‘Race to the Sun’ by Rebecca Roanhorse

Race to the Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse is a recent addition to Rick Riordan Presents, an imprint that features stories about characters from world mythologies, written by authors who are inspired by the mythology and the folklore of their heritage.

In his introduction for Race to the Sun, Rick Riordan shares that the character of Piper McLean from his Heroes of Olympus series was “inspired by conversations I had with Native kids” during his visits to schools.

“They asked me repeatedly whether I could add a Native hero to Percy Jackson’s world. They wanted to see themselves reflected at Camp Half-Blood, because they simply never saw themselves in popular kids’ books. Piper was my way of saying, ‘Absolutely! I see you. I value you. You can be part of my world anytime!’”

Piper, who was half-Cherokee, was part of an ensemble that populated Heroes of Olympus. But Riordan believed that a story centered around a Native protagonist, inspired by Indigenous mythologies, needed to come from a Native writer.

Race to the Sun features a protagonist who is Navajo, or Diné. The author, Rebecca Roanhorse, identifies her ethnic heritage as Ohkay Owineh and African American. She is married to a Navajo man and, “for the last twelve [years], I have been the mother to a smart, funny, and beautiful Navajo daughter.”

The book centers around the adventures of Nizhoni Begay, a seventh-grader who is able to see monsters - specifically, a monster who is able to change shapes but to everyone else around her, simply looks like “Mr. Charles,” the man who’s offering her father a new job.

Nizhoni and her brother, Marcus, are “practically twins” since only 10 months separate their ages. Marcus has a special power of his own and Mr. Charles hopes to make use of it as soon as Marcus’s power manifests. To defeat Mr. Charles, Nizhoni must embrace her legacy as a slayer of monsters.

In an afterword, Roanhorse shares that she drew inspiration from the Hero Twins of traditional Navajo stories.

I enjoyed the story, which features Nizhoni’s first-person narrative throughout. Given the appeal of Riordan’s own series, as well as other stories from Rick Riordan Presents, I believe that Roanhorse’s Race to the Sun will similarly be received by young readers who enjoy mythology-based adventure.

I received a digital ARC of this book from NetGalley