This is a debut dystopian novel about a world that has been divided by colonization. The "Mainlanders" came to Sossi territory, stealing their land and displacing them to the "Gutter." There, the Sossi were forced into reliance on government subsidies in a system that was not only not built for them, but built actively against them. After the deaths caused by a Sossi revolt, the Mainlanders determined an amount of money that the Sossi people owed them in reparations, so now every "Gutter child" is born with a huge weight of debt on their shoulders.

The main character, Elimina, is a special case because she was given away at birth to a Mainland mother for a special social experiment. Her own history was taken from her and she lived as an outsider from both the Mainland and the Gutter until her adopted mother's death. At that time she is brought to an "Academy" to start paying off her debt. That is where this story begins.

This book was amazing in its ability to create a fictional world that sheds a wide light on institutionalized racism against BIPOC people and it's colonialist underpinnings (especially as I read this from the perspective of a white settler on the land now called Canada). It was also just a heart-wrenching narrative with excellent world-building, character, and plot development.