Otter's world is tribal: she lives in a tribe of mostly women, who are occasionally visited by other tribes for purposes of trading. Her world is also one of magic: the dead don't like to stray too close to the living, so Otter is learning to be a binder like her mother so that she can tie knots to keep the dead from hurting the living. I found it hard to connect with; the world building was never fleshed out enough for me and the characters never felt realistic, only like pawns being pushed around the chessboard of Bow's greater story of death and purpose. This is the kind of magic-saturated, fairy-tale-like tale I would recommend to fans of Keturah and Lord Death or The Near Witch.