Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse

Six members attended this meeting at the North Village Library. The story is set in a post-apocalyptic American West. The protagonist, Maggie Hoskie, is a Native American monster hunter who has been tasked with finding a missing girl. The book won the Locus Award for First Novel (2019), was Nebula Award Nominee for Best Novel (2018), and is a Hugo Award Nominee for Best Novel (2019).

Sea of Rust by C. Robert Cargill

We discussed Sea of Rust in conjunction with our discussion of Trail of Lightning at the July 15, 2019 meeting at North Village Library. Although six members attended, only three started the book and only two finished.

Of the two who read the book, both found some of the characteristics of the AI interesting. First, the unintentional appearance of “conscious” AI stemming from the increased complexity of robots was a new idea to us. Second, the exploration of robot evolutionary paths after humanity has become extinct was not something we had seen before. Nevertheless, we had some problems with the science presented in the novel, and were not particularly impressed by the writing style.

The member who did not finish the book intends to finish, and the two members who finished were split on whether to recommend it to others.