Okay, how about this: a killer mermaid and a plague doctor walk into a bar*.

*post-apocalyptic forest.


Wait no, how about this:
- Knock knock.
- Who’s there?
- A killer mermaid and a plague doctor.
- A killer mermaid and a plague doctor who?
- A killer mermaid and a plague doctor who fall in love.


Wait no, how about this:
- Why did the killer mermaid and the plague doctor cross the road*?
- To murder some gods.

*still a post-apocalyptic forest.




Anyway I loved this book!!! The end lol.

This was a fantastic dark story with a pairing I didn't know I needed; a mermaid and a plague doctor?!! Honestly, need I say more?!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC!

I do have to say before actually talking about the story itself, that the title and cover are stunning. They're really what drew me to wanting to read this, as I haven't read Khaw's other work.

As for the actual novella, it is difficult to know what to rate it. I am leaning towards a 3.5, because the story drew me in immediately and I really loved the writing. Khaw utilizes depictions of the grotesque in a way that aligns with body horror, but these descriptions are not written as to evoke fear or horror, and so it comes across as more gothic in effect, which worked so so well for me. I want to give this a 4 based on the writing alone, but the actual story felt a bit repetitive and dragged on a little. And for a novella that is so short, the fact any of it felt repetitive or lagging is not great. I actually wish this was even shorter, because the plot felt so crisp and concise and then around the 70% mark, it began to unravel for me. It's a still a satisfying read, and I would recommend it to people for sure, but I would recommend it more on the writing and if people are a fan of the grotesque elements of the body within the gothic, rather than the story itself, even though the plot was very enjoyable in its own right as well.

This was a gory love story that I didn't know I needed. Cassandra Khaw is a master of prose and storytelling.

'The Salt Grows Heavy' is incredibly strange, which I mean in an absolutely glowing way. It's raw and grisly and gross and visceral, but in a world where so much fantasy has been marred by self-aware quips, it's wonderful to read something so genuine. There's no detailed explanation for how the magic works here, but it's gruesome when it happens, which sells the point that this novella is a fairy tale rather than a fantasy epic.

It's hard to go into much detail about 'The Salt Grows Heavy' without spoiling it--the novella is relatively short, and I'd recommend finishing it in a day. The prose does get a little purple and I had to re-read some paragraphs to understand what happened, but ultimately I enjoyed my time with the mermaid and her plague doctor, and the epilogue was awfully sweet.

“The Salt Grows Heavy” was a fast-paced story of holding onto humanity and the lengths we'll go to do so. It’s gory, brutal, but so lovely in the end.

Honestly I’m completely surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. Here me out. I didn’t like Nothing But Blackened Teeth AT ALL! The writing was too flowery and heavy with purple prose. The characters were flat and nothing really happened, especially nothing horror related.

But The Salt Grows Heavy is nothing like Nothing but Blackened Teeth. The plot is unique. It screams gothic horror. I absolutely adored the theme of “the Hunt” incorporating characters like a Plague Doctor and a mermaid who eats humans. Characters were interesting and different.

She absolutely crushed it with the body horror. All I can say without spoilers is if you have a weak stomach, good luck.

Khaw’s writing is beautiful in this novellas. It was way less “purple” and it showcases how strong of a writer she really is. I’m happy I took another chance on her writing.

Khaw spun a love story amongst all the gore and body horror that really brought the story together showing that true love really can withstand anything.

I loved this book, the story, the cover, everything about it. It really leans into a sinister fairytale, almost, turning a mermaid story upside down. I will constantly recommend this story to everyone.

Rating: 3.5 stars

I was thrilled to receive this ARC from NetGalley. This was among my most anticipated 2023 releases. I did enjoy this novella and my thoughts very much echo my feelings towards their previous novella "Nothing but Blackened Teeth". I enjoy Khaw's talent for bringing poetic, beautiful prose to the macabre - immensely - but found it to lean towards being grandiose (maybe even pretentious) within this novella. It felt like it detracted from the story, at times. But what a gorgeous story it was.

I can tell that Khaw is a talented poet and I would love to see them release a collection of poetry.

I loved the idea of this one! A mermaid and a plague doctor teaming up to battle evil kids? Yes! I enjoyed the this one but I did have a tough time envisioning the imagery in this dark fantasy novella.

The Salt Grows Heavy is a dark fantasy fairytale where we follow a mermaid and a plague doctor into a snow covered forest where they encounter a cult of children and three “saints” who control them and seek immortality. The stories grotesque imagery contrasted against the elegant prose really suits the story. While at times horrifying with vivid descriptions of body horror it’s also a love story. I really loved it. One thing to keep in mind before reading is that because some of the vocabulary used is a bit obscure, this is probably best read with easy access to a dictionary. I read it on Kindle so it was easy to do but it may be troublesome to some readers.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Well this was just an absolutely horrific treat. A dark, disturbing and beautiful written fairytale. Mermaids, surgeons and death. Oh my!! Coming in at just 112 pages and broken up into 3 sections, this was a quick, easy to read horror/fantasy novella. I did feel like there were some missing parts to the plot and I found myself a tad confused at times. Had it not been for that this would have scored a much higher rating on my scale. I will say however, that I think I will revisit this book again in the future. I enjoyed the story and the writing immensely and I think that this is a book that should be read with great care and understanding. It is not to be rushed. I will be purchasing a physical copy for my collection that will include copious amounts of annotating.

Thank you NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for my advanced copy of The Salt Grows Heavy, in exchange for an honest review. These opinions are my own.

Incredibly dark fantasy horror, beautifully written creating a rich world in a short period of time. Beware to the squimish reader, the author pulls no punches!

A gruesome mermaid on land and an androgynous plague doctor take on a dystopian world. it's a love story and a horror story all wrapped up in one wild short story. I really enjoyed this as a love story, with the horror woven in, but I don't think it was the most readable. It uses a lot of words I needed to look up, and just felt a little clunky in places as novellas can tend to be. Super clever, but definitely not everyone in readability/vocabulary as well as in gruesomeness.

As strange and mythic as this was, as much as I didn't really understand what was going on, I feel I can't give it anything less than 5 stars. The writing is pure poetry. Khaw has such a unique way with words, it's breathtaking. The feeling of never giving up for the person you love, always finding your way back to them, was very lovely and done in such an interesting way. It was pure magic reading this fairy tale. It felt like a dream, like I was floating along and just along for the ride, but I loved every second of it.

I suppose my only complaint is the almost excessive use of "big words". I had to look up lots of the words, and it almost felt pretentious. But at the same time I think it also adds to the ethereal, otherworldliness of the tale. All in all it was a remarkable dream to experience.

It starts with a mermaid, standing in the ruins of the kingdom that thought it could contain her, and a mysterious plague doctor, stitched together from many parts, deciding to travel together. They come across a strange cult, worshiping a trio of "surgeons" conducting some *really* unethical human experiments. This is a dark and grisly tale that should be a small horror classic.

Why don't I rate the story higher? Because the most terrifying part of it is Khaw's tortured prose. Each page is littered with wince-inducing sentences like "in the penumbra, the fading dusk gorgeted by coral and gold" and "the zenith of her head barely grazing the circumference of the plague doctor's shoulders." Half the time the flowery words don't even quite mean what Khaw seems to think they do; it's like they spent all their time flipping through a thesaurus to find the longest synonyms they could without giving any consideration to the words' subtle variations of meaning.

Received via NetGalley.

Oh what an horrifying little adventure this was. This story follows our main character mermaid and her seemingly faithful companion the plague doctor as they discover a terrifying village. A terrifying village whose leaders are not at all what they seem.

This is such a fast paced and creepy adventure. It took me a minute to realize that we don't really need to know all of the world because Khaw does such a great job framing the story. I loved getting to experience this story and I think it is quite honestly my favorite Khaw story to date! Check it out!!

For fans of Dark Fantasy, Grimm's Fairy Tales, body horror, and artistic prose.

This is a tough one to review for me, as it was a tough one to read at times. There are some beautifully written, horrifically graphic scenes, which I loved. But often times I found myself tripping over odd, uncommon words that were like speedbumps in the tale. It felt, at times, like the author was more concerned about inserting archaic language than advancing the story.

The story itself is unique take on a mermaid tale and I enjoyed the overall theme of not giving up on those you love. Khaw definitely knows how to write some deliciously dark body horror, which was the highlight of the book for me. I just wish I didn't trip over so many words that I had to look up. To paraphrase from Stephen King's On Writing, the key to good description is clear writing and simple vocabulary. I was thankful that I had my kindle for this one, so that I could easily look up definitions. I did learn a lot of words I didn't know, so my thanks to the author for that.

Thank you to Tor NightFire and NetGalley for providing an eArc. All opinions are my own.

Thanks to Tor Nightfire and NetGalley for this eARC!

I want to preface my review by saying that I read Nothing But Blackened Teeth by this author and really disliked it. I didn't like the writing style, but the story was also extremely lacking and the characters so off-putting. But I still wanted to give her one last chance with a story that sounded far better than Nothing But Blackened Teeth.

I was correct, at least in that the story and characters were much better. But it seems like Khaw's writing is just not for me. It is entirely overwritten. Similes and metaphors clog every sentence to the point you don't even remember what was happening. When purple prose gets too purple, it loses its meaning and depth and just becomes filler on the page.

The exceptions to this, in this book at least, comes with the descriptions of body horror. I love flowery prose paired with vile content and this is where Khaw's writing did work for me. But the prose never lets up or loosens so it makes for a very uptight reading experience. And as with her last novella, I feel like we just right-clicked every word and replaced it with a synonym. A very rarely used synonym that I had to look up. Which added to the clogged up feeling of every sentence.

Outside of the writing, I did like the story. I think the mermaid part felt a little unnecessary? We would periodically be reminded that our main character is a mermaid, but beyond that, it never really impacted the story. She could have just been a normal person and not much would have changed. And lastly, what really did not work for me...the romance aspect of this book. It is predominately a horror book, don't get me wrong. But the small romance aspect soured the experience for me. Mainly because it had no build up. It felt completely out of place and forced. It had potential to be compelling, but I don't think enough effort was made in that area.

I know Khaw's writing could absolutely work for others, but it's too much for me. I recommend this book for fans of body horror and flowery prose! And don't let me negative review sway you if you've never read any of Khaw's works, this is only 100 pages so its worth a try if you are curious (I don't feel the same about Nothing But Blackened Teeth...).

*2.5/5 stars rounded up to 3/5 stars*

I...honestly I don't know what to say about this book. It's a quick read, only a little over 100 pages so technically a novella, I guess? It's a twist on the story of the Little Mermaid, only this mermaid is terrifying and horrible but also a little awesome and is accompanied by a doctor wearing a plague mask and they stumble across a bunch of kids who are kind of murderers but kind of not and worship three dudes who also wear creepy masks, and it's sort of body horror/feminism/romance/revenge? I don't know! But I did like it!