Urban Fantasy and Post-Apocalyptic fiction aren’t exactly the first two subgenres one might think to combine. Some writers have done it very successfully (Kim Harrison, Stephen Boyett are two who come to mind), with the latest entry in this mashup being Rebecca Roanhorse’s Trail of Lightning which launches the Sixth World saga.
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 best hope. But what Maggie uncovers about the monster is much more terrifying than anything she could imagine.
Maggie reluctantly enlists the aid of Kai Arviso, an unconventional medicine man, and together they travel the rez, unraveling clues from ancient legends, trading favors with tricksters, and battling dark witchcraft in a patchwork world of deteriorating technology.
As Maggie discovers the truth behind the killings, she will have to confront her past if she wants to survive.
Welcome to the Sixth World.
Set in a post-flood world, as in the waters rose and drowned a signification portion of the world, the novel focuses on Maggie Hoskie, who uses her clan powers to hunt down the monsters who constantly threaten her people. Maggie has a bit of a lonely life – her family is dead, her mentor Neizgháni, a Native American god, abandoned her, she has only one real person she can somewhat trust, a man named Tah.
Maggie lives in Dinétah, what was once the Western United States, but is now an enclave surrounded by a large wall which isolates them but also traps them. What gets the action moving is when Maggie is asked to retrieve a child taken by monsters. This monster is not your normal monster, at least not the kind of monster Maggie has come to expect from within the walls of Dinétah. When Tah introduces Maggie to his grandson Kai, the plot kicks into high gear as they investigate Maggie’s findings.
What sets this novel apart from many of its peers is just how integral the culture of the Dinétah is to the story. It informs everything about the setting and who Maggie is. Mythology and folklore are woven intricately into the plot and the characters, elements that are not nearly as represented as say, Nordic or Roman mythology in the genre. Whilst some genre writers will make Native American mythology a component of the world they are building (Kevin Hearne’s “all mythologies are true” Iron Druid series does this very well), but here in Roanhorse’s vibrant prose and storytelling that comparatively untapped Native American fabric is the whole cloth of the world and it is glorious. In short, it is virtually a character in and of itself and Roanhorse’s ability to convey that power of setting, provided an extremely immersive reading experience.
What I like best about the milieu/world mythology is that this is just the first book and Roanharse seems to have just shown readers the tip of a fantastic iceberg of this broken landscape of a world we once knew. One of the more famous Native American gods is probably the trickster god, Coyote, and he makes a pretty impactful appearance in the story. Because of the flooding and hurricanes, the Fifth World (our world, in other words) is washed away and the Sixth World emerges. As this Sixth World awakens, monsters, magics, and deities of Native American mythology and myth-story emerge.
As for the protagonist, Maggie is one of the more fascinating heroes I’ve met in the genre, equal parts vulnerable and strong. Since Urban Fantasy borrows heavily from mystery, Maggie fits the mold of protagonist with a mysterious past. Despite the familiarity of the type of character she is, because of how well Roanhorse injected her own sensibilities into Maggie I felt a newness to her. Sure, she resonated with some past protagonists I’ve encountered, but Maggie was wholly her own refreshing character. I also found myself wanting to lend her my ear, to be support for this person who suffered many tragic events but also cower when the monsters arrive because I know she’d protect me.
Trail of Lightning is a superb start to a series – a great introduction to the saga’s protagonist, enough detail about the world that balances the details provided by Roahnorse with nuggets of curiosity that whet the appetite, all told with some great plotting and storytelling. Roanhorse has created a contender for my favorite Urban Fantasy/Post Apocalypse hybrid with The Sixth World. I need to know what happens next with Maggie and Kai and I want to explore more of this world.
Highly Recommended
© 2019 Rob H. Bedford
Published by Saga Press | June 2018 | 304 Pages
https://rebeccaroanhorse.com/
Excerpt: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Trail-of-Lightning/Rebecca-Roanhorse/The-Sixth-World/9781534413498
Review Copy courtesy of the Publisher Saga Press
