In August 2012 "Weird Tales" magazine announced would publish an excerpt from the novel's first chapter. The magazine cancelled plans to publish the excerpt after readers and authors threatened to boycott the magazine. John Harlacher removed a post by editor Marvin Kaye that defended the book and posted a message apologizing to readers, a move that was criticized by ThinkProgress's Alyssa Rosenberg. Imogen Russell Williams in the "Guardian" panned the book, saying "there is barely a detectable sign of any plot; the whole thing is remarkable for repetition, [and] incoherence", and also criticised the book's handling of race. In the book racial groups receive titles according to their ethnicity, with characters receiving the name "Coal", which some readers viewed as a racial slur. Foyt responded to the criticism by stating that she had not intended the book's contents or advertising to be racist, and that her intention was to write a novel addressing the issue of racism, interracial love and global warming.