Title- The Empress of Salt and Fortune
Author- Nghi Vo
Series- The Singing Hills Cycle
Published- 2020
Page Count- 118 pages
Publishing House- Tor
Genre- High Fantasy, Feminist
Rating- 3/5 stars
About the Author
Nghi Vo is the author of the acclaimed novellas The Empress of Salt and Fortune and When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain. Born in Illinois, she now lives on the shores of Lake Michigan. She believes in the ritual of lipstick, the power of stories, and the right to change your mind. The Chosen and the Beautiful is her debut novel.
Taken from Nghi's website.
Plot
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.
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.
Taken from Goodreads
Opinions
I picked this up as it had a really interesting premise. I've been trying to read more feminist books and as the Goodreads description says this is a "feminist high fantasy". I also don't tend to read novellas, so this felt like something I would be interested in. I've been trying to expand what I'm reading as I don't want to read the same type of book over and over.
Personally, I ended up wanting more from this book. It's only 118 pages long. I just wanted some more information on the world building. It might be that I missed something as I read this when I was recovering from being ill. I was confused as to why these archive people wanted information from Rabbit. A little bit more information there would have been great and would have helped with my understanding with the story.
Despite wanting more from the story, I actually really enjoyed how it was told. I liked the dual narrative of the young Rabbit and the old Rabbit. The twist at the end with Rabbit being revealed to be the mother of the new Emperor was really good. I think the thing I found the most compelling about this novella was the characters. We have a non binary protagonist, something I've read very little from and would like to read more. Then there are two powerful women, Rabbit and the Empress. It was nice to see women and non binary people at the centre of a typically male dominated genre.
I know there is a second one in this series, which I am interested in reading. I would like to know where this story goes and if we stay with Chih, the non-binary character. The writing style was beautiful. I wonder if the second novella will fill in some of the gaps and things I wanted from the first one. I will say that this novella is worth the read. If you like high fantasy books, then this is one you should add to your TBR.
I didn't realise this at the time but Nghi Vo was already someone I had on my radar as she has written a fantasy Gatsby retelling. I have heard mixed things about it, but I am still excited to read it as The Great Gatsby is a book I adore. Her retelling is called The Chosen and The Beautiful, I'll link to the Goodreads page on it, which you can read here.
That concludes my short review of The Empress of Salt and Fortune. What did you think of this book?
