Beamis12

The American Southwest has completely run out of water. The new ocean covering vast areas is now made of sand, mountains are sandstone, and Californians who once came for fame, gold or citrus are now called Mohave. Many moving Eastward are taken to relocation camps, but not all leave. Luz, once known as baby Dunn, a poster child form failed conservation movement is one. She meets Ray and forma while they live in an abandoned stars mansion, until they misappropriate a child and want a better chance at life.

I finished this a while ago and am still shaking my head. What have I just read? Wildly imaginative or prescient, original and devastating. A cult like leader who is a dowser and his followers in the desert, a haven or a threat? What a brilliant concept this book is, even to the point where Watkins manages to come up with new supposed insects and animals that are living in this new sand ocean, adapting and changing to thrive in their new environment. But are they real?  There is so much to this book, descriptions and feelings, almost a hallucinogenic mind game with characters who change and evolve Prose that is brilliant or sometimes seems overwritten but to great effect. So incredibly addictive and immersive.

ARC from publisher.