I have come to love (and expect) the beautiful nature descriptions in Willa Cather's books and "Death Comes for the Archbishop" is no exception. Cather captures both the wonder and desolation of nineteenth-century southwestern US/northwestern Mexico borderlands in a book that also explores the life choices of a man devoted to serving God. The only stumbling point I encountered was that I expected more plot than was given (the novel is entirely character-driven) but once I adjusted my expectations I had no futher issues with the novel.