This is set in a world in which humans exist in islands of population, surrounded by fey creatures, Seelie and Unseelie. The former are relatively benign, the latter perilous.
Travel is dangerous, and it is particularly unsafe to be out after dark.
By law, everyone wears a taltry hood, which provides some protection against magical unstorms. One especially interesting aspect of this world is the use of sky roads for travel, both in Windships and by an aristocracy of Stormriders. T he story's heroine does not start out ill-made, indeed she does not even know her own sex. She is introduced to the reader as a mute and nameless creature who flees and finally falls face first into toxic paradox ivy that creates severe facial malformations. She is taken into Isse Tower by Grethet, an old crone who dresses her as a boy, and sets her to drudgery.