Form the first few words, the reader is aware that this is a book from a non-Western culture. There are many strange words, most of which are eventually defined. The setting is Timbuktu in Africa. The narrator is a young woman who we learn is a blacksmith, a profession which labels her and her fellow workers as witches. She is soon adbucted and carried into the desert where she learns she is to become the bride of a ferocious warrior king. The book promises to be an interesting look at a largely unknown culture.