A girl. A gun. Monsters. When her farming community is consumed in the ruthless jaws of a corporate monster, 16-year-old Merit finds herself face to face with a different kind of beast, one possessing a human form but a mind bent on one thing and one thing alone: her destruction. Then a chance encounter with a legend turns her mad dash for survival into an odyssey of revenge as she sets out to hunt down the men who destroyed all that she loves. But in pursuing the monsters, will she become one herself? Is it possible to embark on a journey of destruction without digging your own grave? In her beginning lies their end. This action-packed adventure from an award-winning author takes you on a fast and furious journey through the Protectorate, a dystopian landscape wracked by environmental disaster, in the ruins of a place known as the Old Republic, where water is the most precious commodity and people are expendable pawns in the game of survival. Kirkus Reviews: "Sharp characterizations and vibrant prose enliven this futuristic tale." Publishers Weekly's BookLife Prize calls it "riveting and haunting. Zienty's plot proceeds at a furious and exciting pace as Merit flees--and is pursued--through the bleak, dangerous New American Midwest. In a world governed by phobias and laws, her quest to find her purpose is successfully fleshed out in a meticulously imagined world. ... a fresh-feeling dystopian wonderland."