Point of View

In the first and third books, the author uses a third person perspective restricted to Godfrey St. Peter. The narrator focuses upon St. Peter and speaks through his experiences and memories. Through the author's use of this technique, the reader is granted access to the thoughts and feelings of St. Peter, but is restricted from the knowing the thoughts and feelings of the other characters, except in so far as St. Peter is able to discern them.

The second book is written with the first person perspective and in the past tense because it is Tom Outland's story as he related it to St. Peter. Since it is written in the first person, the second book is limited to Tom Outland's feelings and emotions.

Setting

The novel is primarily set in a small Midwestern university town, north of Chicago and on the western coast of Lake...