Writing for Books & Culture, Gerald L. Early discussed the frequent reprisals of the racial themes Carter referenced in his previous work, particularly around the relatively unusual literary setting (for a mainstream novel) in the world of privileged black people, drawing parallels with the work of W. E. B. Du Bois around the concept of a "Talented Tenth" – an elite leadership class of African-Americans. The book uses the style of genre fiction to raise many of Carter's views on race, and in particular the differences between what he calls the 'paler nation' and the 'darker nation'.
