Reading Well: Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse

Trail of Lightning (2018) is the opening novel of a YA duology set in, well, I guess technically it’s a dystopia, but it really is focused on the world after the dystopian events. I think it is Rebecca Roanhorse‘s debut novel, but it’s not clear–she has published quite a few short stories, and a novel that is part of the Star Wars canon.

In Trail of Lightning, climate change has flooded most of North America, and earthquakes have ravaged the rest. The novel is explicitly steeped in the traditions of the native peoples of the American Southwest, whose lands have been isolated from the rest of the devastation by the appearance of massive walls that encircle the area.

The heroine is a young woman who is inhabited by spirits, giving her powers that can be used to help fight against demons that pose a threat, as well as, more often than she would hope, against other people.

It’s a very, very good YA story: solid characters, nice world-depth, and a protagonist that is heavily conflicted in ways that make sense. It also incorporates native traditions in an end-to-end way, from the subtle to the overwhelming. This makes it potentially unique: this isn’t a Rick Riordan style novel that adapts the trappings of a foreign mythology into a traditional narrative. Instead, it’s a different narrative.

This is expressed in many ways–how characters relate and bond, how comfortable with violence the heroine is at times, and perhaps most obviously in how Coyote is presented as a trickster figure in the novel.

Overall, Trail of Lightning is a highly recommended YA entry, especially if you are looking for something with fantasy/magical elements outside of the typical European traditions. I will certainly read the sequel, as I do want to know what happens next to the core characters.

#WhatIWishICouldDo

Roanhorse’s characters are, for the most part, nicely inconsistent. That is, they contain contradictions, they contain flaws, they contain motivations that are not always perfectly aligned. I love that, as it’s wonderfully human. Doing that in fantasy novels is especially daunting–the temptation to fall into “pure characters” once magic is introduced is awfully strong, and she resists it in a way I admire.