This novel is grim and at times, it is disturbing. The introduction is clearly disturbing for Bird, because suddenly, he is orphaned of his family by a local tribe who went to war with them while Bird was away. When he returns to find his homeland ravaged, and all his family dead and slain with prejudice, he is undone in his agony. He swears vengeance, which raises the novel's central question: Is Bird fighting a winning battle?
When his family jaunts and jeers at the POW missionary, Crow, or Christophe, Bird notices the logic of his religious views in light of his frustration about vengeance. Then, Bird learns to see his frustrations for their root causes. Who is more to blame for this Native American apocalypse? The Haudenosaunee tribe? Not even remotely. When the plague sweeps through from European settlements, both rival tribes are decimated. So are they even the real enemy?
Meanwhile, the novel remembers the claims of Crow, the claims of peace and infinite joy in the "salvation of the Creator God," which is enticing language during a horrific fate such as Bird's new apocalyptic orphanhood. But, the truth is darker still than Crow hopes. If there is validity in his claims of divine love, Bird will have to see that love through his lived experience of horror, death, loneliness, anger, frustration, and absolute paranoia. Then again, Crow sees his hope through his fatal imprisonment, so the idea of hope remains vital, even in the end when Crow himself is tortured to death as a martyr for his faith in love.
