This is one of those books that you are not meant to enjoy, but to experience, and one that I think everyone should have. It is one of the most honest books I have read and manages to address a painful topic like slavery without ranting or lecturing, which I would imagine is difficult. We all know that the enslavement of other human beings is awful, and I appreciated that the author didn't use her time trying to convince us of such a universal truth. The monstrous acts of slave owners were brutal and terrible to read about, but the owners themselves were still complexly drawn characters. It would have been easy and even understandable to write them as evil, but the fact that they were not made the story all the more poignant and heartbreaking. The horrors inflicted and the beautiful spirits that are broken...there's just a pit left in your stomach by the end. 
 The time travel element, while obviously necessary to the plot, was really insignificant to the story. It exists as a way for us to view this time period through contemporary eyes along with Dana, and that's about it. It is not explained, and I didn't find the story lacking because of it. With that said, I would not in any way consider this science fiction, and fantasy is even pushing it a little for me.