I absolutely adore stories that read as both horrific and beautiful at the same time. Absolutely elegant prose filled with gore and terror. Colorful and evocative imagery juxtaposed against apathetic and dismissive dialogue. Compassionate concern wrapped in manipulation and poison. This novella is Hans Christensen Anderson, Poe, Dickinson, and Shelley tossed into a cauldron and simmered together into a black magic soup. And it is delicious.

I don’t normally give warnings. I don’t like them, because I feel it ruins the story. Especially if you’re reading dark fantasy or horror. In my opinion, you should pretty much be buckled in and ready for whatever when you open up a book in these genres. In this case, I am going to warn you this book isn’t for people who want to avoid gore or body horror. Just trust me on this.

Clocking in at around 115 pages (depending on your format), Cassandra Khaw makes efficient and effective use of every single word, using brilliant sentence and scene construction to bring this story together in the most economic, efficient, and elegant way possible. It’s not a complex story at its core: It’s two characters simply traveling together to see what’s over the next mountain. That’s generally what most stories are about, really: What’s over there? It’s a classic journey. In a full-length novel, the characters would be waylaid several times by side quests and subplots. In this novella, our two protagonists reach their first side quest and that’s where the vast majority of the story takes place.

I love that. I love that these two characters abandon their journey for what they think will just be a little while: First out of curiosity, then out of obligation, then out of vengeance, and then…Well, that would be spoiler territory.

It’s lovely and ghastly and perfect, in my opinion. Macabre, sinister, and sad. I highly recommend it.

I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All ideas, views, thoughts, and opinions expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.

File Under: Dark Fantasy/Horror/Mythological Fiction/Novella/Body Horror

3⭐️

<b> It is always interesting to see how often women are described as ravenous when it is the men who, without exception, take without thought of compensation.</b>

Meh. I really enjoyed <i>Nothing But Blackened Teeth</i>, and I had high expectations going into this book. The writing is great and lyrical, but I wasn’t invested in the story much at all. The plot follows a mermaid after her prince has cut out her tongue and her daughters have burned his kingdom to the ground. While on the run, a plague doctor accompanies her and they find themselves in curious circumstances. Overall, this was really just mediocre. It’s a horror retelling of the Little Mermaid with a plague doctor and some creepy saints/children thrown in.

<b> We lunge together, two actors in a story so old that its rhythms are recorded in marrow, retold with every new birth, repeated with every fresh death.</b>

I truly wanted to love this novella, because I’m a huge fan of mermaids in general and the premise sounded so damn exhilarating and dark. However, same as the previous book I read from this author, Nothing But Blackened Teeth, the purple prose made the reading experience truly tedious. Yes, I can understand trying to make the text sound old-timey when the protagonists are a killer mermaid and Plague Doctor, but one can do that without continually using words that are obscure to mean simple concepts. If there were a few thrown in the text it wouldn’t be so terrible, but the fact that the short novella was littered with them, it truly took away from the reading experience. I will say that I loved the ending and it truly aches me that the novella was kind of dull until then. This novella could’ve been so much more, especially if it hadn’t begun in medias res, but we would’ve gotten a bit more history or flashbacks of what went on prior to the mermaid running away with the Plague Doctor. The ending was truly beautiful and it’s sad that this story couldn’t have been so much more. The author is talented and has excellent ideas, but executing them seems to be an issue. I don’t know if I’ll read another work from this author since this is the second one I’ve read and wasn’t truly a fan. Maybe I’m not the right audience, but many people who love horror did enjoy this novella, so I don’t want to discourage you from checking it out.

*Thank you so much to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for the digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Unfortunately, I did not like this at all.
I can appreciate Khaw's prose and their ability to write a beautifully structured sentence, but this felt extremely wordy for 112 pages. I was having a hard time comprehending what was happening because of how it was written, and that really took me out of the story. I'm not sure I can confidently say what exactly happened, although it seemed not to be much. Lots of gore and lots of big words that amounted to not a great time for me.

This was a bit of a fever dream of a book and for most of the time, I wasn't exactly sure what was going on. With that being said, I thought that the relationship between the Plague Doctor and the protagonist was very well captured and was quite sweet, given the visceral and gruesome events surrounding them. There was a lot of gore in this book, but this was interspersed with really lyrical writing, leaving me a bit nonplussed and not entirely sure how I feel!
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I will be honest, I requested an ARC of this before I realized who it was written by. Nothing But Blackened Teeth was...something alright as it ended up being one of the lowest-rated books I've read. I still read this though to give her a second shot, and while this wasn't very successful in my eyes it wasn't really anything to remark about.

It is hard to create an engaging story when it is on the shorter side because that means less space to flesh out your story and actually catch and hold the reader's attention. I don't think this book managed to do that because, right out of the gate, there was barely any context for the story having dived right into what felt like the middle of it. I found that the story wasn't very coherent as it comprised of random snippets of narrative with some gore thrown in to spice things up.

Still, though, it wasn't a horrible story once my brain managed to catch up to what was happening. The downside is that this also isn't a memorable one, as I will promptly forget all about this shortly after reading it. If you liked her previous book you could still like this one as well, but I would caution anyone going into this who doesn't like gorey imagery and descriptions since this has quite a few.

Thank you, NetGalley and Tor, for giving me the opportunity to review this in advance.

The Salt Grows Heavy is a horror and a love story with melodic prose and storytelling. I wasn’t sure what to make of its extravagantly gory words but in the end, I really loved it. It’s a love story between a mermaid and a plague doctor who leave the mermaid’s kingdom after her daughters burned her husband’s kingdom down and it gets wilder from there.

Read this if you love gore, horror, fantastically obscure words, and illustrious storytelling.

Thanks to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for this eARC. The Salt Grows Heavy is out now.

Cassandra Khaw writes the most stunning prose and adds in the gory details I crave in my horror.

I loved the mix of fantasy and horror in this one. The premise was unique and SO dark. Add a little romance and this story may have a little bit for everyone.

I finished this dark fairytale novella in one day and wished that there was more. I seriously enjoyed this read so much. It has a very bleak yet beautiful atmosphere that gripped me from the first page. For such a short read, there was a surprising amount of development and depth within this world. I would love to see the author write more about these characters or at least in this setting. Just a fantastic and disturbing read overall.

I honestly felt like I was taking a little bit of a gamble with this read, too, because I didn't enjoy Nothing But Blackened Teeth when I read it last year. The prose felt forced and entirely too dense for my tastes, as if the author chose the words to obscure the story rather than enhance it. While The Salt Grows Heavy does have a few instances of this, overall it reads much better than Nothing But Blackened Teeth did. If you're hesitant to pick this up for the same reason I was, I highly recommend giving it a shot anyway.

I finished this novella last night and I can’t stop thinking about it. Or telling people about it. I can’t even begin to describe all the intricate aspects of the story that make it so epic:
Looking for a dark, gory fairy tale? Check. Are you a fan of creepy kids who live in even creepier villages? You got it. Are murderous mermaids and unsettling plague doctors your thing? Done and done. Then take all the gore and terror and wrap it up in incredible prose and a bit of a love story, and here you are.

As with all of Khaw’s stories, I’m going to be thinking about this one for a while. It’s so unique and disturbing, this is one I want to talk about with all my fellow horror readers!

After reading the lush writing of Cassandra Khaw in their novella, Nothing But Blackened Teeth, which I read with my Book Discussion Group last Halloween, I was curious to check out more of their work. I had the opportunity to read an early copy of the Salt Grows Heavy, provided by Netgalley and the publisher in order to provide an honest review. The book had the beautiful evocative language and graphic horror elements that I expected from Khaw’s previous work, but the story itself was a very unique feminist take on the Little Mermaid story.

In this story a mermaid is captured and forced to marry a prince, who cuts out her tongue so she cannot speak. Her daughters though bring vengeance unto the kingdom with their insatiable appetites and the story begins with the Mermaid and an immortal Plague Doctor fleeing the ruins and encountering figures from the Doctor’s past. The story merges horror with a fairytale love story; it is a bit like the beautiful corpse flowers that attract flies instead of butterflies, so smell like rotting meat, managing to be both gorgeous and repulsive in equal measures. This novella would make a perfect read to curl up with during a summer thunderstorm.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor for the eARC.

I heard mermaids and plague doctors and thought I'd get a little horror novella to tide me over as I looked for something to sink my teeth into. I was not at all prepared for the way this story grabbed me and sunk its teeth in instead.

It's beautiful, brtual, haunting, violent, and gory. This story focuses more on its prose than its characters at times, and while this usually bothers me, in this case it worked. I felt like a spectator to this world and it worked well. This is what a grimdark fairytale looks like - it's not an existing story just given a shadowcast, but it's been built from bones and vicera and rot from the ground up and turned into something grotesque and yet alluring to look at.

I feel like 'gross' is a true compliment here. Two monsters on this journey felt... It felt like seeing two pillars in the midst of a fire, resisting the fall. We start with them unsure of what's the come and quickly become swept up in this horror they both exist in, and yet that they find comfort in. That they find solidarity. This book stands on the foundations of 'what makes a monster, are we the monsters?' and I will always eat that up every time.

For such a short read I encourage people to go into this not knowing much. Spoiling it truly ruins the experience.

This novella does not give you time to get your bearings. You are dropped in the aftermath of destruction and are quickly pulled into the next setting of chaos and horror, learning about your main characters along the way. The horror and violence are crucial to the story, but is written in the most powerful and purposeful way. I devoured this one (pun intended for those who’ve read). If you like strong female characters, nightmarish myths, f**ked-up elitists with a god-complex, and dark romance, this one might be for you!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! The story, characters, and the freaking writing! (I also loved that the plague doctor's gender was not explicit nor binary!) Beautifully done. It captured me and I have not stopped thinking about it since I finished. It feels like a definite re-read for me, something I don’t say often.

I think Murderous Mermaids is more interesting than the remake of the Little Mermaid coming out lol This was an ok read but I finished it up about a week ago and kind of forgot the entire thing.. nothing really brought it home for me.

A mermaid falls in love with a plague doctor and while traveling through the forest they stumble upon a boy being hunted by other children...

I will admit that I had no idea what I was getting into when I requested this ARC. I have not read Khaw's other work, so I can't compare this to anything, but this was like reading a dark, grotesque fairytale. If you are looking for a strange fever dream of a story, this novella will work for you.

This was not an "easy" read for me. The beginning of the story was disjointed and left me confused, but once I got a grasp on the story, it was somewhat enjoyable. The overall plot was good, but parts of the story get muddled in the writing style. While there were many beautiful descriptions, a lot of it becomes jumbled in some of the flowery word choice. I did enjoy the second half of the story much more than the first.

Thank you to Netgalley and Tor / Nightfire Publishing for an advanced readers copy.

Gruesome and gory, The Salt Grows Heavy is all vibes and sinew. A mermaid, torn from her sisters and the sea by a prince who cut out her tongue, unleashes her hunger on the world. While her daughters eat the kingdom to bone, the mermaid begins to wander with a plague doctor through the deadly wilds, encountering horrors greater than even her appetite. In case you ever forget that mermaids have sharp teeth, Cassandra Khaw is here to remind you that they aren't all songs and red hair.

THE SALT GROWS HEAVY is an elegant, fractured fairy-tale of Monsters and the monstrousness they encounter. Their world is populated with horrors, cruelty, and viciousness, but the dark, beautiful, bloody heart of this novella pulses with companionship, respect, and love.

This is a fairytale retelling of “The Little Mermaid” that leans fully into its gruesome origins, with a feminist subversion that is reminiscent of Angela Carter’s collection “The Bloody Chamber.” There is no doubt that the protagonist and her companion (who is a nonbinary plague doctor using they/them pronouns) are monsters, each in their own right. The pages are filled with brutal gore, mostly enacted by our protagonists.

This story resonated with me in part because of its atmosphere and central themes which I could relate to a video essay I had recently watched about the monstrous feminine in Bloodborne. It is a very dark novel, not just because of the violence depicted (explicitly or implicitly) but because it tackles issues of trauma, bodily autonomy and the patriarchy. It is a wonderfully queer monster love story for anyone who’s ever been made to feel like an outsider.

The language Khaw uses reminds me of an Old English epic (like Seamus Heaney’s translation of “Beowulf” or even “Sir Gawain the Green Knight”). That is to say, it’s not for everyone but for those seeking a story written with intensely verbose language and a particularly descriptive voice – here is a gothic fairytale for fans of vicious mermaids, cultic sacrifice and the cathartic release of vengeance. Great for lovers of epic female revenge stories like “Lady Snowblood.” Can you tell I loved it a lot?

The only issue I had concerns my reading experience. Oftentimes I would come across words I was completely unfamiliar with where context wasn’t helpful for suggesting a meaning but rather implying that the word I didn’t understand was essential to the image that was being constructed. Therefore I would have to stop my reading and go look up words so that I could adequately visualise what was happening or being described before continuing. Either way it interrupted my flow and made it harder to understand at times. I had to start over about halfway through the text because I was having a hard time visualising what had happened so far. The second time through I had a much smoother experience, heavily utilising the “define” tool in my phone to quickly search up definitions. It didn’t impact my connection with the story but it was slightly frustrating. Still, I am excited to one day reread this on audio because I believe it will be a better experience for me.

Thank you to Tor Nightfire and Netgalley for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I wasn't the biggest fan of Khaw's previous novella, but I decided to give this one a try. Overall, I liked this much more than the previous book. I think Khaw's elaborate prose suited the gruesome folklore vibes of this story in a way I didn't think it suited the more modern setting of the other book. I didn't quite understand the setting and the rule of magic as it is of this story, but I had a good enough time!

The Salt Grows Heavy is an intriguing horror story. The main characters, a mermaid and a plague doctor, are an interesting concept. The story is fast-paced and gory. Any horror fan will enjoy reading this one.

This is the first book I've read by the author and look forward to reading more by her.