Storm of Locusts

By: Rebecca Roanhorse / Narrated by: Tanis Parenteau

Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins

Wherein a Book 2 exceeeeds expectations…!!!

So here it is: I really, really, reeeeally liked Trail of Lightning, Book 1 of this series. But I gotta tell ya, when a Book 1 has twists and turns and fantastic characters and outta this world action and creepy crawly ICK monsters? I always assume Book 2 is gonna be a letdown cuz, really? Hasn’t the author just shot their wad, pouring out EVERYthing that’s been rolling around in their head, growing, morphing, living and breathing for, like, yeeeears?

Sure, right? Besides which, I’d just done The Infernals, and THAT was vaaaastly disappointing even WITH a super low bar indeed. But it reinforced m’ belief system.

Soooo, while I truly enjoyed the beJESus outta Book 1, I’d had some trepidation about actually purchasing this, Book 2.

Enter Audible sale, oh thank good golly gosh…!

Cuz I’m hopeless when it comes to sales. And so we come to this, author Rebecca Roanhorse’s sequel to a mighty fine first in the series.

It opens mere weeks after events that devastated heroine Maggie. She’s trying to live quietly, haunted by actions she had to take. And, since this is Roanhorse, BANG! Instantly we’re transported to what was s’posed to be a run of the mill hit job, and Mayhem and DEATH! Right away, Maggie becomes guardian to a survivor, Ben, niece to our unfortunate victim.

The White Locust is afoot (Or is “a-wing” a word, cuz o’, you know: Flying?!?).

Add to that, erstwhile beau Kai and the youngest Goodacre kid have gone missing, kidnapped by this cult that’s following the White Locust.

And I kid you not, it never stops from there. Storm of Locusts IS Action, it IS Suspense, it IS Twists and Turns. Cuz this cult, led by the enigmatic White Locust, wants to bring death and destruction to the inhabitants of Dinétah.

Things go awry, sometimes fatally, SEVeral times, and through this book it’s a matter of Maggie learning to trust others (Not in a romantic sense as in Trail of Lightning), learning to be trustworthy herself and a leader (Whilst also discovering her limitations and asking for help, reaching out… when really, she’d just as soon knife someone as count on ‘em). She wants to save kidnapped Kai (The guy she kinda sorta, uhm, oh well, KILLED a few weeks ago?) and Caleb, the youngest Goodacre. She’ll be joined on this quest by Ben (Who has her own powers), Rissa, one of the Goodacre Twins, the one who does NOT like her, and even a demigod of a cat woman. Also, they’ll be leaving Dinétah, and crossing The Wall, venturing into the hellish environs outside their own struggling community.

Trust me when I say that this is one great big horrific adventure complete with crucifixions, harvesting for body parts, trapping and selling women who could be good bearers-of-children, and new terrors to run from such as entities who are formed of swirling, chomping, churning locusts.

The world building here continues to be excellent, the blocking for Every. Single. Action scene is sheer perfection where it all flows sooo naturally, each bullet, each knife and knife slash accounted for. There is blood galore, nerves to be handled, individuals who may or may not be gods. And there are characters who develop through choices taken, actions taken.

Tanis Parenteau does her usual bang-up job with spot-on pacing, to the point where the unsuspecting listener is breathless from the action, gasping out loud cuz she relayed the plot twists perfectly. Gonna ding her again here in Book 2 for her gravelly Man Voices, but seriously? Storm of Locusts is Heavy On The Heroines, and ain’t that just grand?

To wind things up here, lemme just utter a bit o’ a Boooo: Nope, I ain’t gonna go Full-Hog and award this “The Michael J. Sullivan Booooo Award”, but it comes pretty danged close what with the ending being just-this-side o’ cliffhanger. Still, I think this story, the way it was conceived, the way it was executed, winds up being what Michael J. Sullivan WISHES FOR!

And that, dear Accomplice, is: A Book 3 that I dunno that I can wait too patiently for…

Write, Rebecca Roanhorse! Write like the wind! Sale be danged!