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Summary

The Sixth World series is getting better with each volume! Book Two, Storm of Locusts, has just been released, following up on 2017’s Trail of Lightning. This apocalyptic dark fantasy is written by an Indigenous woman from the States, and features a world in which cataclysmic climate change has altered the shape of the world. Most of the coastal areas are gone, and what’s left has reverted to chaotic rule. Meanwhile, Dinétah (or the former Navajo reservation) has been saved by the wall that was built around it in the old days as a racist measure; it kept out the floods and Dinétah is a relatively safe place. Except for the resurgence of the old gods and monsters of Navajo legend. Maggie Hoskie is a Dinétah monster hunter, a supernaturally gifted killer. She’s been trained in violent techniques that aim to rid the people of these cannibalistic, terrifying monsters. And along the way she meets and fights and is mentored by varied demigods. While she searches for the victims of different attacks, she’s also dealing with betrayals in her personal life, and the appearance of a potential new relationship. In book one Maggie forms new alliances with fellow Dinétah residents and faces down her previous mentor, now an adversary. At the end of that story we’re left wondering if Maggie did the right thing in a final showdown. And in book two, we find out. This time around Maggie has to face the world outside the wall – some of her new friends have been drawn away by a mysterious cult leader, and with her actual job being to track down gods and monsters she must investigate. In this fast-paced story, Roanhorse draws an even more detailed view of the Sixth World from both inside and outside of Dinétah, and it makes for exciting, complex storytelling. If you are ready for something fresh, thrilling, and imaginative, full of Indigenous characters and social commentary, albeit with a hefty dose of violent action and some sexual content, this is a fantastic new series. Those who’ve enjoyed other dark urban fantasy such as Eden Robinson’s Trickster series are sure to find this series an appealing read.