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Trinity Sight

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Member Reviews

Trinity Sight is part post-apocalyptic adventure, part mystery and part folk tale. What if most of the population disappeared in a flash and you didn't know why? What would you do? Where would you go? Who would you trust? While the pacing was slow at times, the story was very interesting, made more so by the Native American tales seamlessly incorporated into the narrative. Recommended for fans of the Hillermans and anyone who enjoys watching what happens when the world you know falls apart.

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I really dont know how to rate this book, other then how confusing it was the majority of the time. I put it down and picked up several times to finish and just couldn't grasp it. It was all over the place. This genre is definitely out of my liking. I guess it just wasnt what I expected. DNF

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**Received a digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley**

I absolutely loved this book and I'm not really sure why. It's not quite my cup of tea. It's definitely not what I was expecting but the mix of genres and the evocative writing make for a real treat. I adored the characters. From the jump, you're thrust into a story that involves an unlikely cast of people who would probably never really interact outside of the strange situation they've been introduced to. I loved the blend of history, myth, and cli-fi. I'm a skeptic myself, much like the main character, and yet I was effortlessly pulled into a story where everything about the world as we know it is turned on its head. A gorgeous tale that I devoured and won't soon forget.

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Thank you netgalley and publisher for the early copy!

I checked out this science fiction novel but could not connect with the writing style/plot. I decided to put it down.

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Are you looking for a sci-fi/horror post-apocalyptic thriller that actually manages to bring something new to the table? Author Jennifer Givhan pulls off a stunning feat by setting her story in a dystopian landscape without relying on all of the same old tropes that fill the majority of these books. For that reason alone, Trinity Sight is definitely worth reading, especially if you think you've seen everything that this genre has to offer.

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I found this book to be an good read and not one of the typical dystopian reads on the shelf today. I enjoyed reading as the character struggled through her new reality and while the plot was a little slow at times to me I recommend to any reader.

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This was a really good book. I liked reading about the Natives of New Mexico and descendants. Twists and turns keeps you reading.

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Trinity Sight is a horror scifi-fi that steals the ground from beneath you, only to hand it back with an entire city built upon it. Twilightzone-esque twists, strong characters (both male and female), a definitive plot, and the use South American lore, give this book an added layer not often seen in science fiction today. Spanish is used throughout, but it is explained either directly or through context clues so non-Spanish speakers are never forced out of the story. Recommended for those who enjoy logical horror with otherworldly elements, slow pacing, and flushed out characters.

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What happens when Pueblo and Zuni myths meet The Stand (and a little bit of Outlander)? You get Trinity Sight, where there's been some kind of cataclysmic event and suddenly almost all the people are gone. Some of those who remain band together and try to make their way to safety, where, hopefully, they will also find their lost families. What do these survivors have in common, so that they stuck around? Unclear. What happened to cause the upheaval? Unclear.

Maybe it's just me, but overall this whole book was just very unclear. By the end, I felt like I had a sense of what was going on, but I never felt like I had a clear picture. Likewise, many of the characters felt hazy. Perhaps this is appropriate for a book that is based in myths, but it makes reading somewhat challenging. A little more clarity would have gone a long way toward helping me to understand what Givhan's ultimate message is.

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Title: Trinity Sight
Author: Jennifer Givhan
Genre: Fantasy, dystopian
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Pregnant with twins, anthropologist Calliope Santiago is driving when an earthquake happens, driving her car off the road. When she wakes up, she’s surrounded by abandoned cars, but no people. At home, she finds her family gone, but her six-year-old neighbor, Eunjoo, is there. With the city in flames, Calliope and Eunjoo set out for Calliope’s aunt’s home, where she knows she’ll find her family.

Instead of her family, Calliope finds Zuni myth and legend come to life. As she struggles to overcome her disbelief—she’s a scientist, so this can’t be really happening—she knows she must get to safety before she delivers her babies, but is safety anywhere to be found in this strange new/old land?

Trinity Sight is an odd book. Odd, but…compelling. I enjoyed seeing such a different and vibrant dystopian tale. I’m not sure I’ve read much connected with Zuni legend, so I found it fascinating. Calliope wasn’t the most likable character: she’s stubborn to a fault but gives up on her husband pretty quickly, but I still enjoyed her story and the setting was captivating.

Jennifer Givhan is an author and a poet. Trinity Sight is her new novel.

(Galley courtesy of Blackstone Publishing via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.)

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I was drawn in to this story of a scientist trying to reconcile facts and demonstrable evidence with what she considered myth. She brought indigenous stories/myths/histories to life and gave them authenticity with her part member, part outsider point of view. I loved the characters and really appreciated being inside Calliope's head as she continued to question, feel, and then act.

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I am marking this as a top 10 favorite fantasy of the year. I’m going to keep this review simple. This is a must READ! Givhan’s writing is stunning. I’m completely blown away by her pose and how she was able to weave fables into current day events, just beautiful!

Thank you Blackstone Publishing & NetGalley for gift this copy in exchange for an honest review.

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This was a pretty quick DNF for me, despite the beautiful sentences. Givhan is clearly gifted at lyricism, and the concept was intriguing, but between the disjointedness and the lyricism, I found myself unable to distinguish its voice from other recent spec fic books which privilege style over things I find equally if not more important, including THE RENDING AND THE NEST, WHAT SHOULD BE WILD, IF, THEN, THE DREAMERS, and THE CASSANDRA. I love that recent MFA graduates, particularly, seem to have fallen in love with the science fictional and fantastical en masse, but as a person who grew up with science fiction and fantasy and who also went through an MFA program not too long ago, I feel like I'm right back in a workshop looking at manuscripts. They're gorgeous in twenty-page increments, but they're numbingly slow and disjointed when extended into novels. A friend recently heard me talking about this and asked: "So they're writing to an audience that likes poetry more than science fiction?" And ... I think that's pretty close to spot on. It turns out I'm not this book's ideal reader.

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TRINITY SIGHT is quite the ride. It packs a lot into it's story: the apocalypse, mystical fables, alternate timelines, and one pretty crazy road trip. Calliope, a pregnant professor, wakes up from a car accident to a world where most of the people have disappeared. She can't find her family, paramedics, or anyone else who can help her. As decides to go on a search for her family, she encounters many new characters who have also been left behind. As we learn about Calliope's background, and her Grandmother's beliefs and myths that start to actually come true, we learn that maybe this isn't the apocalypse at all, and something much strangers is happening.

The novel is very poetic and lyrical, but can sometimes feel a bit bloated. It kept my attention but I often found myself skipping over long, drawn out explanations of stories and conjectures that I wasn't sure how it affected the story. I wanted a little more action, but I still really liked the characters and the twists and turns. It was also pretty scary at times! Not something that I anticipated. I think it's a really good first effort from an author that has so much more to share with us.

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This is an at times challenging read that blends magical realism with Zuni beliefs with post apocalyptic themes but it's worth it. Calliope, a scientist, thinks she's experienced an earthquake but then realizes that the world has turned upside down in more ways than one. She sets off with Eunjoo, a neighbor's six year old. At the same time, Mara is looking for Trudy, who is Calliope's aunt. It's hard to describe this one, in part because it wanders occasionally into things I was not familiar with. That said, I did learn something. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. Nice writing pulled me through.

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I was not able to finish this book as there were issues with my copy—missing pages and text. I liked what I was able to read, though, and am looking forward to the release.

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Following a supposed earthquake, Calliope Santiago awakens to find the world deserted. On the search for her family she encounters various people (both sane and not), natural disasters, and the realization that there may not be a logical explanation for what has happened to the world. Part Indigenous fairy tale, part post-apocalypse, Trinity Sight is a unique novel that embraces both its roots and its modern setting. Both the journey and the ending are satisfying, although the purple prose wears somewhat thin by the middle of the book.

A special thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a free advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

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Calliope awakens after what she suspects is an earthquake, and everything that is supposed to be isn't. She can't find her family, in fact, there aren't many people around at all with the exception of her neighbor's daughter Eunjoo. Eunjoo seems to know a lot for a 6-year-old, but Calliope sends a lot of time placating her rather than actually listening to her.

Then there's Mara, who is desperately looking for her girlfriend Trudy, who is Calliope's aunt. She's running into a lot of the same thing's Calliope is, the only difference is this is something that has happened to Mara before, several decades previous. Both women must fight to stay alive in an ever-changing world and find a way to return to their families.

So I didn't care much for Calliope. I understand that she's a scientist and that her beliefs are rooted in facts, but when you're faced with situation after situation of the unbelievable, there comes a point when you have to accept that your previous truths no longer apply. I also didn't much care for how Givhan felt the need to always point out race, "middle-aged white man" and "embraced the white girl", and on, it just wasn't needed, especially after we had already met these people.

When I take out the few things I didn't like, there is a lot to like in Trinity Sight. I especially loved Eunjoo and her ability to look beyond, she was wise beyond her years and made for an exceptional character. The book is steeped in Zuni folklore, and its story and ending are based around the belief that the lore is more than just that. It blends science and lore in a magical and fantastical tale, that once you're ready to believe, becomes believable. The writing was excellent and the story was well told.

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I DNFed this book, but it feels incredibly unfair to rate it because for some reason, my PDF/arc was difficult to view. I got a rainbow wheel every time I tried to read it, and there were parts of the PDF I couldn't view. I definitely want to read this book, though. Hope to pick up a physical copy when I can. :/ I'll give this copy five stars, if anything, I'll try to boost it even though I couldn't read it.

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I had such high hopes for this one. Unfortunately, it was meandering and slow. No sense of draw that made you want to continue on. It was difficult to know who was speaking at points and the science became a bore.

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