Point of View

The point of view of the novel is first person, but the narration rotates between three central characters. Zelie, Amari, and Inan all have their own chapters in which they tell their stories in real-time using the present tense. Because of this, the reader must emotionally invest in all three of the characters who are, at first, seemingly at odds with one another.

In Zelie’s chapters, we see the fictional world through the lens of a girl in the lowest class of her country. She is poor and oppressed by the government. She is hated for her heritage and the white hair that marks her as different from the rest of the society. She looks at the world as a hostile place that inspires fear inside of her, but that she desires to fight against in order to create a better place.

In Amari...