Killer of Enemies

Killer of Enemies #1

by Joseph Bruchac, DeLanna Studi (reader)

A post-Apocalyptic YA novel with a steampunk twist, based on an Apache legend.

Years ago, seventeen-year-old Apache hunter Lozen and her family lived in a world of haves and have-nots. There were the Ones-people so augmented with technology and genetic enhancements that they were barely human-and there was everyone else who served them. Then the Cloud came, and everything changed. Tech stopped working. The world plunged back into a new steam age. The Ones' pets-genetically engineered monsters-turned on them and are now loose on the world.Lozen was not one of the lucky ones pre-C, but fate has given her a unique set of survival skills and magical abilities. She hunts monsters for the Ones who survived the apocalyptic events of the Cloud, which ensures the safety of her kidnapped family. But with every monster she takes down, Lozen's powers grow, and she connects those powers to an ancient legend of her people. It soon becomes clear to Lozen that she is not just a hired gun. As the legendary Killer of Enemies was in the ancient days of the Apache people, Lozen is meant to be a more than a hunter. Lozen is meant to be a hero.

Genres: Young Adult, Dystopia, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Post Apocalyptic, Fiction, Indigenous

Audio CD

First published September 17, 2013

About the author

Joseph Bruchac lives with his wife, Carol, in the Adirondack mountain foothills town of Greenfield Center, New York, in the same house where his maternal grandparents raised him. Much of his writing draws on that land and his Abenaki ancestry. Although his American Indian heritage is only one part of an ethnic background that includes Slovak and English blood, those Native roots are the ones by which he has been most nourished. He, his younger sister Margaret, and his two grown sons, James and Jesse, continue to work extensively in projects involving the preservation of Abenaki culture, language and traditional Native skills, including performing traditional and contemporary Abenaki music with the Dawnland Singers.

He holds a B.A. from Cornell University, an M.A. in Literature and Creative Writing from Syracuse and a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the Union Institute of Ohio. His work as a educator includes eight years of directing a college program for Skidmore College inside a maximum security prison. With his wife, Carol, he is the founder and Co-Director of the Greenfield Review Literary Center and The Greenfield Review Press. He has edited a number of highly praised anthologies of contemporary poetry and fiction, including Songs from this Earth on Turtle's Back, Breaking Silence (winner of an American Book Award) and Returning the Gift. His poems, articles and stories have appeared in over 500 publications, from American Poetry Review, Cricket and Aboriginal Voices to National Geographic, Parabola and Smithsonian Magazine. He has authored more than 70 books for adults and children, including The First Strawberries, Keepers of the Earth (co-authored with Michael Caduto), Tell Me a Tale, When the Chenoo Howls (co-authored with his son, James), his autobiography Bowman's Store and such novels as Dawn Land, The Waters Between, Arrow Over the Door and The Heart of a Chief. Forthcoming titles include Squanto's Journey (Harcourt), a picture book, Sacajawea (Harcourt), an historical novel, Crazy Horse's Vision (Lee & Low), a picture book, and Pushing Up The Sky (Dial), a collection of plays for children. His honors include a Rockefeller Humanities fellowship, a National Endowment for the Arts Writing Fellowship for Poetry, the Cherokee Nation Prose Award, the Knickerbocker Award, the Hope S. Dean Award for Notable Achievement in Children's Literature and both the 1998 Writer of the Year Award and the 1998 Storyteller of the Year Award from the Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers. In 1999, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native Writers Circle of the Americas.

As a professional teller of the traditional tales of the Adirondacks and the Native peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, Joe Bruchac has performed widely in Europe and throughout the United States from Florida to Hawaii and has been featured at such events as the British Storytelling Festival and the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesboro, Tennessee. He has been a storyteller-in-residence for Native American organizations and schools throughout the continent, including the Institute of Alaska Native Arts and the Onondaga Nation School. He discusses Native culture and his books and does storytelling programs at dozens of elementary and secondary schools each year as a visiting author.

Reviews

[Holly Ristau · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. I am a librarian on a reservation, and had a Native student ask, "Do you have any books where the Indians aren't poor?" I was so happy to have this book to offer! The protagonist in this book is Native and her cultural upbringing is the reason she is so successful at what she does. This is an exciting fast read that's so much fun, you're sad when it's over.

[Erica · Rating 1 out of 5]

My first 1-star of the year!
I seriously hated this book!
Yaaaaay!


I would like to share with you two reviews that perfectly sum up my feelings:
1) readknitreads' insightful review which is what I would have said if she hadn't have said it first and if I were better at saying things.
2) Addley's truth bomb which explores the main character's role as a female and a Native American as well as how this new, electronic-free world works. Or doesn't. At all.

I kept flipping back to the front to see if this had a copyright date of 1977 because that's how it's written, like some cheapass poorly-planned actionsuspensedystopianfantasy crap that was churned out in mass paperback form with some bizarre, cheezee cover. But, no. This was published in 2013. Not re-published, this pile of misery is only 5 years old.
Ok, maybe it was written in '77 and some fool publisher only just now had the guts to put it on paper and peddle it to the masses. Who knows for sure. I don't.

Here are some things I learned:
Numbers are hard.
...gift given way back in the mid-nineteenth century by Rezin P. Bowie (born 1793) to his older brother Jim (born 1796)
Yes, 1796 is a bigger number than 1793 but that's not how birth order and age works, kids.
Why didn't someone catch that? Were there no editors for this book?

Women are defined by their physical attributes and rape-ability.
I don't know why it's important but Lozen tells us, the reader, several times that she's thin or lanky or scarecrow-like, and yet...
Sadly, though I wear clothes that are all bulky as I can possibly wear without slowing myself down, they do not hide enough of my figure to disguise the fact that I am not at all shaped like a boy.
And then a dude leers at her and thinks rapey thoughts about her, which she can see in her mind because sometimes she can read people's thoughts. But not always. Just when it's most convenient. And, conveniently, many of the thoughts she can see involve what men want to do to her. In a rapey way, not like in a make-dinner-and-talk-about-the-day way.


But wait! You know how else we know Lozen is a bone-fide girl?
She thinks she's unattractive. I hope everyone who identifies as female is reading this little secret: We will all know you are a girlperson if you think you are horribly unattractive. And this is super important to the story because, you know, when you're killing all the GENenticallyMODified animals in the desert and your family is being held hostage to keep you under control, you need to think about whether or not people think you're pretty. That's what a legit girl would do in this situation. That's how you survive.
Example: "Lozen," she always says, "you have such nice hair. Why don't you let me braid it for you?" Or "Oh, sweetheart, your eyes are so beautiful." Or, and this is the most obviously false of all her little fibs, "You have a beautiful face. It just lights up the room when you smile."
Context: Lozen is thinking about the things her mother says to her but obviously, her mother is biased regarding her daughter's looks because no one would ever find Lozen attractive because of her scarecrow-like, lanky, thin, malnourished body...whose shape cannot be hidden under bulky clothing.
OMFG, people. What is this crap?

And consistency is not a thing in this future world of ours. Neither is logic. I guess that's what happens when a giant silver cloud encases our planet and kills off all the electronics.

And First Nations People, or at least Apache/Chiricahuas, are magical with incredible abilities and they have ancient spirits to guide them...if they're named Lozen. Also, one who was here before humans Bigfoot. A bigfoot helps her because Lozen sprinkles pollen on things to give thanks.


As a dystopian tale, it's nothing to write home about. This one takes place in an American desert, so that's newish. Otherwise, same/same, nothing you haven't read already.

I thought this book was awful. The only thing I enjoyed about it was shutting the back cover and walking away.

[Addley · Rating 1 out of 5]

In the author’s note to Killer of Enemies, Joseph Bruchac says that he feels the books asserts that, “Indians will be a part of whatever future this continent holds – post-apocalyptic or not.” Given how many all-white casts have been featured in the YA trend of ended worlds and dystopias, it’s a mindset I can understand. I just wish he’d done a better job of it.

Killer of Enemies is a mess. When I stumble on something in a book that makes me confused or frustrated, I tend to make that commentary out-loud, because I’m alone anyway so I’m not bothering anybody. With a good book, I’m either quietly enrapt or reciting lines that I find clever. With Killer of Enemies, I stumbled on a new headache every page.

First of all, I cannot stand how our narrator, Lozen, delivers exposition. She’ll be describing herself stalking an animal on a hunt, only to stop dead like she ran into a wall and talk about an unrelated memory of her father for a page and a half. Then she picks right back up with the stalking like nothing happened. Sometimes she does this in the middle of a fight scene. And it's not like there aren’t more convenient times for it, because the girl spends a good two-thirds of the book completely alone. There is plenty of time for introspection and backstory dumps, but that’s instead wasted on pointless cameo visits from useless spirits guides who add nothing to the story.

It doesn’t help that the backstory is extremely convoluted and a dozen times more interesting than what’s actually going on. Basically, the entire world was extremely technologically advanced until a mysterious silver Cloud from beyond the stars arrived and shorted out all electricity. The world plunges into chaos, especially since hordes of bio-engineered creatures were released from their zoos, but some people (like Lozen’s family) managed to retreat out to the countryside and establish little village homes for themselves. Only sometime before the story started, their happy little home was raided by the soldiers of a place called Haven, which killed Lozen’s father and uncle (and her oh-so-precious dog) and took the rest of her family hostage so Lozen would use her special powers to work for Haven’s rulers.

Okay, fine, that’s all well and good, but there is no established sense of chronology for this. Lozen is a teenager, but she’s still able to remember in detail what life was like before the Cloud, what happened the day it arrived, how her family established this little village, how they lived in that village, and when the Haven guards came to capture her. Moreover, she’s been there long enough to be an established presence and know all the workings of Haven, so she and her family must have been living there for quite a while. Years, maybe. But we are never told that. There is no way to know.

This is all ‘excused’ later on with a story that basically says, “Time-keeping came from the Europeans and has brought nothing but hardship on the native people, who always lived in the moment,” but I call bullshit to that. Traditional views on history and the flow of time are a complicated cultural issue, but they still had a concept of personal chronology. They could still remember, “this important event happened after I lost my first tooth” or “just before I started my monthly bleeding” or “during the hunt where Lozen shot her first bear.”

So the fact that we get none of that is just ridiculous. And I just don’t buy that all the craziness she talks about could possibly happen in the maybe ten years she ought to be able to remember things clearly.

On top of all that, the world Lozen winds up living in makes no sense. Her little community of Haven is ruled by the four Ones, remnants of the privileged upper class that ruled pre-Cloud. Except there’s no reason for them to be the privileged upper class anymore, because they have no skills, minimal resources, and are basically just lucky to have not been fried during the Cloud’s initial arrival. All of the lower population hates them and they’re infamous for being mad and violent, yet people still arrive asking to be brought in as though this is some oasis in the desert, which it’s not. The dregs are controlled by the One’s guards, who are themselves controlled by being addicted to some super-drug, which the Ones don’t even control – they send the guards out to loot it from abandoned pharmacies. There is no reason for the people of Haven to be afraid of their completely unthreatening, melodramatic, and unstable Ones. They don’t even control the means of production – there is no means of production.

Outside Haven’s walls, the world is full of wicked man-eating mutants that were engineered pre-Cloud, supposedly for viewing in zoos and the like. Which make no sense, because the ones we see could only possibly be interesting to watch if they were eating someone, but they were specifically created to be shown off, not for gladiatorial bouts. There is one creature that’s given the explanation of being one guy’s crazy pet project, and it’s the only one that makes any sense. I mean, think about it: if you’re going to put all that effort into genetically engineering a golden tiger just to show off the golden tiger, wouldn’t you also engineer it to be docile so you could walk it around on a leash or play fetch or something? You only keep predators as status symbols if there’s not the option to make it a non-predator.

Also haunting the outside world is the “Bloodless,” which are vampires. They exist with no explanation (Lozen decides that they must have “always existed”) and have no impact on the plot, existing only to threaten Lozen in exactly two fight scenes. Because bio-monsters were getting boring, apparently.

And then there’s the mysterious voice Lozen hears in her head, which turns out to belong to (spoilers!) a Bigfoot/Sasquatch/Yeti/Man-Ape/whatever you want to call them. He exists just to get Lozen out of situations that she couldn’t get herself out of, managing to avoid being a Deus Ex Machina purely by virtue of following her around all the time before he steps in. His explanation for why he does this boils down to, “because I wanted to.” Ugh.

And don’t even get me started on Lozen’s “Powers,” aka Plot Convenience Playhouse. Lozen can hear people’s thoughts, but only when she needs to establish their character or get the upper hand. She can sense water, other life forms, and the general location of anything she needs to find. She can confuse her enemies, has super-strength, and goes for days without food or water. She talks to spirits, but they never tell her anything she didn’t already know.

She has these powers because she is a Special Apache Warrior. Her father knew this the instant she was born, which is why she’s named for her legendary ancestor who was also Special. Anything the Powers don’t cover, Lozen gets through because of the teachings passed down from previous generations, because as we all know, Native Americans are pure-hearted and inherently bound to the natural way of the Earth. Literally everything good or noble or heroic about Lozen ties back into her Special Apache Heritage. Even her love for a beloved childhood dog is bound up in a history lesson about how much the pre-rez Apaches loved their dogs. If you took away everything that’s forcibly tied back into “being a noble Apache” there would be nothing to Lozen at all.

In other words: this is a book specifically written to provide native representation that builds its main character entirely out of the Noble Savage and Magic Native American tropes. Ugggggggggggh.

Besides being a poorly developed native character, Lozen is also a pretty poor female character. In my fiction, I write a lot of young women who take on a traditionally masculine role and mannerisms because I like that character type. I like Katniss Everdeen. I like Deryn Sharp. I like Haruhi Fujioka.

So nothing bugs me more than a female character who feels masculine not because she’s been deliberately written that way, but because the male writer behind her has no idea how to write girls. Which is what Lozen is. The only vaguely feminine aspect of her character is her crush on the barely-featured gardener Hussien, which is expressed in such stereotypical swooning clichés that they felt like they came from a completely different book.

I could keep on like this for ages. The story structure is non-existient. The plot twists exist only to make Lozen’s life easier. Internal consistency is non-existent. There is no reason why the story began the day it did, and we don’t get a decent bead on the plot until we’re 250 pages through a 400 page book. Etc. Etc. It’s a mess. This makes me glad that I took another book which was obviously going to be terrible off my reading list, because I there’s nothing I would have learned from it that I haven’t learned from this one.

My recommendation? If you're looking for good speculative fiction with a native perspective, go read Sorrow’s Knot instead. It's better written, has more consistency, and features a number of awesome and well-developed characters interacting, instead of hours alone in the desert trapped in the mind of a walking stereotype.

[Saleh MoonWalker · Rating 3 out of 5]

خیلی طول کشید تا برم سراغش، بر اساس کاورش میشد حدس زد که کتابی باشه با مدل همشون رو بکش! اما بعد از اینکه تموم شد باید بگم که کتاب خوبی بود.
لوزن با اینکه 17 سالشه مجبور شده تا با استفاده از توانایی هاش، هیولاهایی که از نظر ژنتیکی تغییر کردن رو بکشه چون اونا زندگی رو برای انسان ها سخت کردن. دنیایی که توش زندگی میکنن بدون تکنولوژی هستش. خانواده لوزن هم گروگان گرفته شدن. کمی از داستان پدر و عموی لوزن هم اضافه میشه که نشون میده این سیستم قهرمانی توی خانواده شون ارثیه.
کتاب خوبی بود، نثر جالب و هیجان انگیزی داشت. توصیفات اتفاقات و احساسات، خوب بود. سرعت پیشروی داستان هم سریع بود.

[Online Eccentric Librarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

The dystopian American landscape has admittedly become a very tired home for teen romances that need a bit of conflict. But then a dystopian novel comes along that proves there are still very good stories to be told in the genre. Killer of Enemies, by Joseph Bruchac, is a very witty, imaginative, yet wholly believable tale set in the American Southwest. This action-fueled novel doesn't necessarily have much in the way of a unique story arc (kill monsters, plot escape) but you honestly don't care because it is written so well.

Our protagonist, Lozen, is trapped in an enclave run by four warlords - each of whom have a distinct personality or tic. Her family is held there to keep her inline because Lozen is a very effective 'killer of monsters'. She is sent out into the desert to retrieve objects or destroy remnants of mutated monsters once controlled by geneticists. Anything electric no longer works in the world and so the world has returned to a low tech existence. But Lozen is working toward her family's escape; she knows her time is limited and she's becoming too much of a threat to the warlords to be allowed to live much longer.

Right off the bat, I was worried that I would have to deal with a lot of deux ex machina 'indian mysticism' that usually accompanies a native American centered character. But I was pleasantly surprised that Lozen's special abilities didn't stem from Native Americans being a completely separate race with mystical abilities; rather, she survives because she knows the land and has a bit of heightened senses. As well, not all the creatures she encounters are deadly - and one particular recurring 'monster' character was a great touch and fascinating to read. I was always eagerly looking forward to him showing up.

As noted earlier, the plot isn't the key to this novel's success. Honestly, it is the action and the very quirky and distinct voice of the heroine. She rarely talks so much of what we know about her is inner dialogue - and it works. She feels real and distinct - and I loved the way she frames her thoughts. Her descriptions of things, places, people are exactly what I would expect from someone in her position - self deprecating humor offsetting the danger in which she was constantly placed. E.,g, every time she said, "super snake", I couldn't help but smile. The author could have taken it too far by having her call it 'super snakey" - but there was a clearly restrained hand writing this character of Lozen and keeping her consistent, realistic, mature, but also very young. It made sense why she was a survivor. She used her brain and didn't rush stupidly into battles.

For once in a dystopian, we have a heroine who doesn't suddenly gain the ability to survive the apocalypse. Rather, we have a heroine who survives through her own skill set, and we have her family who made all the right choices after the apocalypse but through bad luck didn't all survive. There is a touch of romance but it is the weakest aspect of the book since it is only glossed on lightly near the end.

Those that like a lot of dialogue or who don't do well with interpreting sarcasm or self deprecation may not like this book as much. Lozen spends most of her time alone talking to herself - the interaction is with her ID and I loved that about her.

Killer of enemies is definitely one of the more enjoyable reads I've had and I really appreciate that this book could have gone very wrong and been very bad. But author Bruchac really created a captivating, humorous, realistic, and fun adventure read. Highly recommended.

Received as an ARC from the publisher.

[The FountainPenDiva, Old school geek chick and lover of teddy bears · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this dystopian adventure. It's past time that more authors and publishers understood that "dystopia" does not automatically equal "white people only".

So sue me, but I like kick-ass heroines, especially kick-ass heroines of color who save themselves. And given as much non-fiction/literary works I've read by actual Native American/First Nation authors, sometimes it's nice to read something that doesn't necessarily make me want to slit my wrists. I really hate how some publishers choose #ownvoices books based around social issues and struggle. That's not the sum total of the lives of PoC. Yes, there is a need for realistic and not always happy stories, without a doubt. However, as a lifelong reader of color, the book that greatly shaped my love of the written word was The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder.

I try to be mindful of tropes and stereotyped depictions, even from authors with the best intentions. I definitely prefer #ownvoices authors for that reason. While I'll definitely read non #ownvoices authors who write diversely, I'm also going in expecting some type of fail because these authors are writing from their own ideas which may be shaped by a media that isn't inclusive nor unbiased. Those authors will be held accountable by me as a reader because there's no excuse for lazy stereotypes given how easy it is to point-click-done and research or better yet, have a diverse critique group.

I never had the feeling that Lozen (cool name by the way) was the super-magical Indian. For one thing, she gets injured. A LOT. She doesn't come out of each monstrous encounter unscathed. Lozen has powers, but they're not always infallible and she's not perfect.

Second, no dratted heroine hijacking - she doesn't allow the hawt boy du jour to distract from the greater need to survive and save her family. Granted, she plays down her looks, but unlike idiot heroines like Bella and whatshername from The Black Witch, Lozen isn't defined by her beauty nor does it become the raison d'etre for male attraction. The fact that some of the cringey interactions she has with men are based on *power* not her beauty or lack thereof.

Then there's the Bigfoot, Hally. Not sorry, but that character just gave me happy feels. I have a soft spot for the cryptid, and seldom does it appear in books. The idea of linking the beast with Native mythology was great, since Sasquatch appears in Native and First Nations folklore as it stands.

I devoured this and am thrilled that the second book is out (just bought it).

[Janni]

A post-apocalyptic post-technology future adventure with an Apache protagonist? Of course I was in. I loved seeing the collapse of civilization through Lozen's point of view, loved the exploration of what such collapses--not to mention the economic disparities that precede them--mean for different communities and sub-communities, and loved the ways in the setting and the protagonist's religious and moral beliefs did and didn't intersect. And of course, I do enjoy a good kickass female protagonist, too. The very ending denouement (as in, the very last chapter) felt a bit rushed to me (though I wasn't looking for the pat answers it seemed to be trying to avoid, either, just a little more sense of where we go from here), but that's pretty minor, ultimately--this was more a journey book than a destination book for me, and I did very much enjoy the journey.

[Bonnie McDaniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my first book of 2014, and man, we have hit the ground running.

In an earlier review I spoke of how refreshing it was to have a person of color, with a culture outside the United States, as a protagonist. This book continues that trend. I'm glad to have found it (Janni Sinner on Livejournal originally pointed me to this book in my Friends feed--before then, I'd never heard of it), but it's sad, and infuriating in this day and age, that such heroes are few and far between.

So here's another one, and I savor it. I love love love the fact that the hero, Lozen, is a Native American woman of color, a Chiracahua Apache and a relative of the 19th century Apache warrior woman Lozen, sister of Victorio and a member of Geronimo's band. (To my mind, this qualifies as being "outside the United States," since the Apache people were here long before the European invasion.) I love love love that the story is steeped in Apache culture, history and religion, and the author deftly weaves this through his story with fascinating, gentle tidbits, eschewing infodump. The future Lozen fully embraces all three aspects of her heritage, and indeed relies on them to survive.

This is a post-apocalyptic, post-industrial world, made so by a mysterious "Silver Cloud" (whether a sentient being or some sort of weapon is never decided) that took up residence in Earth's atmosphere, destroyed the power grid, and fried all electronics. Before the Cloud came, humanity was dominated by three gigantic corporation/states, and genetic engineering and nanotechnology ran rampant. The former leads to Lozen's fame and forced assignment as a "Monster Slayer," hunting down the gigantic "gemods" that inhabit the Southwest and wreak all sorts of bloody havoc. She does this not because she volunteered, but because the four batshit crazy overlords of Haven, a former prison complex, have kidnapped her family and are holding them hostage.

Lozen is very good at her job, and kicks all sort of human and gene-modded ass, killing, among other things, Monster Birds and Super Snakes. (Not with her bare hands, mind you--maybe electricity doesn't work, but guns and grenades still do.) She is also developing telepathy and other psychic powers, like her famous relative, the original Lozen. This creates a rather hilarious subplot where she mindtalks with something she isn't sure is a friend or an enemy, which turns out to be--get this!--a Sasquatch, Yeti, Bigfoot. When I first read this, I groaned, but as the story went on, Mr. Hairy Ally--"Hally," Lozen dubs him--definitely grew on me.

Lozen is just a marvelous character. She's a killer, a guerrilla warrior, and freely admits it. She's blunt and harsh, but given the story's background, she couldn't be anything else. She does soften just a bit at the end, with her love interest (though the romance is definitely on the back burner) Hussein.(Another non-American person of color! Yay.) She's fiercely loyal to her family, and goes through hell and high water to get them out of Haven. She's not much of a talker; she thinks and plans, and relies on her brain and training to get her out of tight spots.

This book would make a great, great movie. But I doubt if anyone in Hollywood would have the balls to run with it as it is, with a proud Apache woman as the hero.

[Daniel Burton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have no idea where I found Killer of Enemies. Something about the title caught my attention, I think, but by the time I had picked it up (from the library) I had already forgotten why.

Somehow, though, I decided to read it, anyway. Despite a title that probably should have died in marketing (as one commentor already noted), the description promised a little bit of everything: dystopia, magic, Apache prophecies, monsters...

Also, it's YA. How much time commitment could it require? I'll take a gamble.

I'm glad I did.

Lozen is a seventeen year old survivor after the end of the world. Poor even before a cosmic cloud obliterated all electronics worldwide, Lozen is an Apache, a gifted hunter, and she is utilized as a tool to kill the enemies of the elites who rule on this side of the end of civilization. She is, however, not a consenting tool, and as she hunts the strange mutant monsters that roam the Earth, she is scheming and planning to free her family, held as hostages to control Lozen. Meanwhile, with the Earth held in a permanent technological dead-end, psychic powers begin to awaken in Lozen.

Let me just pause here and note that despite a pretty strange premise--not mention some concerns about the book not really knowing what it wants to be--Joseph Bruchac seems to do a great job telling a story. It starts at a run, and it never really slows down. And that makes it worth the read. It's fast, it paces well, and it's fun to read.

But it doesn't know what it is. There are mutant monsters, vampires, giant eagles, high tech electronics that are genetically integrated with humans (at least until the Cloud arrives and ends anything electronic), psychic powers, Big Foot, and old Apache myths and prophecies...

Yes. The book is all over the place. I couldn't tell if Bruchac has been watching too many horror movies or if he was trying to channel his inner Larry Correia, but aimed at a younger audience than Monster Hunter International. There's really no cohesive mythology or explanation tying it all together, though, and though there is a plausible explanation each time a new creature or plot twist pops in--whether its vampires (some plague that escaped) or Big Foot (preexisting human civilization) or psychic powers (they had been repressed during the electronic era)--in the sum, it gives me the impression that Bruchac was winging it, pulling little slips of paper out of hat to figure out what was going to be the next "miniboss" or obstacle.

But don't let that deter you from reading. It's a fun read, clean, and with good character development. Lozen is sympathetic, and it's easy to feel her emotions for her family, the Ones who control her, for the gardener boy, and her desire for freedom. If you're looking for a wild ride, The Killer of Enemies is good to go. Just don't look too closely at the scenery on your ride.

[Nemo (The ☾Moonlight☾ Library) · Rating 1 out of 5]

No, I'm sorry, I'm not going to finish this.

I really, really don't like the writing style.

And I hate that I can't quite articulate why. There's nothing wrong with it, it's not quite jarring, it's certainly not offensive. It's just really, really not working for me. It's quite heavy on the worldbuilding and I don't like the narrator's voice at all.

I'm not going to waste time trawling through a novel I'm not enjoying only to give it one or two stars when I can quit now and not rate it.

[Alyssa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I could not make myself finish this book. I was drawn in by the promise of an awesomely dynamic, diverse, and bad ass YA female character. What I received was stiff, awkward first-person character narration that felt like the author had no idea what he was talking about...even though this is his creation. The book also feels like it's trying to be the next Hunger Games...by replicating the Hunger Games, not by being original within a genre.

Damnit, I was so excited about it.

[Devon Munn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was quite an enjoyable read, it was very well written and entertaining. Though the first 210-ish pages were kind of repetitive and the book lacked a plot, things did spice up at the end. I am definitely intrigued to see whats in store for the rest of the series

[Tanita Davis]

Oh, the JOY of this book. What a FUN, full-rush action novel.

[SARIT · Rating 5 out of 5]

See the full review on - http://sarityahalomi.blogspot.com/201......

WELL.... our heroine didn't shame her name sack - She’s brave, tough, knows how to kick ass, and is impressively smart and resourceful. She’s also observant, levelheaded, and completely devoted to her family. I just fell in love with this tall ( above 6"), lanky, quite female.(as the author said - “The female of species is deadlier than the male.”).

Yes, she don't talk much, but her thoughts fill the space with dry cynical humor which I liked very much and in this I find myself chuckle loudly - especially with the episode of the "super snake.." Joseph Bruchac did a remarkable job in writing her voice.

Lozen fully embraces and honors her Apache heritage. Much of her resourcefulness stems from her utilization of knowledge, skills, and customs passed down to her by her ancestors. But her skills and background as a fighter doesn’t draw only upon some mystical sense of heritage, but because her father and her uncle were lifelong military brass and passed on their knowledge of top-grade weaponry as well as their cultural beliefs to Lozen.

Noteworthy aspect of the book that I enjoyed is its emphasis on family. Too often in YA fiction, the main protagonist’s family is either completely killed off or villianized in order to angstify the melodrama and to enable the young MC to do things most teenagers would never be able to do. Worst yet, there are numerous instances when the YA heroine pretty much abandons her family (as well as her friends, interests, and aspirations) the instant some hot stranger pops into her life to profess his predestined, undying love for her. She takes great pride in her relatives (both those still living and those she’s lost). And that never changes even when a love interest is introduced into the story.

The Background of the plot: First it was the virus that wiped out all the horses in the world. Then it was the Cloud, that took care of technology and killed most of the "altered" or "enhanced" humans. Unfortunately, those with only partial body tech survived. Cities are death traps, but the wilderness is little better. It also meant that many of the former ruling classes, most of whom had electronic physical enhancements, died. As Lozen recalled, “The most important men and women who chaired the three great corporate nation-states of New America, Euro-Russia, and Afro-Asia all perished painfully, quickly, and dramatically."

Four of them are the Ones (The Jester, The Dreamer, The Time Mistress and Diablica Loco - all them have mask covered faces to hide the parts that they have no more), in control of Haven, prison to Lozen and her family. Her father and uncle died in the attack on their hidden valley by Haven soldiers.

Haven is somewhere in the former Southwest - and here there is another thing that Joseph Bruchac is ecxell - I really can feel the heat rising from the ground and smell the dryness of the desert. It brought me back to deserts that I know from my country. It also remind those time that suddenly you reach to a water source - the smell and the humidity and the crispiness of the plants.

In the dystopian society of Haven, all the electronic devices have stopped working post Cloud. Haven is very basic living society. They have limited communication such as runners or carrier birds, no means of rapid transportation, and there is a limited food and water supply.

In addition, all of the Gemods, or genetically modified creatures that filled the pleasure parks of the powerful, were no longer confined by electric fences. They ran free and terrorized populations. Safety was found only behind large guarded walls, like the former penitentiary now serving, involuntarily, as the home of Lozen and her family.

Lozen, is the monster hunter employed by the four rulers of Haven, the Ones. Sent out regularly on missions, the only thing that keeps her coming back are her family hostages, mother, younger sister and brother. She hunts and kills in the manner of her ancestors, making sure to respect her enemies and asking the creature’s spirit for forgiveness for taking its life. Lozen is no girly-girl. After a kill, she cuts out the heart, says a few old Chiricahua words, and eats it raw. She lives by the variation of the Chiricahua variation of the Twenty-third Psalm taught to her by her murdered Uncle Chatto:

Yea, though I walk through the Valley of Death
I will fear no evil
for a I am the meanest son of a bitch
in this whole damn valley.”

However, while she goes out on these missions for the Ones, she also is scouting out the area so that she can find a place for her and her family to go when she has figured out a way to escape.

Lozen has several advantages though, about which the Ones are ignorant. The first is that she has recently developed the ability to read thoughts. It doesn’t always happen, but started not long after the cloud arrived, and has served her well, facilitating her survival. A second is that she can sometimes communicate with ancient Native spirits. They help her and guide her.

There's also gentle, musical Hussein, a young Bedouin gardener who has find a place in her heart, and who she must also be rescued. The other characters were well done - ranging from her sweet sister and brothers, her wise and caring mother, to the sadistic guards and Ones.

The chance comes when one of the four helps her escape, followed up by the assistance of a mystical Bigfoot creature who has been communicating with her telepathically. The final battle against the most evil of the tyrannical Ones had me on the edge of my seat.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I was young, I read Andre Norton’s science fiction books featuring Native American protagonists. I have missed that combination. Until now. I received an ARC of Killer of Enemies by Joseph Bruchac at ALA2013. The book is set in a dystopian future, in the days A. C., after The Cloud descends on Earth, destroying electricity and all forms of advanced technology.

Lozen, the teen heroine, is an Apache named after her ancestor, a 19th century warrior woman who battled alongside Geronimo. Lozen is skilled at hand-to-hand combat, marksmanship, and wilderness survival, and blessed with superior strength inherited from her mother. She lives in a world without cars or planes; no Internet, or smartphones, nothing that requires electricity functions in a world surrounded by the Cloud. Not even the locks that controlled the many genetically modified designer monsters loved by the rich and powerful. Only the most “basic” technologies survived, including grenades, knives, and Lozen’s trusted .357 Magnum revolver.

Cities are death traps, but the wilderness is little better. A group of four less-than-sane warlords kill her father and take her mother and younger siblings hostage. More than just the man-made creatures roam the land. Vampire-like beings are after her blood. And growing psychic abilities, possibly innate in humanity but submerged by ever-present technology, opens her mind to the thoughts of others. To keep her family safe, Lozen is forced to destroy monsters for the warlords. This includes an unknown who invades her thoughts and considers her “Little Food;” a creature straight out of some of mankinds oldest legends, who knows secrets about the cloud and what brought it to Earth.

Lozen’s adventures involve near non-stop danger as she is forced to confront one monster after another while plotting to free her family. Her skill grows with each kill, as does the stockpile of food and weaponry she stashes after each mission. The four warlords realize how dangerous she is becoming, and some begin plotting her assassination.

The story would have benefited from a little down-time between dangers. Readers have little time to catch their breaths and get to know Lozen, her family, and Hussein; the young gardener, fighter, musician and love interest who apparently has a little psychic power of his own.

Killer Of Enemies provokes tantalizing thoughts about what technology might have cost the human race, and about the price to be paid for the pursuit of perfection and longevity. The glimpses into Apache culture and legends bring a new layer to the idea of a dystopian story-world. Lozen’s abilities, strength, courage and determination to save her family will appeal to action lovers of any gender, from teen to adult.

[Debbie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Going into this novel, I was expecting something quite different from what I received (to put it nicely). Joseph Bruchac does create nicely developed monsters, but that's all that he creates that I could actually appreciate. But although I didn't really enjoy this book, I think others will since it's a dystopian novel that has a lot of action and a controlling government because really, who gets tired of those?

Straight away, I knew that Killer of Enemies and I were not going to click because of the main character, Lozen. Lozen is a very stuck up person who annoyed me to no end. At every chance Bruchac gets, he reminds us that Lozen is very 'special' and is much better than every other human alive with a few examples being:

1. My load weighs more than most men could easily carry. I'm deceptively thin, but few ordinary men are as strong as I am. 

2. I heal faster than most, so I should be fine. 

3. I can run faster than any other person I've ever met, so it won't take me that long. 

(Bitch, please. Quit being so damn cocky.)

Another thing that annoyed me about Lozen is that she barely talks to anyone but her family and Guy yet, out of nowhere, there's a romance with another guy named Hussein. How does that even work without a solid foundation?  Oh, because it doesn't, that's how. The idea for this story is also pretty typical with the controlling government, pretty random romance that's sloppily done, and the 'special' main character. Without even finishing the book, I knew the ending which ultimately ruins this novel even more.

With that being said, Killer of Enemies does have a nicely developed monsters that are a bit different and a bit exciting. Instead of keeping to the typical crazy creatures, these ones are mutations and well as combinations of different animals to make them  and  Lozen is forced to kill them. I also like that there are different allies like a Sasquatch instead of another human. Because humans are typical and not as fun as Big Foot.

Overall, this book is not a fun read for me, I could barely finish it and it took me over two weeks just to. Hopefully, other readers will find it amusing more than I did since there is a lot of action and a Sasquatch and crazy monsters that try to kill people. I just found this book not to be one for me unfortunately.

[Bonnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent action, adventure dystopian novel with a strong female protagonist who is indeed like the cover says, the only one who can save them, i.e. her family and maybe some of the other enslaved humans in the misnamed sanctuary of Haven. First it was the virus that wiped out all the horses in the world. Then it was the Cloud, that took care of technology and killed most of the "altered" or "enhanced" humans. Unfortunately, those with only partial body tech survived. Four of them are the Ones in control of Haven, prison to Lozen and her family. Her father and uncle died in the attack on their hidden valley by Haven soldiers. Lozen, named after a legendary Apache heroine, is the monster hunter employed by the four rulers of Haven, the Ones. Sent out regularly on missions, the only thing that keeps her coming back are her family hostages, mother, younger sister and brother. There's also Hussein, young Bedouin gardener who has snuck into her heart, and who must also be rescued. The chance comes when one of the four helps her escape, followed up by the assistance of a mystical Bigfoot creature who has been communicating with her telepathically. The final battle against the most evil of the tyrannical Ones had me on the edge of my seat. The open ended conclusion makes me hope there will be more battles ahead for this intriguing Chiricahua Apache warrior woman, with her strange abilities to detect threats ahead of time as well as her telepathic and unparalleled fighting skills. After all, as she says at the end, after considering whether she will take her family back to Haven or to their hidden valley, whether she will settle down or continue her role as a monster hunter or killer of enemies:
"Or will it be necessary for me to keep playing this role that some strange destiny seems to have laid on me, to be a killer of enemies? Do more monsters lie ahead of me on my path?
I can't say. All I can do is put one foot in front of the other and see where it leads me. After all, as Uncle Chatto always said, step by step is the only way to climb a mountain."
Lots of action, lots of Apache legends and lore, lots of fun!

[☼Bookish in Virginia☼]

~ from the library

Very good reviews out there on this one, so I'll keep it brief. KILLER OF ENEMIES is a dystopian fantasy/scifi blend. The worldbuilding is interesting and well constructed. Also, the Main Character and her family are Native Americans and half the fun in this book is how the author uses Native American stories to sustain the plot.

The main character is Lozen, and she is a delightful kick-ass heroine. She's not small and she's not weak. She's also not all weepy and emotional, and she's not looking for 'true love' --so no love triangle. Rather refreshing.

The fantasy elements slowly appear and build up in a way that makes them acceptable. I won't say more because ... enjoyment killing spoilers. The one possible weak element to this book that you probably need to know about, is the lack of emotion. While that's part of Lozen's character, it is so pernicious that there is little sense of threat to life and limb. It wasn't until the second half of the book that I started to get vested in the characters.

Worth a read. Suitable for Adults or Young Adults.

[Tyler Johnson]

Amazing. 9/10

[Hannah (Hannah, Fully) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Original Rating: 3.5 out of 5
This review and more can be found at Bookwyrming Thoughts

I never thought I would ever come across a book that dumps information on you AND like it.

With a post-apocalyptic world where people are ruled over genetically modified people who are barely human anymore, Joseph Bruchac has obviously planned this book very well and vividly, even with the amount of information he dumps on you for most of the book. I find that the information dump actually goes very well with the amount of action there is. Take away all of the information, and you'll be left with an empty husk of a book that is just full of nonstop action, which would definitely backfire big time on the author because it would be pretty undeveloped.

Bruchac is very detail-oriented throughout the book – it's not just the information being dumped. Lozen, our main character who is a monster hunter for the genetically modified people ruling over her home, apparently goes into excruciating detail about some things, such as talking about someone's body odor or eating a monster's heart (that was gross).

Killer of Enemies also promotes diversity in the young adult genre – Lozen is a Native American, and I can honestly say I have never had a Native American in any book I've read so far until now. There are hints of Native American traditions and culture woven throughout, and I find that it's probably one of the reasons why I actually enjoyed this a lot more than I would have without the Native American aspect.

Despite how awesome and diverse Killer of Enemies, there were just some things that knocked down some points. Throughout the information dumping, I don't think Bruchac actually mentions why or how the four rulers of Haven actually got their names. The Dreamer and Lady Time make sense, but the Jester doesn't really make sense, and Diablita Loca (how do you even say that?) makes no sense whatsoever.

There also doesn't seem to be a purpose, and while there does seem to be one, I just can't really tell at all. The entire book is pretty much described in less than ten words: hunting weird monsters, telling stories, flashbacks, and information dump.

I did, however, like how Bruchac ends Killer of Enemies by saying something along the lines of, "Just because this story is over doesn't mean everything is now peachy and happily ever after. It's just uncertain, but right now, everything is great."

[Eden Silverfox · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a post-apocalyptic future, seventeen year old Lozen spends her days hunting monsters for the Ones. The Ones run Haven, the place where she and her family live.

Living in Haven wasn't their choice; the Ones decided for them because they wanted Lozen for her skills of killing monsters. Killing her father and uncle, they took Lozen's mother and two siblings knowing she would for them in order to keep the rest of her family safe.

So Lozen is a monster hunter for the Ones - people who were genetically enhanced before the Cloud came and technology ceased to work.

Lozen hunts monsters and waits for her chance to escape with her family. Lozen is the only one who can save them from the Ones who want to rule this post-apocalyptic world.

I was excited about this book as soon as I saw the cover. It just looks so awesome.

I've been reading books by Joseph Bruchac since 2009 and this isn't the type of books he usually writes. A lot of his stories are based on Native American legends, but none other than this one (at least that I know of) is set in a post-apocalyptic future. So, this is different for Joseph Bruchac.

I wasn't really getting into it when I first started reading it it. I felt it was a bit slow and hard to connect to Lozen at first. But it really picks up and I love Lozen. She is such a great female character. She is strong, cares about her family and I love that Mr. Bruchac didn't feel the need to push a relationship with Hussein. Yes, Hussein says he likes her. But that's as far as it goes.

There is nothing wrong with a love story, but I am glad this book didn't become that, that Lozen stayed a strong character and didn't become stupid at sight of having a chance to be with a guy.

But, I've found that Joseph Bruchac writes very good female characters. All the books of his I've read with female characters they are strong and independent.

I think it was an original and very creative story. Bigfoot was even in it as a character, which I thought was cool. The world is interesting and so are the characters. How it ended, it sort of seems like the author could write a sequel if he wanted to. And if he does, I'll definitely be reading it. I give this four and a half stars.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me quite a long time before finally beginning this book. I think I was put off by the cover since it looked like some sort of shoot 'em up title--now that I've read the book I actually think it works very well--and I thought it might require some concentration for me to read and enjoy it. My fears were groundless, though, and I should not have judged this book by its cover. This one is rare in that it is speculative fiction told from a Native perspective. That alone might suggest that the book be given a chance, but what compelled me to read and eagerly anticipate the next title in what would turn out to be a series was its heroine, Lozen. Although she's only seventeen, she is forced to use her skills as a hunter to kill monsters that have been genetically altered and who make life hard for the remaining humans in her area. She's fast, smart, deadly with a gun or a knife, and has special powers that help her sense danger. Because her family is being held hostage in Haven in the Sonoran Desert, she has little choice in what she does. But she has dreams of someday freeing her mother and two siblings and living off the land. Haven is ruled by the Ones, a small group of humans who once had genetic enhancements. The world they all live in is one without technology, somehow stopped by a Cloud that simplified life. Although some reviewers mentioned that they disliked Lozen, I actually loved her. She tries hard not to become emotional and remain focused on the tasks before her, and she comes up with all sorts of comments that made me laugh and appreciate her sense of humor. While the ending is action-filled and holds promise for more to come in the next book, it also makes readers think about what our own future may hold for us with our over-reliance on technology to the exclusion of other skills and talents. The weaving in of stories from Lozen's father and her uncle added to the book's cultural authenticity and showed that she comes from a long line of heroic individuals. Readers might do well to compare and contrast this book's depiction of the coming future and its heroine with others in recent dystopian novels. I'm glad I read it despite being so reluctant to start.

[Luke · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book had a great main character. Reading this really made me think about what might happen to the reservations in the future. I like when a book takes something familiar, like a post-apocalyptic world with large mutated beasts, and puts a twist to the well-known monster fighter character. The main character in this story is Indian, and she uses the old stories to defeat the monsters she encounters.

This book takes place after there has been a huge gray space cloud that covered earth and took away all the electricity. Before this rich people had hired people to make huge monsters to put into their yard to impress their friends. They put up electric fences to keep the creatures inside. Additionally the super rich people had started to become cyborgs and had super enhancements that made them live indefinitely and gave them really advanced control on technology. However, once the gray cloud settled on the world all those people died because they had so much electric stuff in them it fired their brain when it died. Because of the loss of the worlds leaders the world shattered into chaos and was soon rounded up by moderately wealthy people. These people hadn't been wealthy enough to have all the surgical enhancements to they survived the cloud. However this people are crazy for the most part and created little towns that are more like prisons. They capture people and make them work for them. The main characters village was captured, her father and uncle killed, and her mother, sister, brother, and her were brought to one of the prisons called Haven. She has incredible fighting skills and so the overlords, called the Ones, hired her to kill the genetically modified monsters that now roam the earth because their electric cages shut off. She doesn't get paid for her work, her family is help hostage and she works to simply keep them alive. The book is about her trying to escape with her family, but in the meantime she must fight these monsters.

I really liked this book and highly recommend it for people ages +14. (There is some gore.)

[Ms. McFaul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love this. Love the Native American focus, the STRONG heroine, and the world building Bruchac does. Post apocalyptic, action-packed, and a different mode of delivery.

AMAZING.

Dystopian literature is all the rage, and I have been looking for some quality dystopian literature with non-white protagonists. I have been epically failing. Until now. Lozen is one of the strongest heroines I’ve read in a very long time, and she is an Apache survivor of the demolition of all electrical capabilities in the world with special capabilities (she can feel enemies when she is in danger) which has made her a prized possession for the world she is forced to exist in. Her mother and younger brother and sister are held captive and are Lozen’s motivation for being at the beckon call of the four leaders of her society, because she knows that if she does not do what they want, her family will be taken from her. I enjoyed the world Bruchac created, and the elements of Native American culture, spirituality, and traditions are written in a way that isn’t alienating, preaching, or unneeded; rather, the way Bruchac writes Native elements into the story actually enhances the text.

Not only would this book be an awesome sell for fans of action-packed Dystopian literature (The Hunger Games; Divergent; The Maze Runner; The Selection; Matched; Delirium; etc.), I will also be able to see this to my students of color without feeling like they won’t be able to see themselves in the book—because this book is a mix of different cultures (because of the world Bruchac creates), that any student could find a connection to if they enjoy action, adventure, survival stories, and strong characters! Definitely another book for high school students 9th+, but it is a book that (depending on the reader) would fit any gender.

[Kara Babcock · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was excited to read a YA novel with an Indigenous protagonist, because there aren’t enough of those. Killer of Enemies is an action-packed dystopian thriller from Joseph Bruchac. Yet what it gains from tense action sequences it loses in sloppy writing elsewhere.

Lozen is the eponymous Killer of Enemies, a post-apocalyptic job position that involves being sent on hazardous missions away from the haven of Haven to kill dangerous beasties that might otherwise threaten Haven. This dystopian community is ruled by the mad Ones, four individuals who had enough power pre-apocalypse to have shiny enhancements but not so much power that their shiny enhancements killed them during the Cloud that ruined all electronic technology. The Ones exist in an uneasy state of factional truce. They hold Lozen’s mother and two siblings hostage against her good behaviour, and when she isn’t killing monsters, she’s trying to figure out an escape plan.

The setting of Killer of Enemies is intriguing. The Cloud wrecks all the digital conveniences upon which our modern society relies. Not only does this knock us back into a Postman-like post-apocalyptic United States, but it creates a setting in which Lozen’s Apache heritage, the skills she learned from her relatives regarding self-sufficiency and survival, can shine. (It’s important to note at this point that Bruchac is not, himself, Apache; he’s Abenaki. Jean Mendoza has written over at American Indians in Children’s Literature a critique of another book by Bruchac involving a protagonist from another Indigenous nation—she is much more qualified than me to comment on this subject.) We also have the standard “might makes right” hard-scrabble mentality often featured in these types of dystopias, which is supposed to contrast Lozen’s unexpected strength and skill as a female monster hunter.

The Cloud thing is so handwavey, though, that it leaves me grumbling. It’s not entirely clear how the Cloud ruined electronics. Was it like an EMP? A massive solar storm could have been a more realistic vector for such an event. Yet, as devastating as that would be in the short term, nothing would stop us from rebuilding. Do the effects of the Cloud linger, preventing any new electronics from being built? If so, why hasn’t the world turned steampunky? Electronics are fastest, but there are other ways of building computers and complex machinery. If not … well, why hasn’t anyone brought us back into the digital age? Beyond that, Bruchac just doesn’t give us a good enough picture of society pre-Cloud for us to understand why it is the way it is now. I just don’t believe that a disaster like the one Lozen describes would result in this weird, isolated community somewhere in the southwestern United States. Would there be unrest? Definitely. Would it shatter countries? Sure, probably. But larger communities and cities would survive—where are all of those?

Normally I try not to spend too much time poking holes in people’s worldbuilding. But I am particularly apt to do it with dystopian YA novels, because this subgenre seems guilty of the most incredible laziness, as if its readers won’t care. You can’t just cook up a dystopia in 5 minutes in the microwave. You have to let it simmer gently on the stove, season it appropriately, but most importantly you need the right base, and you need to think through the consequences of each ingredient you add. Otherwise you end up with something that looks good on the surface, but as you start to get deeper, you realize it … does not work.

I liked Lozen as a protagonist. I like her determination, her utter willpower to survive in the face of all the various things trying to kill her. In Lozen, Bruchac gives us a protagonist who fights for something bigger than herself (her family), thinks on her feet (lots of improvisation happening), and of course fights against the status quo (gotta love an underdog).

I hated pretty much every other character in the book.

Partly this is because Bruchac doesn’t actually introduce us to too many other citizens of Haven. We meet the Ones and their heavies, and of course Lozen’s family and a couple of allies. Yet at no point do we really get a sense of how this microcosm functions. If it exists in a state of quasi–martial law, you’d think we would have more of a black market, more stuff happening underneath the Ones’ noses—especially considering the lack of surveillance equipment. Spies can’t be everywhere, and spies can be corrupted. If the pre-apocalypse exposition is unsatisfactory, this post-apocalyptic setup is just … lacking.

The Ones are all supposed to be mad in a comic book kind of way (one of them is literally called the Joker… uh … ok). It’s charming for about half a page and then it’s just like … why has no one else rebelled yet? Oh, and Bruchac introduces a character who turns into a love interest during Act Four, as if he suddenly remembered that every dystopian YA novel requires a romantic arc. (He apparently missed the new memo updating that requirement into a love triangle, though.)

Also there are vampires. Just because, apparently?

At the risk of ruining all the salt I’m flavouring this review with, let me change course and say that I enjoyed the action sequences. I would be lying if I said I didn’t consider Killer of Enemies a page-turner. But that’s about all the praise I feel like doling out to this book today.

Killer of Enemies features an Apache protagonist, which is great in the sense that Indigenous people are under-represented in literature, especially YA and kidlit. That, alone, is not enough to propel this book to any great heights. The rest of the book just drips with mediocrity, from the characters to the plot to the entire setting. Saying that I enjoyed it is an accurate description but not a complete one. I will pass on the sequels though, thanks. I’d rather look for some dystopian YA novels that are actually well designed.

[Michelle Pegram · Rating 5 out of 5]

Set in a Dystopian world, Killer of Enemies follows the monster killer, Lozen, a young apache woman as she copes with a world thrown from a technological mecca to a new steam age by the appearance of a mysterious cloud. Prior to the cloud, those with money were able to cheat death through genetic enhancements developed through testing on animals. After the cloud, technology is rendered useless and the creatures created through genetic engineering are loose and on the prowl. Lozen, who is equipped with special skills, is the only one able to defeat these monsters, and is controlled by those in power in this new world by a threat to her family.

Bruchac expertly weaves Apache beliefs, culture and stories into Lozen's narrative as she draws on her memory of family stories and knowledge of the past in order to cope. The question that emerges, though, is which monsters are worse - the creatures or the leaders?

I read this book in a digital format.

[Lexi · Rating 4 out of 5]

That was a clever dystopian book. I liked the world building and even though it was a bit of an info-dump at the start, there was a lot of action and a solid plot. It seems to be part of a series but worked fine as a stand-alone.

[Llyr Heller-Humphreys · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.75. Excellent first installment!!

[Grace Binkley · Rating 1 out of 5]

Killer of Enemies a speculative fiction novel was written to capture native culture in an exciting fast-paced way. The book stars a girl named Lozen who is an Apache woman who lives in a post-apocalyptic world where technology no longer works because of a cloud that destroyed all things running off of electricity. Haven is a compound that was made post cloud and is run by “The Ones” and people live there as a safeguard. Lozen is hired by The Ones to go out and kill monsters such as enormous birds or super snakes or to do tasks that are too dangerous for the average person but aren’t too dangerous for Lozen because she has a special set of skills. In order to get Lozen to do what they please The Ones hold her family captive and use them as leverage. Her ultimate goal is to get her and her family out of Haven and live a life separate from those essentially imprisoned in Haven.
Bruchac develops this story in a very interesting way. Bruchac wrote the entire novel in present tense as if the book was an automatic play by play. For example, he writes “The dreamer shakes his head, disgusted by my stupidity”. In my opinion this is a very weird and unconventional way of writing what would seem to be an action journal. Writing it this way creates an odd visual while reading and creates issues when staying with the book as its plot develops.
The book also conveys a feminist aspect as it conveys girl power through the main character being a strong independent woman and also references strong female aspects throughout the book. This adds a great aspect but as the book develops it loses that theme. It starts out by really empowering Lozen and Females in general but as the book progresses it loses that which makes a weird switch in ideas.
The author also has horrible character development. Lozen being the main character herself is barely developed. At the end of reading this book I thought back on what I knew about Lozen personally and as a character but when it comes down to it we barely know anything about her. And the only small details we know about Lozen or other characters and details that were directly said. Bruchac incorporates little to no indirect characterization which is extremely frustrating when reading a book. And although started off the book by Lozen describing how she tries to hide her emotions and be numb to them overall cause in her world survival comes first, he takes this too far. Bruchac tries to hide her emotions so much that he makes her appear as almost an NPC. Bruchac develops her character and gives her emotions matching a rock.
Not only does the author have horrible characterization he also has very undeveloped traits of the book. Bruchac brings in characters and mentions them early on in the book and describes their importance making the reader believe they will have an importance later on in the book but then doesn’t develop or even mention them any further. This makes for a very frustrating time reading the book overall because you feel lost and overall frustrated.
Overall I personally do not suggest reading this book because it doesn’t really convey a message or an important theme nor does it hold a very interesting plot. In most books that have a bad beginning you expect it to get better within a hundred pages. This book is different, it’s special, it just stays bad throughout the whole book and is overall a waste of time to read.
-Regina

[Elijah Basye · Rating 1 out of 5]

Killer of Enemies by Joseph Bruchac is a speculative fiction about a native american girl in post-apocalyptic times. She is from the Apache tribe, and is an expert in survival. Her family is captured by the Warlords of Haven, the Ones, who are genetically modified humans. She goes on missions killing wild beasts on behalf of the Ones, who have to share her usefulness. The Ones begin to realize just how dangerous she could be. So some of them decide to try to kill her. After taking a rather dangerous mission and coming back unscathed, she meets a friend. And he helps her and her family escape. She ends up fighting the One who was behind trying to kill her and her family the whole time, and kills her. Then she wonders what will happen next.
Killer of Enemies is a very poorly written book, the idea and imagery are well done but nothing else is. The idea of the author was to promote Natives and show that they aren’t just a thing of the past, but they will always be here. I can most definitely support this idea, but the author almost ruins it with his writing. The imagery makes it so you can almost see what is going on through Lozen’s eyes. He describes everything in detail so you know what the world is like.
The main character Lozen has no development whatsoever, you never see any change in her perspective of the rapidly changing world around her. She never lets anyone see what she is actually thinking and feeling. All the other characters see is a stone cold killing machine that has no care whatsoever, and would gladly run you over if you were in her way. She has a telekinesis power that helps her to read others' minds, but she has no control over it. It looks like the author threw it in only when it was necessary. Which makes it completely random and confuses the reader every time it is thrown in. On top of her random telekinesis she is annoyingly strong. She ends up getting thrown a couple hundred feet and lands into water during one of her battles. Realistically if someone hit water from falling that far they would splat. But, no, our immortal character swims out of the water with barely even a scratch. Even as half zombie creatures try to kill her, she kills them and gets away again, without a scratch. There is a very odd love interest throughout the book. She fawns over one of the gardeners at Haven, but when she is able to have a relationship with him she throws it away.
The logic that the author uses in this book is just downright confusing. A piece of metal landing on the ground sounds as loud as a bass drum to her, but how does she shoot guns for a living and not blow her eardrums? Lastly, one of the last enemies that she fights is a genetically modified person, she was modified to be stronger and smarter than everyone else. But as they fought she tripped and fell on her own knife.
Overall this book is not worth reading, the idea and imagery are great. There was so much room for potential. But somewhere along the lines, he went way too far with making his main character strong enough to handle the harsh world. I understand the harsh world she lives in, she needs to be able to fight off and kill her enemies. But the author did a terrible job blending a tough survivor with a real person. Once again, I would not recommend this book.