The premise of the book sounds great. It's set in a Caribbean-inspired island and the main character is a dark-skinned islander who, because of her peculiar background, in the position of the Danish-inspired slaveowner colonial class. The white people never actually accept her, are disgusted at just the thought of her even when they try not to be (Sigourney's "kraft" allows her to read thoughts so she's pretty much bombarded with hatred 24/7) and the islanders also hate her for having freedom and not using it to free her people.

Sigourney starts off saying that everything she does is for revenge of her family that was slaughtered, but she never seems to actually put any revenge plan into action or even have one beyond wanting to be chosen as the ruler of the island. She's aware that this is basically a crazy act of internal racism--why is she trying to win the respect of people who seem psychologically incapable of giving it to her? But as a result the story seems to basically just stand still as people are brutally killed off one by one with no one even considering the correct person behind the murders (that is, no one in the book--I suspected!).

Then there's a twist ending that doesn't so much twist Sigourney's story as confirm that she's as useless as she's been throughout. She has a choice to make but the choice seems a total no-brainer. It was just very grim and plodding for me.