Wow. Wow.

Set in a postapocalyptic, drought-torn California, full of flawed characters doing the best they can. I think I literally put the book down and went "wow."

I almost knocked a star off because this book is just full of first-novel indulgences, like Watkins just felt that she had to cram everything in here and wasn't able to murder her darlings. But I decided that's a relatively small flaw - so 4.75 stars, rounded up. :)