This book was such a fun time. It’s one of those books that is full speed ahead once it starts and won’t let you go until the very end, which definitely left me wanting more.
Maggie Hoskie is an orphan, someone who lacks a true home and family, but has a few people she is fond of. There’s the medicine man and her mentor who disappeared suddenly several months ago, and now a new person in her life, Kai, the grandson of the medicine man. They’re in a dystopian version of the southwest after floods caused by global warming have taken out much of North America. Life is somewhat chaotic, but Mattie’s life is even more chaotic because she’s a Dinétah monster hunter, someone with gifts that make her an exceptional killer. Kai has his own ancestral gifts that he’s keeping close to his chest and together they make a good pair to figure out what is going on and how to stop the influx of “monsters” infiltrating their communities.
In some ways this story is traveling in well worn tropes. Female character down on her luck, badass fighting skills, rusty old pick-up truck, city boy meets country, found family, etc. It still manages to make itself unique in ways that count. The southwest setting makes itself felt on every page and the dystopian, lawless feeling imbues a sense of foreboding and menace. I loved the complicated interplay between the main characters and the “baddies”. As much as I enjoyed this one, I will be looking forward to digging in deeper with the next book (out soon!).
