Tread of Angels, by Rebecca Roanhorse

Well...I'm going to give this a 3.5 and round up.

This story just didn't feel like it had the depth of the other work I've read from her. At first I thought it might be from coming to this setting from the outside--but no, she actually has deep spiritual grounding in Christianity, as she explains in her Afterword. For me the book picks up as protagonist Celeste and sister Mariel's blind spots and secrets are revealed, and that improved my rating.

The setting is a difficult one for me. I resist metaphors that refer to the losing side in the Battle of Heaven as equivalent to oppressed people of today. Maybe more important, fictional work in this space is really crowded, all the way back to Milton (whom she references). Lucifer and company as antiheroes has been done and done and done, so if you're going to come to this space you have to bring something new. Aliette de Bodard has been mining this vein for awhile, and this book even uses the same term (Fallen) for the demons that de Bodard does. If Roanhorse wants to come back to this world I would want it to be in the form of a novel, maybe a long one, that gets very deep into a unique build of this kind of world. Good luck to her.

My Goodreads Review

Black Sun, by Rebecca Roanhorse

Really happy I read this one, and am looking forward to the rest of the series. What I really like about reading Rebecca Roanhorse is how her important scenes, whether they are action sequences or dialogs, draw you in and make you hold your breath. The opening of this book is one such scene. An interesting note for me is that it relies less on actual fights than some other books of hers. There's some violence and even gory stuff, but in this book the combat is more long-term chess moves, especially the process of creating Serapio. Teek, where Xiala is from, is going to be particularly interesting to develop in later books. Right now it comes off as pretty much Lesbos, but I'm sure there's more to it.

Roanhorse kind of telegraphs the cliffhanger through the book, but it still works really well. The plot itself, at least at this stage, is pretty much hero's journey/vengeance/love affair, but those are a pretty strong triangle and Serapio and Xiala populate it very well. The other main character in the book, the Sun Priest Naranpa, has not grown on me yet--she seems pretty naive early on--but is coming along well.

Fun stuff! Pick it up if you like fantasy at all.

My Goodreads Review

A Brief Lesson in Native American Astronomy, by Rebecca Roanhorse

The references in the title are all oblique--no actual astronomy, but the story concerns Native American celebrity actors and even involves some space travel.  The protagonist has lost his lover, who tragically died young.  There is a way to experience her again--essences of people's memories can be extracted, and consumed by way of a VR Experience (see Welcome to Your Authentic Native American Experience).  They can also be experienced by injection where they go straight to your brain, but that's not recommended.  Our protagonist does it anyway, and gets his lover back--but she is not so well preserved.  Certainly a fun story.

Trail of Lightning, by Rebecca Roanhorse

Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


The only other work of Roanhorse's that I have read is her award nominated story from last year, "Welcome To Your Authentic Indian Experience". That one was very subtle, much more layered, and much more relaxed. None of that here. Maggie Hoskie is a full-on female superhero. The Sixth World is fantasy in a Navajo (Dine) setting, which sets wonderfully far apart from werewolves, vampires, zombies, and elves. We get a lot of hints about how that world emerged after the Big Water, the earthquake that sundered America, that leave me wanting more.

I have to say I miss that subtlety. Maggie Hoskie ends up pretty one-dimensional, though her partner, Kai, has a bit more depth. He's pretty much a feminist ideal man--gorgeous to look at, non-violent, yet very strong and powerful in his own way as a medicine man and healer. Overall it's a pretty bleak story, though I think there's room for optimism as the Dine overcame incredible hardship to have it as good as they do.

I have the feeling this series is going to get better as it goes along, as Roanhorse brings the subtlety she is capable of into the plotting.



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Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience, by Rebecca Roanhorse

Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience by Rebecca Roanhorse

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


So we have a story by an authentic Native American, about a character who is an authentic Native American, but has a job as a VR immersive experience lead doing a kind of "therapy" as an "Indian". This story works better if you've read more about the experiences of Native Americans and people of color outside of the story, and can identify with it in that way. There's a lot of potential depth and ideas to explore about "passing", and what Native Americans have to do to get by in a White world. (view spoiler)[ In the end, we have a White guy who absorbs the protagonist's stories through the pretense of friendship, then ends up taking both his job and his girlfriend by being a better "Indian" than the Native American. And it's absolutely unsurprising, since the construct being marketed is for White consumption. (hide spoiler)] Subtle and wry. I wish Roanhorse well in her writing career.



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