Review of Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse

Read for: Recently Added/Audio Book Challenge & Booktube SFF Shortlist

Synopsis: "While most of the world has drowned beneath the sudden rising waters of a climate apocalypse, Dinétah (formerly the Navajo reservation) has been reborn. The gods and heroes of legend walk the land, but so do monsters.

Maggie Hoskie is a Dinétah monster hunter, a supernaturally gifted killer. When a small town needs help finding a missing girl, Maggie is their last—and best—hope. But what Maggie uncovers about the monster is much larger and more terrifying than anything she could imagine.

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.

As Maggie discovers the truth behind the disappearances, she will have to confront her past—if she wants to survive.

Welcome to the Sixth World."

My Review: I picked this book up because it made the Booktube SFF Shortlist, it seemed like it was a little outside my normal comfort zone but so many readers have loved it I thought I would give it a shot. I did decide to listen to the audio book because of my schedule at the moment, and I am really glad I did! This book is inspired by Native American mythology and a lot of the words used and names are from a Native American language, so the pronunciations would have been way beyond my abilities and I may have given up without the audio book. The world building was easy to follow as it does happen in a post apocalyptic US and it builds on the Native American beliefs from there weaving them through the story seamlessly. It was also a really unique story compare to the other YA fantasy/ Urban Fantasy type books out there. I definitely recommend picking up the audio book and reading along with the print book so you can grasp the pronunciations in preparation for the next book in the series!

My Rating: I was really pleasantly surprised by this book, it had a lot of action, well developed world, easy to follow magic system, a touch of romance and some great characters to root for, I give it a rating of Four Paws!