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It came out within the last 5 years, in a post-apocalyptic dessert/Western world. I think it's YA, but definitely futuristic/fantasy. There's a youngish boy/man that is trying to escape something hunting him and the magical artifact he doesn't know he's carrying (a book of some kind that he can't read). He is close to death but somehow is saved/ends up sheltered by a girl in the town - her father is a healer.

There's a type of tree that has metallic leaves that when it senses you nearby it flings the leaves into you, which usually kill you. This makes an appearance throughout the book.

Can't remember too much else, but there's one scene where the boy/man starts getting training in finding these magical artifacts with another boy in the town. They are at one point diving along a shoreline to find hidden/buried artifacts from "before" that have magical properties.

The thing chasing the boy comes to the town at the end of the book and some of the inhabitants of the town stand and fight. There was another in the series to be published the year later.

Stranger by Rachel Manija Brown matches your description.

Google search -- site:www.goodreads.com "young adult" western post-apocalyptic artifact book "can't read"

That's it!!! Thank you so much.

Tara