A work of historical fiction, it tells the story of Haiti before, during, and after the Haitian Revolution led by Toussaint Louverture, as seen by its central character, Ti Noel, who serves as the novel's connecting thread.

The novel was largely well-received with much attention paid to Carpentier's inclusion of magic realism and The Kingdom of This World has been described as an important work in the development of this genre in Caribbean and Latin American literature.

[3] Once in Cuba, Carpentier joined a group of young writers whose goal was to establish a literature faithful to the New World, by recovering origins, history, and tradition.

[4] In 1943, he travelled to Haiti,[5] where he was made aware of Dominique Hyppolyte's play, Le Torrent, about the Haitian Revolution, which features a character named Ti Noel.

[8] This revolution was a turning point in global history because it was unthinkable that such a massive anti-slavery revolt would not only take place, but also be successful; therefore, it challenged the prejudices of its time and ultimately influenced abolitionist movements throughout the Americas.

[dubious – discuss] [9] Unlike in the US, the entire social and economic order that had been put in place through the practice of plantation slavery in Haiti was transformed.

[21] The prologue to the novel is Carpentier's most often quoted text,[22] in which he coins the term lo real maravilloso ("marvellous reality") in reference to seemingly miraculous occurrences in Latin America.

A secret gathering of trusted slaves takes place: Bouckman, the Jamaican, speaks of possible freedom for the blacks emerging in France and also mentions the opposition from the plantation landowners.

Ti Noel has been won in a card game by a plantation owner based in Santiago, and Lenormand de Mezy dies in abject poverty shortly afterwards.

Surveyors disrupt the peace at the plantation, and mulattoes have risen to power; they force hundreds of black prisoners to work by whiplash, and many have lost hope as the cycle of slavery continues.

Ti Noel, thinking of Macandal, decides to transform into various animals to observe the ongoing events; he metamorphoses into a bird, a stallion, a wasp, and then an ant.

[25] A key aspect of the novel is that the main character is of interest not because of his skin colour, but rather for his human attributes that allow universal reflection beyond the realm of race.

In this sense, magic realism is a necessary tool of expression and the technique serves to confront the novel's hero, better develop his purpose as a man, and advance a simultaneously profound and straightforward understanding of the human experience.

He regales tales of great kingdoms and speaks of epic battles in which the animals were allies of men, of the incarnation of the serpent, of a queen who was the Rainbow, and of horses adorned with silver coins.

Macandal has his left arm amputated after a machinery accident on the plantation of Lenormand de Mezy and, unable to complete heavy work, is put in charge of pasturing the cattle.

[31] Carpentier portrays Henri Christophe, like most leaders, as a pompous fool, since the cycle of history continues regardless of his presence: his influence on the lives of people like Ti Noel is minimal.

[32] On the other hand, Christophe has also been seen as a representation of man's potential, rising from cook to soldier to king, reaching extremes of extravagance that exceed that of the previous French rulers, and ultimately falling pathetically.

Following the quelled black uprising in Part Two, Lenormand de Mezy leaves his state of hiding and arrives in time to spare the lives of Ti Noel and some of his other slaves.

Lenormand de Mezy's name may be based on an eponymous Haitian plantation where the historical Bouckman is said to have conducted his famous Bois Caiman ritual.

He later comes across a marble statue of Pauline and this, coupled with memories of the night that witnessed the demise of Henri Christophe, causes him to fall into madness, flee, and eventually succumb to malaria.

This point is drawn from an article by Rachel Beauvoir-Dominique, who says, "During the night of 14 August 1791 a Voodoo ceremony held in a place called Bois Caiman was a fundamental step in the unification of the slave population of Saint-Domingue.

[56] More importantly, by allowing readers to see through the slaves' point of view, Carpentier brings to light the power and durability of the Haitian community and destabilizes the narrative of Western supremacy.

[57] Characters who are paired together tend to suffer the same destiny: Ti Noel and Monsieur Lenormand de Mezy both witness the marvels of the age and slowly decline; both Pauline and Solimán indulge in their wealthy positions and then sink into madness.

[65] His conception of 'marvellous reality' revolves around the natural fantastic qualities of Latin America and the Caribbean, as opposed to the overly forced and cliché efforts by European surrealists to portray magical occurrences.

[53] Roberto González Echevarría questions the historical accuracy of the work by arguing that Carpentier manipulated dates so that he could achieve meaningful associations in his novel.

[79] Carpentier was an admirer of the elegance and wit in the work of satirical French writers and artists of the eighteenth century, and often employed grotesques in his descriptions to ridicule the ostentation of colonial aristocracy.

[80][82] Carpentier further satirizes the pomp of those in power through a series of details of protocol and ceremony whose cumulative effects ridicule the object of description, as is the case with Henri Christophe's chambers.

[84] Although the presence of fantastic realism in The Kingdom of This World has been acclaimed by critics and discussed at length within the academic community, this concern is paralleled by a lack of interest in Carpentier's technical work in the novel.

[7] The Kingdom of This World has also been criticized for its narrative organization, which predominantly relies on apposition rather than on succession: the novel does not present history in terms of a sequence of events and their consequences.

[62] The gaps within chronological time that occur throughout this novel as well as the sudden changes of perspective and minimal transitional narrative have led some to criticize the book for the chaotic first impression it gives the reader.