I'm not sure how I feel about this book. Maybe it is more of a 3.5. The writing was at times really beautiful. I appreciated how the everyday, horrific violence of slavery was shown without actually becoming violence porn. I wanted to know what would happen. But I almost put it down a few times because of where I felt it was going and because it is so male focused. This book is like playing with the format of a Dickens novel, but maybe not enough for where I am at today.