New York City

The novel takes place in New York City. Hel and Vikram live together in an apartment in the Bronx, and Ayanna Donaldson's house and Vikram's security facility are both in Queens. Ezra Sleight's house is in Brownsville (Brooklyn). The UDPs (Universally Displaced Persons) arrived in New York three years prior to the events of the plot from an alternate universe version of New York that was very similar, but not quite the same, which Hel and Vikram frequently find jarring. For example, Hel notes when attending the party where she meets Ayanna Donaldson, that the SoHo hotel where the party is being held is the site of a park where she comes from. The public transit system in Hel's universe is called the trolley rather than the subway or train. While meeting with Dr. Oliveira in Manhattan, Hel notes the people around her are "slightly scruffier...