A Storm of Locusts by Rebecca Roanhorse ( Sixth World # 2 )
Rebecca Roanhorse easily makes a bid for becoming my hot favourite author in the recent times, with this strong second instalment of the Sixth World Series A Storm of Locusts - an imaginative hot mash up of urban fantasy with a twist, throwing in the depth of amazing world building based on Navajo myths and immersive characterisation, making us root for this central character, a monster-slayer with an attitude named Maggie Hoskie along with her friends.
Trail of Lightning was an electrifying opener to this series, introducing us to the world of Dine'tah, indigenous people who found sanctuary behind the Great Wall, a magical structure built by the Dine'tah council to save their world when the rest of it got wiped out, in a combination of floods (Big Water) and war (Energy Wars) Some of the them, including Maggie, our central protagonist had this awakening of magical abilities, traced back to their original tribes. It also brought down the Navajo Gods of the legends down into their worlds with tricky consequences.
So the first book ended with the disastrous events at the Black Mesa - where Maggie left her previous master and love, Neizgha'ni buried under the ground and is forced to shoot Kai, to make him save himself but this too backfires as she ends up being estranged and distanced from him. A Storm of Locusts begins in a similar manner to the first book, where Maggie - the famous monster-slayer - is called upon to hunt down a new monster in town. This one, a strange man called the White Locust who can sprout wings and sing a bewitching tune that will have you enthralled and powerless, who is collecting people [ flocking to him like a swarm of locusts ] promising them deliverance from this evil world and heralding the age of a new pure world. It's too much of a bait for Maggie to ignore and when the Hastiin, a former nemesis comes calling, she sets out readily enough. Disaster strikes soon though as Hastiin is killed and his sixteen year old cousin, Ben is now left under Maggie's care. Add to that, the Goodacres come calling with a similar tale of misfortune, where both Kai and the youngest Goodacre Caleb have decided to follow the White Locust, Maggie has no choice but to set out on the trail that the Prophet is obviously setting out for her.
The trail leads her out beyond the Wall into this region called the Malpais - one fraught with too many dangers, including outlaws who would readily capture and trade Maggie and her friends to a slave market. But all this is just the set up for the big showdown, with Gideon the White Locust who's got men and women wrapped around his little finger, willing to throw themselves off a cliff on his command or even orchestrate and bring down another storm to end the world.
But the problems with Gideon still seem far away for Maggie as she, a lone wolf most of her life, is now saddled with Ben, a hyper-active teenager who has adopted Maggie as her aunt and is willing to follow her to the ends of this world. Ben is in the same stage as Maggie was, when she was left unmoored in her young life, having lost her grandmother and her clan-powers manifested for her in the bloodiest manner possible. But Maggie doesn't want to be the Neizghani to Ben. And then there is Kai who is trying to tear down the walls around her heart that she has built her whole life. She is struggling with her feelings for Kai and is determined to win him back if only to clear up the confusion in her heart. But the message that Kai left for her was unequivocal. Also aiding her in this quest is Risa Goodacre, one of the Goodacre twins who's partly blaming Kai and thus Maggie, for almost having lost her brother Caleb to the White Locust. Their hesitant friendship as it develops is another key element of this whole story of how Maggie evolves into someone who's accepting of her faults and is open to starting anew with people. While in Book One, Maggie kept mostly to herself shunning the company of people, Book Two actually sees her character evolve to accept her faults and the people around her.
But this does nothing to soften the monster-slayer when it comes to kicking butt of course. The action comes in explosive bursts just when the narrative seems to go a bit soft, right from get-go - the first hunt for the signs of the White locust, the tense ride out into the wilds of Malpais, the slave-markets and a long drawn out climax with Gideon and his locusts. Rebecca spends a long time building the world outside the walls, a physical world destroyed by the Big Water and Energy wars where the non indigenous people, the non-Dine'h have devolved into their basest instincts for survival. There are new Gods introduced into the mix of course, each with their own quirks and demands from Maggie.
Overall, I really love the manner in which this series has expanded - both on the world building and the characters arc. It's still a bloody tale of rescue-missions, monster-slayings, complex relationships and a giddy tense ride full of action and redemption. I dare say, that A Storm of Locusts might even be better than Trail of Lightning. And with that ending, now I cannot wait for Book-Three to hit us next year.
Trail of Lightning was an electrifying opener to this series, introducing us to the world of Dine'tah, indigenous people who found sanctuary behind the Great Wall, a magical structure built by the Dine'tah council to save their world when the rest of it got wiped out, in a combination of floods (Big Water) and war (Energy Wars) Some of the them, including Maggie, our central protagonist had this awakening of magical abilities, traced back to their original tribes. It also brought down the Navajo Gods of the legends down into their worlds with tricky consequences.
So the first book ended with the disastrous events at the Black Mesa - where Maggie left her previous master and love, Neizgha'ni buried under the ground and is forced to shoot Kai, to make him save himself but this too backfires as she ends up being estranged and distanced from him. A Storm of Locusts begins in a similar manner to the first book, where Maggie - the famous monster-slayer - is called upon to hunt down a new monster in town. This one, a strange man called the White Locust who can sprout wings and sing a bewitching tune that will have you enthralled and powerless, who is collecting people [ flocking to him like a swarm of locusts ] promising them deliverance from this evil world and heralding the age of a new pure world. It's too much of a bait for Maggie to ignore and when the Hastiin, a former nemesis comes calling, she sets out readily enough. Disaster strikes soon though as Hastiin is killed and his sixteen year old cousin, Ben is now left under Maggie's care. Add to that, the Goodacres come calling with a similar tale of misfortune, where both Kai and the youngest Goodacre Caleb have decided to follow the White Locust, Maggie has no choice but to set out on the trail that the Prophet is obviously setting out for her.
The trail leads her out beyond the Wall into this region called the Malpais - one fraught with too many dangers, including outlaws who would readily capture and trade Maggie and her friends to a slave market. But all this is just the set up for the big showdown, with Gideon the White Locust who's got men and women wrapped around his little finger, willing to throw themselves off a cliff on his command or even orchestrate and bring down another storm to end the world.
But the problems with Gideon still seem far away for Maggie as she, a lone wolf most of her life, is now saddled with Ben, a hyper-active teenager who has adopted Maggie as her aunt and is willing to follow her to the ends of this world. Ben is in the same stage as Maggie was, when she was left unmoored in her young life, having lost her grandmother and her clan-powers manifested for her in the bloodiest manner possible. But Maggie doesn't want to be the Neizghani to Ben. And then there is Kai who is trying to tear down the walls around her heart that she has built her whole life. She is struggling with her feelings for Kai and is determined to win him back if only to clear up the confusion in her heart. But the message that Kai left for her was unequivocal. Also aiding her in this quest is Risa Goodacre, one of the Goodacre twins who's partly blaming Kai and thus Maggie, for almost having lost her brother Caleb to the White Locust. Their hesitant friendship as it develops is another key element of this whole story of how Maggie evolves into someone who's accepting of her faults and is open to starting anew with people. While in Book One, Maggie kept mostly to herself shunning the company of people, Book Two actually sees her character evolve to accept her faults and the people around her.
But this does nothing to soften the monster-slayer when it comes to kicking butt of course. The action comes in explosive bursts just when the narrative seems to go a bit soft, right from get-go - the first hunt for the signs of the White locust, the tense ride out into the wilds of Malpais, the slave-markets and a long drawn out climax with Gideon and his locusts. Rebecca spends a long time building the world outside the walls, a physical world destroyed by the Big Water and Energy wars where the non indigenous people, the non-Dine'h have devolved into their basest instincts for survival. There are new Gods introduced into the mix of course, each with their own quirks and demands from Maggie.
Overall, I really love the manner in which this series has expanded - both on the world building and the characters arc. It's still a bloody tale of rescue-missions, monster-slayings, complex relationships and a giddy tense ride full of action and redemption. I dare say, that A Storm of Locusts might even be better than Trail of Lightning. And with that ending, now I cannot wait for Book-Three to hit us next year.
Comments