The setting of Power is crucial to the story, and in fact can almost be seen as another character in the story. Power takes place along the Gulf Coast of Florida, among a group of Native Americans and mixedbreeds known as the Taiga. The land is as endangered as the small tribe is: where there once was swamp, lake, and forest, there are now concrete roads, strip malls, and resorts. The land is being mowed under by development just as the remaining Native peoples are being mowed under by encroaching white culture.

The Florida Hogan describes here is not the Florida of beach resorts and retirement communities, but rather what remains of the wild Florida, a land more water than earth, a land with tangled trees and vines, filled with dangerous snakes and still home to the endangered and seldom-seen Florida panther. This is the Florida a visitor...