Magic realism
Shadbolt commented on this side of his work that he tried to use native history, tradition, landscape and folklore as active components. In so doing he takes his work out of the sphere of pure historical fiction into the world of Magic realism in a novel indebted in part to Gabriel Marquez's "One Hundred Years of Solitude", especially in its sweep over several generations. The novel is no simple glorification of the colonial enterprise but at times becomes a criticism which reflects the author's Left Wing politics.