Calliope, a professor, is driving when she experiences what she thinks is an earthquake. But she finds almost all of the population in her area missing--empty cars litter the highways, her neighbors are gone, as are her husband and son. Taking charge of the six-year-old girl from next door, she embarks on a long and nonsensical road trip. Along the way she encounters people turned to stone, Coyote the Trickster, and some very angry Zuni gods, who appear to be getting revenge on the atomic bomb testing of the 1940s. Throughout, Calliope protests that she's a scientist and that none of this can be real. She also falls in love with a traveling stranger, apparently giving up on ever finding her husband again. But through magic and fighting, Calliope and her fellow travelers are returned to the world they know. This could have been a good read, but the prose is positively purple throughout and horribly overdone; the plot has holes the characters walk through, the "science" Calliope and others cite is mostly BS and badly presented to boot, and the characters have no depth. A good developmental edit could have made this a fun and interesting book, but it's too messy and wordy by half.

<i> I received this title from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. </i>

<b><u>Trinity Rising: 2/5 stars</u></b>

There are a few factors contributing to why I rated this book two stars.

Firstly, I found it confusing to understand at times. Zuni folklore ties heavily into the plot, which I think needed a little more explaining for the sake of the reader. It's evident from the text that the author has a lot of passion for Zuni culture and has put hours of research into that passion. However, for readers like myself who aren't as knowledgeable, it made the reading experience somewhat difficult. Since there aren't many other reviews yet, I can't be sure if this was an issue with my own comprehension or an actual problem.

On top of that, magical realism and I don't tend to get along. The more I read within this genre, the more I'm figuring that out. Even though I attempted to suspend my disbelief, this was a hard read for me to get through. I found it to be somewhat similar to Haruki Murakami's <i>1Q84</i>, both in plot and writing style. I wouldn't be surprised if this book was somewhat inspired by it. I had the same issues with both novels; the romantic relationship came out of nowhere, the conclusion was a bit unsatisfying and left me wondering more, and things just became a little too weird at times.

The things I really enjoyed were the writing style, the developed side characters, and the book's overall atmosphere. It was fun to read a diverse cast, all with unique personalities. Even if this wasn't the book for me, I always appreciate a well-developed set of characters.