Throughout the novel, Hughes gives details of landscape, buildings, clothing and food, all of which combine to create clear and intense images of Kamalant and Roshan.

The effect is gradual, though stronger as Antia writes her letters to Eskoril, and the descriptions of where things are happening never interferes with the narrative of what is happening. Though exact and profusely described, the setting is clearly not just one of the African countries that Hughes has visited with a fantasy name. From zaramint bushes to little slima snakes, the details are what make this a unique and independent world.

When Antia leaves the palace of her uncle and aunt, King Rangor and Queen Sankath of Kamalant, in the city of Malan in Kamalant, she leaves the trappings of material wealth behind. There are no ornamental fountains in the town of Lohat in Roshan; and instead of an ostentatious palace...