While reading this book, my first by this author, I was reminded of so many of the parallels of this world in comparison to our current world. It is not a hard leap to make that comparison. I hope that while non-POC are reading this, they think of the complexity of hate. The theme of hate presented itself in a multitude of ways in this novel. Maryse was a character that you could easily get behind. However, her character development in this book was some of the best I've seen. Particularly to her ability to understand how her destiny fueled something in her that she did not necessarily agree with. The repeated referral to the Kluxes/and or colonizers as "they like places where we hurt." That sentence stuck with me and propelled me into a global reflection of the black experiences. Notice I said "experiences" with the efforts to reduce monolithic dialogues around the black experiences. Maryse referred to the Kluxes as "suffering of monsters in human forms." Wow! That is still sitting with me. There are so many lessons to be learned in this book. I was most connected to the ancestral magic in this book.