This urban fantasy is set in an alternative America. “Lightning without a cloud in sight means one thing. If you are looking for a fast-paced story that is both character and plot driven, I highly recommend Trail of Lightning! What an incredible debut from Roanhorse! I absolutely fell in love with the characters and the world that Roanhorse crafted, engaged from the first page to the last.

This post uses affiliate links and I may receive a small commission for purchases made through my links at no additional cost to you. Maggie reluctantly enlists the aid of Kai Arviso, an unconventional medicine man, and together they travel to the rez to unravel clues from ancient legends, trade favors with tricksters, and battle dark witchcraft in a patchwork world of deteriorating technology.Īs Maggie discovers the truth behind the disappearances, she will have to confront her past-if she wants to survive. But what Maggie uncovers about the monster is much larger and more terrifying than anything she could imagine. When a small town needs help finding a missing girl, Maggie is their last-and best-hope. Maggie Hoskie is a Dinétah monster hunter, a supernaturally gifted killer. The gods and heroes of legend walk the land, but so do monsters. This abandonment represents an enormous betrayal to Maggie, who trusted her mentor to guide her, especially after she lost her only family.While most of the world has drowned beneath the sudden rising waters of a climate apocalypse, Dinétah (formerly the Navajo reservation) has been reborn. However, Neizghání dislikes the very skill in killing that he fosters in Maggie, and he eventually abandons her.

She eventually admits this to Kai, saying, “I loved him” (253). At this point, Maggie idolized the man and came to love him. He served as Maggie’s teacher, showing her how to harness her clan powers and use them for monster hunting. Neizghání, an immortal and winged man, found Maggie in the aftermath and promised to take care of her. When Maggie first met Neizghání, she was a 16-year-old girl, traumatized after witnessing the murder of her grandmother and after killing her grandmother’s killers. The rise and fall of Maggie’s relationship with Neizghání serves as the backdrop of the beginning of the novel.

Throughout the novel, Maggie’s relationships with both Neizghání and Kai affect her ability to trust in others and herself, although one relationship is far more toxic than the other. Maggie’s ability to trust in relationships, which is interfered with at various points in the novel by the betrayals of others, is a major theme in Trail of Lightning.

Trail of lightning rebecca roanhorse