Point of View

The story is written in third person, but the point of view shifts about frequently. Since the chapters are so small, the point of view tends to stay with one character within each chapter. Meggie receives by far the most attention and the preponderance of the narrative follows her point of view. However, the author does not shy away from revealing the actions of other characters when Meggie is not around. Dustfinger, Farid, Mo, Elinor and Basta all receive some focus. The narrator is not omniscient and the reader shares for the most part in Meggie's ignorance of previous events and of the specifics of her father's relationship to Capricorn and to Dustfinger. There is no first person internal dialogue and even emotional states are described in third person.

Setting

There is a paucity of detail about the physical settings in the book. The action begins...