Trail of Lightning (1) (The Sixth World)

Really enjoyed this--felt a little like Richelle Mead's Dark Swan series.

This one was a bit boring. Partly because the main heroine only had two character traits: traumatized and good at fighting. Partly because the fighting bit was her magically being good at it. So a lot of her martial achievements were explained away by magic. The martial arts scenes at times didn't follow the laws of physics (not in a magical way, in an anatomy doesn't work like that way). I couldn't understand the villain's objective. Also, like other reviewers noticed, our main heroine is pretty passive. The Kai's magical powers were telegraphed too strongly, so that by the time of the big reveal it makes Maggie look gullible that she didn't push the issue or guess earlier. Oh, and the trick of something dramatic happening JUST as Maggie was about to figure something out or say something important was way overused.
I did enjoy the worldbuilding and Kai's and Tah's characters. I also appreciate having a main character with symptoms of PTSD. I will continue this series in hopes hat it gets better.

I'm rounding this up to a 4 but I lean more towards 3.5 stars. I enjoyed the story, the crazy twists and turns that it had throughout every chapter. Kai and Maggie had such a fun chemistry that I was rooting for the whole time, even after the twist towards the end. I won't lie and say there were points that I had no idea where the book was going, but that was part of the fun. I really had no idea what was going to happen next, which is a huge plus as it wasn't predictable. Was I a fan of the ending? No. Will I stick around to see how everything is wrapped up in the second book? Most likely.

Мне очень сильно хотелось полюбить эту книгу – там действительно много вещей, по которым я обычно убиваюсь. Герои живут в бывшей резервации навахо в постапокалиптическом ближайшем будущем: глобальное потепление всё-таки изменило климат настолько, что цунами и торнадо смели половину Земли и два миллиарда человек. Даже в тех регионах, которые не затопило, жизнь изменилась – нет школ, электричества, нормальной еды. Зато есть боги и монстры – катаклизм впустил в мир магию, а раз есть монстры, то есть и те, кто их истребляет (*входит наша героиня Мэгги*).

Родители Мэгги погибли, бабушку убил колдун у нее на глазах, и в этот момент в Мэгги пробудились «клановые силы». В бою Мэгги становится нечеловечески быстрой, а также нечеловечески кровожадной, такой natural born killer. После смерти бабушки её подобрал легендарный бессмертный герой Нейзгани, который стал её учителем, а потом внезапно однажды бросил, и так она и живет с тех пор между стыдом, виной, страхом, ненавистью к себе и влюбленностью.

Удивительное дело: именно на этой книжке я поняла, как непростительно мало в героическом фэнтэзи используют мотив «героиня страдает по мудаку бывшему». А это ж страшное дело, любой, кто страдал по мудаку бывшему подтвердит! Там же бездна возможностей для внутренних конфликтов разных мастей – даже побольше, чем в классической истории «любимый трагически погиб и теперь я мщу». В общем, дорогие писатели, обратите, так сказать, внимание.

Энивей, несмотря на кучу элементов, которые я люблю, магию, богов, индейцев и вот это вот всё, в книге не хватает главного – логики повествования. Я прямо фантазирую, как прихожу я к Ребекке Роанхорс и говорю: А есть у тебя сториборд? А давай посмотрим его – вот этот эпизод к чему? Куда он нас ведет? Почему ты вот эту линию бросила и больше к ней не возвращаешься? А вот этот персонаж зачем здесь, какая у него роль в истории?

Короче, обидно как-то вышло – такая многообещающая тема, а история рассыпается в руках, хоть тресни. Не знаю, буду ли читать вторую – ну может если только в какой-то момент душевного подъема (который не сейчас).

If you’re “hoping to find the CliffsNotes to ‘How to Kill an Immortal Warrior who Just Kicked Your Ass and Defeat an Army of Flesh-Eating Monsters,’ it’s not here,” so Rebecca Roanhorse wrote her own: Trail of Lightning. “I am called Magdalena Hoskie. I am of the Living Arrow clan. I was born for the Walks-Around clan. In this way am I Dine…left alone to hunt the monsters by myself, both the visible kind that steal away little girls to eat their flesh, and the invisible kind that live under the skin, eating at the girl from inside.” When “lightning strikes in Tse Bonito and there we stand–a monsterslayer, a Dine prince, and a trickster…Lightning strikes the field. Blinding bright, and by the time I blink away the afterglow and can see again, he’s there…He’s magnificent, black hair flowing down his back in a curtain of shadow. Armor bright. He carries his lightning sword in his hand. And everywhere he points it, destruction.” “Naayee’ Neizghani…The Monsterslayer…Truly something made of scorching sun and rare beauty…his lightning sword still holstered across his back, his armor unblemished.” He “thrusts his lightning blade up and under my ribs…acting more like a brand as it slipped from my side, cauterizing the flesh. A raised scar the shape of a lightning bolt that will never go away…Neizghani has branded me as his property.” But as Maggie discovers, “Everything you’ve done, your past, it’s all just a story you tell yourself. Some of it is true, but some of it is lies.” “You were so convinced that all you were was some kind of killing machine, and it was breaking you apart inside. And I could see you were so much more. A leader. A hero.” “Being a hero’s not about being perfect. It’s about doing the right thing, doing your best to get the people you care about home safely.”