t have finished the book. There was a kiss that should actually be considered sexual assault, and it was never challenged or mentioned as such -- it was only called “the kiss”, and no one, not even the “love interest” talked about it in any other way. Even the third triangle point’s treatment of Maggie was abusive, and it’s never considered abusive -- by anyone! Till the end, he and his relationship is just another option for Maggie.

Also, disappointingly, Trail of Lightning is one of those books that acts as a prequel to the rest of its series. That explains its lack of plot and direction, I guess. Its only purpose is to set up the world building and character introductions.

And … I know, this is mostly something that bothers me, but I lost track of how many times Rebecca Roanhorse used the word “cr*pple/cr*ppled”. As a noun, as an adjective (especially things that aren’t related: “cr*ppled emotional range” or something). Here’s the thing: you don’t get to use this word if you’re able-bodied. Sorry! You especially don’t need to use it like fifty times in one book when there’s a whole language at your disposal. Pick something else.

I’d like to leave with something I stumbled across. It’s a letter by the Diné Writers Collective objecting to the book (e.g. it makes caricatures of their deities) and asking people to read content by actual Diné writers instead (Rebecca Roanhorse is Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo and African American).