As far as story goes, this book was barely above average. It jumps around in confusing ways that did not impress me. Maybe the goal was some story telling dynamic, but it made for short periods of being extremely confused. If an author wants to jump forwards and backwards in both time, space, and character, there needs to be an obvious road flag. This book did not have those. Therefore, it only gets an "ok" on story.
This story deals with history, and as far as accuracy goes, it gets mostly a fail. The author clearly wanted to touch on all the atrocities suffered by slaves and former slaves, and even freemen. But chronologically, you can't put them all together within a few year period. This book included references to traveling from Africa aboard a slave ship, institutionalized slavery, king cotton, the underground railroad, lynch mobs, medical testing and sterilization. Slavery was over before we knew what "germs" were, so you can immediately see where my issue comes in with the scientific angle. It grated against the timeline of history, too many anachronisms together.
This book might be ok if you're into wishy-washy story telling where the feel of the story is more important, but it bothered me to the point of being unable to enjoy the story. I would not recommend this book.
