Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Killer of Enemies by Joseph Bruchac

Mr. Bruchac normally writes about Native Americans.  The thought of how Indians would respond to a disaster that devastated whites intrigued me.  Would they be better equipped to survive or not?

Tu Books and Edelweiss gave me the opportunity to download this ebook for review (thank you).  It was published September 17th, so get yourself a copy now.

I've read Mr. Bruchac's work before and his stories are all good.  I found this one to be exceptional because he has created a world in the future where almost everything has been genetically modified, even the people.

A large cloud comes in and covers the earth and all technology quit working.  That plot has been presented before but I like the way this author handled it.  Not only did equipment quit working, those people who had been enhanced died.  The only survivors of those elite folks were the ones who had not completed the full restoration of eternal life.  The four that are left are referred to as "The Ones" and they rule the part of the earth they live in.  They have military-like squads that enforce their rules and everyone else has a job they do for the common good and for the Ones.  As always, dictators are not kind people.  Irritate them and you're dead.  Admit you care about someone and they will use them for leverage and kill them if you don't obey.

In the midst of this chaos is Lozen, a seventeen year old Apache girl who is good at hunting.  Now she hunts the modified animals that hunt anyone outside the protective walls of their prison.  Her goal is to escape with her remaining family members.  It's impossible, but she's going to do it.

It was fascinating to read about Lozen's Apache culture influencing her present activities and how many of her assignments bring her closer to her heritage.  She's a strong, determined young woman and it was a pleasure to read her story.  I'd love to see a sequel.  I'm also buying my own copy of this book for my library.  I can read it again easily and see what I might have missed the first time.

Happy reading.  

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