This week we are discussion Trail of Lighting by Rebecca Roanhorse Chapters 28-38
Spoiler Warning!!! This post is full of spoilers for Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse.
Trigger/Content Warning!!! This book has scenes of and discussion such themes as: Violence, Gore, Supernatural Creatures, PTSD, panic attacks, blood, murder, death, and emotional abuse.
Discussion #3:
Jacilyn: Hello friends and welcome to our third and final discussion of Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse. Listen, everyone. This last part of the book felt like a rollercoaster. That seems so cliche, but I think I wrote “wat” (yes, spelled that way) at least three times in my notes. I thought I knew what was going on and then suddenly - CURVEBALL.
First of all, the Shalimar. When we left off last time, I was under the impression that the Shalimar was just a regular club that had some unique clientele…. I was so very wrong. The fact that the Shalimar comes in and out of sight! What!? This is one of those moments where I wish I was watching this play out on screen so I could see the Shalimar come to life. The costume-like fashion, the fighting ring, the fact that it holds a whole market!? It’s fascinating. I absolutely love it.
Michaela: I was not even kind of prepared for how this book was going. It went a totally different direction than I expected and I loved it. I was not ready for how quickly things turned for the characters and I felt like every scene had another twist or curveball in it.
The Shalimar is one of my favorite literary locations now. The whole concept is beyond amazing. The people with their clan powers, the fashion, the market, the fighting ring, just the whole atmosphere. It’s incredible. I would love to read more about the people and about Shalimar itself. I think how the clan powers show themselves is so, so cool, I can’t get over it.
So much happened in this last part of the book that I don’t even know what to talk about first. But we have to talk about Mósí. She sounds spectacular but in a scary god way. Mósí was definitely charismatic but just as untrustworthy as Ma’ii, honestly. I could not stop being sceptical of everything she was telling Maggie and Kai. Also, since Mósí chose the Jaa’yaalóolii Dine’e (Sticking-Up-Ears people) clan to be her security when their clan powers are the ability to tell lies from truth and hear supernaturally well…...I can’t bring myself to trust her. I feel like I didn’t really trust Ma’ii either but it feels different with Mósí.
Jacilyn: It’s fascinating to me that without the silver paint from Kai, Maggie wouldn’t have been able to see the true forms that the clan powers took. All those people were walking around thinking that they look like everyone else. Really, the illusion works on the person themselves. I really want to know what Kai saw when he looked at Maggie. I am so curious how her clan powers portrayed themselves.
I didn’t trust Mósí either. She seemed truly intrigued by Maggie and Kai, but it was almost predatory at times. Much like with Ma’ii, I feel like Mósí had her own agenda and her actions were based solely on that. I have a feeling that we’ll get to see more of her in the rest of the series.
I had a feeling that Maggie was going to end up against Neizghání in the fighting ring, but I was confused at what Ma’ii was playing at by obviously leading Maggie there. We find out more later, which we’ll discuss, but at the time I thought maybe Ma’ii was just trying to help Maggie get the closure she deserved. Not that Neizghání provided much of that. Honestly, I was confused at Maggie’s love for him once he revealed how arrogant and self-righteous he is. I’m confused at whether he wanted to kill her or not, though. Did he know that Kai would be able to save her?
Michaela: I am desperate to know what Maggie looks like in her clan form. I have no idea how that clan power would manifest itself. I wonder if there are people who can always see the clan powers without the silver stuff Kai had. I also would like to know why Kai had it and where he got it from.
I agree. Mósí feels very predatory to me when it comes to Maggie and Kai. I’m sure she will become a returning character throughout the series. I would like to meet some of the other gods to compare them to Ma’ii and Mósí, like the Buffalo that has been mentioned a few times. Are the others the same personal agenda seeking gods or are they different?
As soon as we found out Maggie was actually going to fight, I knew who it was going to be against. It couldn’t have been anyone else. I was actually startled at how unlikeable I found Neizghání to be. He was outrageously arrogant and self-righteous, as you said. I knew I wasn’t going to like him at all but I felt overwhelmed by how much I hated his character. It just further shows, to me anyways, how stockholm-y and emotionally abusive he is to Maggie. The way he fought her was very violent, while Maggie may have been trying to kill him...he was torturing her I think. Also that kiss between Maggie and Neizghání, literally made my skin crawl. Like even think about it now I just…..*shivers*. It was possessive at the very least, no real love in it. I agree with Ma’ii on his point that Neizghání loves Maggie “as much as someone like him can” or at least in the way someone like him can. But someone like Neizghání, five-fingered or legend or hero or whatever, can’t look past themselves to truly love others. Maggie might be a monsterslayer but she has the full capacity to love and Neizghání does not.
I don’t think Neizghání was trying to kill her, not really. Like I said before, I kinda think he was just torturing her to make a spectacle. Then he BRANDED her by stabbing her with his lightning bolt. Excuse me while I go throw up my cheerios.
Jacilyn: That kiss felt like such a violation to me. Mósí calls Maggie “Neizghání’s weapon” and I think whatever “love” he was capable of feeling towards her was really just narcissism. He loved that he “created” someone so powerful, and he even admits that at Black Mesa - he says he kissed her during the fight because of how strong and fierce she was. It’s like the fight reminded him why he kept her around before, and he branded her so he could find her easily again. I hate it. Absolutely hate it.
I love that Maggie and Kai’s relationship reached a different level when he healed her. Kai comforted her in her sleep, even, but I think he needed her comfort for his own healing as well. The trust that was built in that shared experience was remarkable. I think Kai helped Maggie realize that these “friends” and “acquaintances” she had could be true friends. Grace, Hastiin and his Thirsty Boys, and even Clive and Rissa, all trusted her enough to follow her into battle with a GOD. I got so emotional reading about them standing in Grace’s trailer together, creating this plan to get rid of these monsters and their creators for good. I love all of these characters so much.
Michaela: The kiss was super violating. See Neizghání didn’t even “create” Maggie, she was born with clan powers, technically Ma’ii triggered Maggie’s clan powers to develop faster, and then Maggie was the one who did the hard work of training. Neizghání can go all the way away, I do not like him at all. Neizghání “loves” the idea of having someone as powerful as Maggie being enamoured with him and to be his groupie, not to love him or for him to love them back.
I am so happy that Maggie, first of all, felt like she could be touched and felt good being cuddled. My whole heart. Then how much Kai had to sacrifice his own health to save Maggie is astonishing and heart-wrenching. Luckily he seemed to recover himself quite a bit during that time. And I agree, I think Kai has really opened up Maggie’s world to what actual friends are. She still doesn’t totally get that not everyone hates her but she’s getting there. She told Hastiin that she thought he hated her and he said “no, you owe me money. It’s different”. Maggie is so used to what Neizghání has told her to believe and how some people react to her that she doesn’t think she deserves friendship.
The image of all these people in Grace’s trailer just hanging out, planning a war on a god, is one of my favorite things from this book. These characters are such a good representation of how people just get thrown together sometimes and they become a friend group really quickly. I think they all work together well and I hope they grow back together in the next book in the series because how Rissa sent Maggie away broke my heart. The ending of this book surprised me so much, I really had no idea what this battle was going to be like. I felt so confused, sad, and mad after learning what had actually been going on this whole time.
Jacilyn: I was not expecting Ma’ii to be at the top of that tower. And then his confession that he was the person creating the monsters this whole time, including the witch who murdered Maggie’s grandmother. He came to Maggie when she was a teenager. He planned all of this from the beginning. And he really thought that his ends justified the means, and thought Maggie was being irrational for her reaction towards him after his confession. There’s that godly arrogance again. I’m starting to wonder if all gods possess this quality. Ma’ii went down easier than I expected. One shot to the head, and he’s supposedly dead. I say supposedly because his story still feels unfinished…. I don’t think we ever even fully learned what his beef was with Neizghání in the first place.
And then there was the reveal of Kai’s full powers. Like we’ve discussed before, he has the ability to talk his way in and out of basically whatever he wants. For some reason, I was surprised that he was manipulating Maggie in the beginning, but honestly, I can’t say I blame him. But I know that although Maggie is waiting for him to come back, there’s going to be some issues there. Even though their trust in each other is the only reason Maggie was able to imprison Neizghání in the end, I don’t think Maggie will welcome Kai back in with open arms and live happily ever after with him. They have some things to work through. I find it so fascinating that they were both having very similar dreams, and that Kai’s dreams were what led Neizghání to want to remove him from the equation in the first place. I definitely need to keep reading the series, because I have to know how Kai was able to survive after Maggie shot him or how they even knew that would work.
I can’t say that I blame Rissa for her reaction, but it broke my heart too. I think it broke Rissa’s heart, also. Another reason I’m looking forward to continuing the series is because I can’t wait for Maggie and Kai’s reunion with the Goodacres and Hastiin.
Speaking of reunions…. Tah. Tah was waiting for Maggie back at her trailer. And he knew. He said “let’s wait for him together” and my whole heart just exploded at that moment. I can’t believe that he’s not actually dead, but I’m so grateful that Maggie has him right now.
Michaela: I was not expecting Ma’ii either, nor did I expect his confession. I feel a little betrayed by Ma’ii, I genuinely like his character but he was following such an evil agenda this whole time. It hurts to know he put Maggie through all of this just to get back at Neizghání….for some reason that I’m still not sure what it is. The godly arrogance is insane. But I think this is a trope in all books that have gods and goddesses, they always see humans as simple and having too many emotions. When Ma’ii literally slaughtered people just to get Maggie to meet Neizghání to then later potentially kill him, the emotional drama in that is ridiculous.
I wasn’t surprised by the reveal of Kai’s powers, we noticed them the whole time and we even talked about how we assumed that was what his other clan powers were. I thought Maggie’s reaction to that in particular was a little too much because it was kind of obvious, she just didn’t want to see it. I think there’s still more to Kai’s powers than even he knows about yet, the same with Maggie. I think their powers are going to grow and possibly grow together.
Maggie might be upset at Kai but I think her act of trusting Kai and him trusting her to “kill” him shows that they can get through this. Otherwise I don’t think she could have gone through with trapping Neizghání. They’ll have a lot to work through but I think they still need each other.
I thought that perhaps Kai is the reason Maggie had a dream too. I thought that maybe some of Kai’s clan powers includes seeing the truth of the future or something like that and it triggered a vision in Maggie’s dreams because they’re future is connected. But other than that I have no other theories. But I think Neizghání wanting to get rid of Kai is proof of how powerful Kai really is, Neizghání views him as a threat and he views Maggie as a weapon, which shows how powerful she truly is. I think Kai and Maggie as a team will be lethal to all monsters later in the story as long as they get past this event.
Tah coming back actually brought a small tear to my eye. I can’t hardly believe he’s alive. But then that begs the question, how is he alive? Ma’ii clearly doesn’t have much limits when it comes to killing Maggie’s loved ones to get what he wants. How did Tah get away? I’m so happy he’s back but I need answers Tah!
Jacilyn: I agree that there’s more to both Kai and Maggie’s powers. She already seems to be getting the hang of ignoring her killing power when it kicks into gear, which I think is a step in the right direction for her. I really like that theory about the dreams. I think that makes sense. I wonder if Tah has this same Big Medicine that Kai has? Perhaps that’s how he was able to survive.
I think we can count on Neizghání making another appearance in the future, like Maggie said. He won’t stay imprisoned for long. I can’t help but love the symbolism of Maggie leaving him behind in Black Mesa, too.
Well, friends, that’s all for Trail of Lightning. Thank you so much for joining us for the first book of 2021!
Did you suspect Ma’ii? What do you think the future has in store for Maggie and Kai? Tell us what you think in the comments below!
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