Point of View

The novel is written in first person from the limited perspective of a young teenager named Sai. She is 12 years old as the novel opens, Sai tells the reader about her life, including the important social structure that dictates the opportunities and limitations of the people who live there. Sai lives with her father, a man known only as Mud, in a poor neighborhood called the Fens. The limited perspective means the reader knows only what Sai knows. Sai seems to be honest, but there are some factors that limit her ability to be entirely reliable as a narrator. Her age and inexperience are among the most limited factors. Sai has had experiences with criminals, including her father, but she tends to trust people who hold places of importance in the social structure. For example, a young woman named Rian befriends Sai on the ship...