Killer of Enemies

Killer of Enemies is a young adult dystopian novel by Joseph Bruchac. Published in 2013, it’s the first book in the Killer of Enemies trilogy. The novel follows a young Apache girl who hunts monsters to secure her family’s protection and the destiny she’s expected to fulfill. Killer of Enemies won the 2014 American Indian Youth Literature Award for Best Young Adult Book. Bruchac is an American Indian who enriches his writing with his Abenaki ancestry. He is a prolific storyteller who received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native Writers Circle of the Americas in 1999.

Killer of Enemies is set in a world influenced by science fiction, steampunk, and dystopia. The Ones, who are humans with genetic enhancements and technological “upgrades,” rule everyone else. However, a magnetic storm known as the Cloud knocked all the technology out, and the world has returned to the steam age.

Although many of the Ones died during the Cloud, some survived, and they’re more determined than ever to protect their position. They recruit slaves—anyone who is not a One—to keep them safe. Even though the Ones have lost their technological power, they still control the land, and people are too afraid to challenge them.



The heroine is a seventeen-year-old girl called Lozen. She’s named after the great warrior Lozen of the Chiricahua Apache. The original Lozen could use her unique abilities to learn an enemy’s movements before they struck. In Killer of Enemies, the protagonist has these same skills, which she uses in the trials she faces at the hands of the Ones.

When the novel opens, we learn that Lozen lives with her family in a compound called Haven, New America. This is a wasteland in the Sonoran Desert. Here, Lozen is recruited by the Ones to kill genetically modified “pets,” or Gemods. The Gemods are attacking and killing their masters, and they’re breaking out of all the national pleasure parks. Everyone must beg the Ones for sanctuary from these monsters, which is how they maintain their control.

The Ones choose Lozen as their hunter because she can sense the Gemods and outwit them before they get close. She’s very confident in her abilities, and she’s proud to protect her family even if the price is slavery. In exchange for Lozen’s service, her family lives a peaceful and safe existence. They might live in a compound, but it’s safer than living outside where the Gemods run wild. Still, Lozen hopes to one day escape and live a free life.



Lozen respects her enemies and treats them all with dignity. Although the Gemods are monsters, she asks for their forgiveness before killing them, because that’s what her ancestors did. She believes in tradition and upholding family values. However, she isn’t afraid of violence. She cuts out the hearts of the Gemods she kills before eating them raw. This is part of her heritage, and she doesn’t shy away from bloodshed.

The Ones are impressed by Lozen’s success, and she builds a name for herself. Her reputation, though, is both a burden and a gift. The Ones send her out on endless missions, and she never gets to rest. The missions they choose are increasingly dangerous and violent, and Lozen’s worried they have another purpose for her. Her family watches on, powerless to do anything to help her.

No one knows that Lozen has secret weapons of her own. Ever since the Cloud, Lozen’s been able to read thoughts. She can also communicate with Native spirits who offer sage guidance and keep her on the right path. Lozen doesn’t know why she’s been blessed with these talents, but her ancestors advise her not to reveal them to anyone else. They tell her that she’s a special warrior, imbued with the original Lozen’s characteristics.



When she’s out on missions for days at a time, Lozen can sense water and food supplies. This is the only reason she survives so long without returning to the compound. She’s also blessed with a Sasquatch, Hally, who follows her and helps her destroy the Gemods when she needs him. Together, they take on the deadliest predators roaming the desert—and he helps her plot her escape from the compound.

Lozen befriends key figures inside the compound who help her escape. For example, one soldier, who runs the armory, helps her smuggle weapons out to hiding places all around the desert, so that she and her family can survive on their own. What’s more, one of the Ones likes Lozen, and he wants to set her free.

Lozen tells her family that she plans on fleeing the compound and that they’ll leave with her. One night, they run, reaching a safe space in the desert. Lozen’s sure she can protect them, even if she doesn’t know where their journey will lead them next. Her choices form the basis of the trilogy’s second book.