The Empress of Salt and Fortune

Paperback, 121 pages

English language

Published Aug. 6, 2020 by Tor Books.

ISBN:: 978-1-250-75030-3

(2 reviews)

With the heart of an Atwood tale and the visuals of a classic Asian period drama, Nghi Vo's The Empress of Salt and Fortune is a tightly and lushly written narrative about empire, storytelling, and the anger of women.

A young royal from the far north, is sent south for a political marriage in an empire reminiscent of imperial China. Her brothers are dead, her armies and their war mammoths long defeated and caged behind their borders. Alone and sometimes reviled, she must choose her allies carefully.

Rabbit, a handmaiden, sold by her parents to the palace for the lack of five baskets of dye, befriends the emperor's lonely new wife and gets more than she bargained for.

At once feminist high fantasy and an indictment of monarchy, this evocative debut follows the rise of the empress In-yo, who has few resources and fewer friends. She's a northern daughter in …

With the heart of an Atwood tale and the visuals of a classic Asian period drama, Nghi Vo's The Empress of Salt and Fortune is a tightly and lushly written narrative about empire, storytelling, and the anger of women.

A young royal from the far north, is sent south for a political marriage in an empire reminiscent of imperial China. Her brothers are dead, her armies and their war mammoths long defeated and caged behind their borders. Alone and sometimes reviled, she must choose her allies carefully.

Rabbit, a handmaiden, sold by her parents to the palace for the lack of five baskets of dye, befriends the emperor's lonely new wife and gets more than she bargained for.

At once feminist high fantasy and an indictment of monarchy, this evocative debut follows the rise of the empress In-yo, who has few resources and fewer friends. She's a northern daughter in a mage-made summer exile, but she will bend history to her will and bring down her enemies, piece by piece.

3 editions

Leia reviewed The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo (The Singing Hills Cycle, #1)

Enjoyable

5 stars

I picked this up as I wanted to contine my reading of Asian-themed books after The Water Outlaws, but wanted something short. Getting talked to by my supe for reading on the job is the main reason I didn't finish this sooner.

Its casually queer, has a rich world, and an interesting story telling method of following Cleric Chih ("Cheech"?) inspecting the items of the place, their own observations, and the Flashbacks from Rabbit gave the whole book a good feel.

Well worth a read.

Martin Kopischke reviewed The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo (The Singing Hills Cycle, #1)

Slow reading with a capital “S”

3 stars

– which, in case you were unsure, is a good thing, because you can enjoy peeling away fine layer after fine layer from the story Nghi Vo so intricately wrapped for you. The experience is, there is no other word for it, exquisite.

Subjects

Fiction
Fantasy
LGBTQ+
F/F
Novella