Joseph Bruchac is a Native American author who uses his Abenaki ancestry to write about native people in ancient, as well as, modern times. The first book I read by Bruchac was Code Talker: A Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War II. It was a powerful book about the contributions of the Navajo to the war effort in the Pacific. Despite the brutal nature of the battle scenes, Bruchac also inculdes bits of humor such as the narrator's comment that, with a name like the Marines, he should have realized there would be water involved in their work. The Navajo, of course, lived in the desert and none of the men who were training to be radiomen had ever learned to swim.
His post-apocalyptic series Killer of Enemies is about a seventeen-year-old Apache hunter Lozen and her family. They live in a world of haves and have nots. There are the Ones, people so augmented with technology and genetic enhancements that they are barely human and almost immortal, and there is everyone else who serve them. Then the Cloud comes, and everything changes. Technology stops working. The world plunges back into a new steam age. The Ones’ pets, genetically engineered monsters, turn on them and are now loose in the world. Lozen was not one of the lucky ones pre-C, but her a unique set of survival skills and magical abilities make her useful to the Ones. She hunts monsters who survived the apocalyptic events of the Cloud, thereby ensuring the safety of her kidnapped family. The second book in the series is Trail of the Dead. Lozen and her family are looking for a place of refuge from the Ones. Lozen, her family, and her allies travel in search of a valley where her family once found a peaceful home When they finally reach the valley, they discover an unpleasant surprise awaiting them and a merciless hunter following close behind. Relying on her wits and the growing powers that warn her when enemies are near, Lozen fights internal sickness to lead her band of refugees to freedom and safety. There is prequel e-novella called Rose Eagle that tells the story of a Lakota medicine woman and her people who had been forced to work for the Ones mining ore to finance their wars. Although the story is set before Killer of Enemies, Rose and her people will befriend Lozen's group in Trail of the Dead. The third book is Arrow of Lightning. Months after she has been healed from the Enemy Sickness that afflicted her in Trail of the Dead, Lozen and her family have gathered a community around them in Valley Where First Light Paints the Cliffs and have begun to rebuild. Lozen knows danger still stalks them and she intends to be ready to defend her people, but she hopes to avoid killing another human being--though gemod monsters are not off the table. Miles away, the remaining Ones plot Lozen's demise, and a threat Lozen thought she'd eliminated comes closer. And a newfound power will complicate everything for Lozen. Other dystopian/post-apocalyptic stories in the TAHS library that you might enjoy include the following:
Awards
The Glass Arrow by Kristen Simmons is a post-apocalyptic story like her Article 5 trilogy and the novel Metaltown. In the past, men and women "...had lived as equals,...girl babies were valued, and women could belong only to themselves. Now women are property, to be sold and owned and bred, while a strict census keeps their numbers manageable and under control. The best any girl can hope for is to end up as some man's forever wife, but most are simply sold and resold until they're all used up.
Aya has spent her whole life in the wilderness beyond the walled city where true freedom can be found. When she is captured and taken to the city where she is grommed for the auction, she must find a way to escape and get back to her family who depend on her for protection. Book Trailer If you enjoy this type of story, look for these titles in the TA Library in addition to the other books by Ms. Simmons:
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AuthorI am a former high school English teacher and now a high school librarian. Archives
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