Correction: The exiled Vegas priest is actually named Arturo.

Long ago, the earth's rains turned poisonous. Thus, the only places where humanity survives (barely) are in the deserts. The people who dwell in the North American desert west of the Mississippi call it "the Remainder." This is where Magdala is born.

But the desert also sickens and kills its occupants. Madgala must survive thirst, hunger, animal predators, human predators, and "stuffed men": those who've succumbed to the sickness and become one with the desert and its creatures. The sexual violence of human predators is dealt with realistically but not gratuitously. Although the author's vision of the future is dark, it's also shot through with threads of hope and rumors of miracles.

People who liked Rebecca Roanhorse's "Sixth World" series will love this. "Poetic precision" is a good phrase for the storytelling. In this world, there are still a few road signs and billboards here and there, and their fading words always seem to place the narrative's events in the perfect frame.