Trail of Lightning

Unexpectedly complex and engrossing. Enjoyable, too. Roanhorse has a gift for dialogue - not profound, just banter that somehow communicates a lot of heart. Her characters are just a smidgen over the top — too kind, too conflicted, too evil — and her story development a little too convenient; and I was totally okay with all of it. There's real-life pain here: shame, guilt, uncertainty, fear, grit, deceit, pain, with small and large kindnesses all throughout.

My favorite aspect, and this is only a mild spoiler: Coyote. He was... refreshingly unpredictable. Coyote is often painted as evil or mischievous but still somehow recognizable to a human; Roanhorse's Coyote is what I've always envisioned: chaotic neutral. Motivations that make no sense, that cannot be understood by a mere human mind. Just when you think you have him pegged, nope, you don't, and I love that. It's a reminder that Coyote is all around us every day; that our only way to deal with uncertainty is to roll with it.

Many close-second favorite aspects: Roanhorse's love for and portrayal of Diné culture; her love of human beings, flawed as we are; her understanding of loneliness, her compassion for those who suffer alone.