Storm of Locusts is like American Gods meets Mad Max: Fury Road - The Verge

In her debut novel Trail of Lightning, Rebecca Roanhorse introduced readers to a compelling future in which climate change and wars have wrecked North America, resulting in some fantastical transformations to the country. Native American gods walk alongside mortal humans, some of whom have developed fantastical clan powers, and magical walls have grown around the traditional Navajo homeland Dinétah. In her next adventure, Storm of Locusts, Roanhorse ups the stakes for her characters and the world.

Trail of Lightning earned considerable acclaim since its release. Roanhorse was nominated for a bunch of awards, including the Nebula and Hugo for Best Novel, and it was one of our favorite books of 2018. Storm of Locusts is just as good, grabbing the reader with a lightning-fast (sorry) pace and vivid characters in a fantastical world that reminded me of a cross between Neil Gaiman’s American Gods and Mad Max: Fury Road.

Spoilers for the book ahead.

In Trail of Lightning, we met Maggie Hoskie, a Native American woman living in Dinétah, She’s capable of moving superhumanly fast, which has attracted the attention of the god Naayééʼ Neizghání, known as “monster slayer.” He has taken her under his wing and trained her as a monster hunter. Along with a partner — Kai Arviso, who has his own powers — she foils a plot that threatens Dinétah.

It would be extremely easy for Roanhorse to put Trail of Lighting through a photocopier, change a couple of details, and spit out a new-yet-the-same adventure featuring monster hunter Maggie and her friends. Storm of Locusts brings a new threat to Dinétah, but it’s one that focuses more on Maggie’s development, an almost entirely new cast of characters, and a look outside of the walls of the world we’re already familiar with.

As the book opens, Maggie’s friend and love interest Kai has gone missing. The two were a bit on the outs — Maggie shot him at the climax of Trail of Lightning — and it appears that he’s gotten involved with a cult, along with another friend, Caleb Goodacre. The cult, led by a mysterious figure known as the White Locust, has been amassing explosives and using his powers to graft delicate metal wings onto its followers as a symbol of his power.

Maggie is recruited by Caleb’s siblings, and their trail brings them beyond the walls of Dinétah. Along the way, they encounter violent militia groups that harvest body parts, exiled gods who run casinos, and mysterious figures who seem to know far more about the nature of the supernatural world than they should.

Roanhorse keeps Storm of Locusts humming along at a brisk pace. The chapters are short and there’s plenty of dynamic action and dialogue, but she never strays far from the central attraction of the book: Maggie. At the start of Trail of Lightning, Maggie is a tough but broken woman who has had trouble forming meaningful connections with those around her. This new adventure helps her with that. She’s honor-bound to watch over Ben, a young woman whose uncle perishes early in the novel, while the Goodacre siblings really don’t like her all that much. But as they venture out beyond Dinétah, they’re forced to work together on overcoming their own issues to try and save their home.

In this instance, we learn that the White Locust wants to destroy Dinétah in a plot to both placate his ego and sense of revenge for his childhood trauma. Kai, with his abilities, is instrumental to the White Locust’s plan. Both parts of this story fit perfectly together: Maggie works to heal some of the trauma that she’s endured over the years and help her new friends, while their adversary is caught in his own self-destructive mindset.

Along the way, we’re treated to some fantastic and horrifying scenery that shows off what’s happened with the world. Society has collapsed, and we see armed gangs running around the countryside in their own territory, and the chaos allows for charismatic figures like the White Locust to swoop in and gather up followers to enact some really horrible plans. Where the action was largely limited to Dinétah in the prior book, seeing the characters navigate the destruction is useful, showing a more complete picture for the larger world that Roanhorse has created.

Roanhorse wraps the novel up nicely, but it’s clear from the ending that there’s more in store for Maggie and her allies. Fortunately, there’s another Sixth World novel on the way next year. In the meantime, we’ll see what her take on the Star Wars universe is later this fall.

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https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/2/18647318/storm-of-locusts-rebecca-roanhorse-native-american-gods-meets-mad-max-fury-road-book-review

2019-06-02 14:00:00Z
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