skygiants | (no subject)

I enjoyed Rebecca Roanhorse's Trail of Lightning very much and I would like to give especial kudos to the cover artist, because you take one look at the cover and you're like "okay, so what ARE the key genre factors about this book's protagonist? Well, I can tell right off that she has Cool Weapons and a Black Leather Jacket and a Car, all of which signify that she's probably a loner with an amazing powerset and a tragic backstory and a chip on her shoulder and, like, a lot of time spent fighting supernatural creatures in low-settled areas and then driving angstily off because Does She Bring the Darkness or Does the Darkness Bring Her --"

And, yes, one hundred percent that's the kind of book this is, perfectly executed example of the genre, well done to both Rebecca Roanhorse and whoever designed the book.

I did not actually get from the cover the final plot element of "also she has a love interest who's a supernaturally charming flashy healer boy with the exact opposite personality and skillset to her dark and broody murder powers," but honestly I really should have because it makes perfect structural sense.

The book takes place in post-apocalyptic Dinétah, traditional lands of the Navajo people; the worldbuilding runs on a mix of Diné lore and post-apocalyptic Americana all bound together with some good old urban-road-fantasy Cars And Black Leather Jackets tropey grease. (For the record, the Cars and Black Leather stuff is not always my particular jam, and if I hadn't gone in well primed by the cover I might not have enjoyed it as much as I did, which is why I'm taking the time to call it out!)

I honestly didn't follow the plot a hundred percent of the time -- there were definitely a couple moments where I sort of squinted at everyone heading off for the mandated Next Thing trying to figure out why the characters were so sure that it was the inevitable Next Thing -- but the book was super readable and I'll happily continue with the next one.

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From:

boxofdelights

When Rebecca Roanhorse visited my local bookstore, an audience member praised the cover, and Roanhorse said that the artist had been very willing to take direction from her, both on "No, that's not what she'd wear to fight monsters" and "Wait, now she looks Puerto Rican?"

It sounded like a lot more say than authors usually get over cover art, so praise to her artist and her publisher!

From:

skygiants

Oh, I'm really glad to hear that she had such a say in it -- it clearly worked out to the book's benefit!

From:

kore

I loved, loved how she didn't want Maggie to look stuck in the past with 'traditional' dress, because the book's all about subverting that, so she has the leather jacket, but if you look closely she's wearing moccasin wraps. (And they're in the text.) She talks in an article about how Natives have already been through a lot of apocalyptic shit, and she wanted to focus on not just surviving but thriving, and having a future. So the apocalypse/futurism/SF/Native issues are all mixed up together, which is grand.

The publisher is a sorta smaller one, Saga Press which is an imprint of Simon and Schuster, so maybe that's why they were better about the cover.

From:

inkstone

I really enjoyed Trail of Lightning. It reminded me of the very best urban fantasy back in its heyday (like late 2010s, I guess?) and even I had to give it props for somehow including the standard UF trope of a supernatural club scene and underground fight club scene in the middle of Southwestern desert? Like, WOW.

From:

skygiants

I would have said even earlier, honestly -- I feel like it was reminding me of things I read in, like, the late nineties, early two thousands? But without a lot of those Late Nineties Issues. (and omg, the supernatural club scene that everyone has to get goth-glammed up for with lovingly described outfits, SUCH a good example of THAT VERY THING THAT IT WAS BEING.)

From:

inkstone

I do unironically love the supernatural club scene trope because they're often so ridiculous and I'm always down with writers who're willing to embrace the ridiculous. This one really worked, I think, because Maggie cosplayed as the Hollywood version of herself (LMAO) and I loved the detail of the other guy who wanted to look fabulous but couldn't because he couldn't find anything in his size. So real.

From:

genarti

RIGHT. That was very impressive! And hilarious -- oh COURSE Kai has magic silver eyeshadow, of COURSE Maggie is cosplaying Hollywood Monsterslayer -- but in a good way. The amount of urban fantasy going on in a setting that was not very urban at all was kind of amazing.

From:

kore

I think what reminded me of mid-nineties stuff was the gritty first-person voice, and how it wasn't cyberpunk but had some of the....design elements?, but there was also the different environment. I was reminded of Bone Dance (which I still love, sigh).

I think with the club she might partly be riffing on the 49 dance tradition (which supposedly began as war songs and then evolved into a kind of after-powwow party, to really simplify it). I'd have to think about it.

From:

chomiji

I enjoyed this too, though I don't think I blogged it at the time? But I will do a re-read, because I think I want to nominate it for the Hugo.

From:

skygiants

I'll look forward to your blog if you do one after the reread! :D

From:

kore

....oh yeah, I need this.

From:

skygiants

I think you'd really enjoy it!

From:

lokifan

This post is very helpful in confirming why I've heard mixed things about this book, I think :) And the charming flashy healer boy versus her broody murder powers - I hadn't heard about that bit - I think tips it over for me into wanting to read it!

From:

skygiants

His grandfather's like "you two should work together!" and then he turns up in fancy shoes and a colorful silk shirt and she's just like "NOPE!" CLASSIC SETUP.

From:

dhampyresa

The book takes place in post-apocalyptic Dinétah
NICE

From:

skygiants

Dinétah's doing better than everywhere else around them! ...except for the monsters, but, you know.

From:

kore

The total Native humour is encapsulated that after the Big Water, the rest of the world is flooded....but Dinétah is in a terrible drought with water rationing. CLASSIC humour.

From:

larryhammer

I gave this to my father for Christmas, and he seems to have liked it (it's hard to get more than general positive/negative responses to books out of him). Living in almost Navajo-adjacent lands might have helped his response.

From:

skygiants

I'm glad his response fell in the generally-positive category!

From:

kore

She said she put in a lot of little Easter Eggs for people who live in the SW and on the rez. The description of Albuquerque is....APT. //lived there for five long, long years

From:

larryhammer

Heh. I've not spent much time there, but other places in N NM ...

From:

genarti

Coincidentally, I just read this too, and I really enjoyed it! It is ABSOLUTELY the kind of genre it's being, and there were definitely things I picked up approximately 3/4 of a novel before Maggie did, but Maggie was comprehensively established as "competent, but with massive blind spots she doesn't want to examine because of being the kind of messed-up not-exactly-urban fantasy protagonist she is," so fair enough; it didn't much bug me, because of how compelling she and the world were. (And, yes, because both the cover and the very first scenes established so immediately what kind of story we were in that it was hard to object to continuing to be in exactly that story.)

And I really enjoyed the setting. I am not remotely qualified to comment on the depictions of Dinétah and Diné culture, of course, but I really enjoyed it, all the same, and thought it brought a fresh twist to everything.

From:

skygiants

It just landed directly in the middle of its tropes, staked out its territory, and was like HERE I AM, COME AT ME! I always admire that in a book!

is the thing you picked up the thing where Kai has really obvious supernatural persuasion powers that Maggie was shocked, shocked! to learn about

From:

genarti

well and also that perhaps they should maaaybe look into the whole Tah situation a little bit more, but especially that extremely obvious talent she was SUPER SHOCKED to learn of yes

Edited Date: 2019-01-30 11:32 pm (UTC)

From:

kore

In an article she said there were things she left out, and things she kind of made up -- she didn't want to show any ceremony, for example, and the clan powers are absolutely made up. But a lot of it is also instantly recognizable culturally, like her trailer and old truck and dogs and the feeling of Tah's hogan and what he says about kinship. And the image of the library full of old stories they can't listen to as the batteries run down and there are grieving ghosts outside is really powerful.