The novel opens with a quote from something called The Book of Ascension that says "In the beginning, there was nothing." Then the story starts. Some 500 years in the future, Kayla Nighthawk is a 14-year-old white Christian girl living in a community in what was Ethiopia, now called Potemia, born with a deformed foot and face. She only lived because the monk who is her companion saved her life. “Sciencecraft” is banned on pain of death and that is enforced by Minister Coglin in her village. She has been taught to read by the monk using the King James Bible. Potemia was established by “the Founder” and his “Neo-Luddites.” They erected the Wall to shut it away from the rest of the world.

The monk shows her the ruined village of Ardra, which was destroyed because they used a windmill. He shows her a hospital and a library that are now secret. The monk takes syringes and other banned medicines. She takes books that she has read. She has dreams of someone named Melchi and the birth of a "half-human" child whom he calls Nihala, "the Creator's tool for our own destruction."

Kayla later meets Ishan, a 15-year-old Muslim who is in love with her. Ishan sees what the monk has and says they are against the Founder's law. Kayla convinces him to keep quiet. She and Ishan are in love and want to get married. They are discovered by the minister's son, Elias, and his friends, which launches a series of dramatic events culminating in Kayla’s transformation and her eventual discovery of  the history of the world five hundred years ago, including how Potemia was founded, and the underground city of Middilgard, where she meets a community of gene-freaks (humans created with various appearances and abilities). This all sets up the rest of the novel, in which it turns out that Kayla is a very special person with a very important destiny.

 This book was a surprisingly good read. I certainly found myself caught up in it. Burdick does use the novel as a platform for his views on God, religion, and the Bible and there are some discussions that go on for pages with only a tangential relation to the plot. You can read, browse or ignore those parts if you will.

I had a few quibbles. The monk who is important to Kayla’s life is never named, the only character that is not. We do find out something about his nature, but I don’t think that explains the lack of a name. I’m also afraid the named Kayla reminded me of a soap opera heroine of decades ago that inspired many mothers to give their daughters a name that had not been common, or even heard of, before or after then. But those are quibbles. I do recommend this book.