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Glad a short book like this exists & hope to find more. Not as analytically incisive as hoped. Not much historical perspective. The u.s.-centrism comes across as unintentional & therefore uncritical. One cool thing is an essay that actually talks practically about how the author runs her press, so it's not entirely polemic & theory. Author's style feels kinda radlib-y overall.

This was a very, very violent book - there is a lot of physical, emotional, & sexual violence. I don't feel "gratuitous" is the right word for it, though, especially after reading the interview with the author that was helpfully included in the back of the ebook, because it confirmed they were thinking of the same themes I was while reading. I found it took me some time to get used to the descriptive style, but once I did I was more or less swept into the pace of events. I found the concluding twist to be well-prepared & felt like the scope was appropriately expanded to set up the next book. Let's see how it goes.

I experienced this as an enjoyable palace intrigue like some other reviewers, but I didn't really find it particularly insightful on "assimilation and language and the seduction and horror of empire" (quote taken from the author's acknowledgments section). It's an interesting world and I'm looking forward to reading the sequel, but I can't say my mind was blown.

By way of critiquing the incredibly anti-Black work of Robert Fogel & Stanley Engerman, this book reemphasizes just how devastating and hellish the legal chattel slavery regime was. Probably best "read" by referring to specific sections relevant to an aspect of u.s. slavery of which you're uncertain, or concerned you're being fed lies or justifying propaganda about. Unfortunately explicitly reproduces the u.s.-centrism of anglophone slavery historiography, though that's understandable considering the book being critiqued does the same thing.