Second paragraph of third chapter:

“What did you mean to do? Didn’t I hear you refer to my children as fish?” She turned from him, ebony hair swirling, dusty, no-­colored traveling robe lashing around slender ankles—­ankles, deplorably, that were as dusty as the hair, as the soiled robe. The wearisome roads, wet or dry, were dirty. Even her hands and face were covered with a gray film. She looked at her wrists in fury. She could plant grass in the creases of her skin. A little sweat and they’d grow! Or tears! Tears would do it. She turned her face away. The rain of tears was imminent.

Very very long book, following up the story from The Waters Rising (and also tying in with characters from a lot of her earlier works), a future humanity doomed to imminent environmental disaster and blighted by societal collapse, which gives her an opportunity to make many of her favourite points about how things are and how they should be. Enjoyable enough, but good god, over 700 pages! You can get it here.

This was the most popular book that I had acquired in 2014 but not yet read. Next in that rapidly dwindling pile is The Return of the Discontinued Man, by Mark Hodder.