I want to start this review off by saying that I am quickly becoming a Tor.com fangirl. It started with Gideon the Ninth and has increased with exponential speed since then. I’ve had the pleasure of reading a few of their galleys through NetGalley and have also been reading some of the back log, including the fantastic MurderBot series. As a publishing company, they are giving a voice to LGBTQ+ and POC writers and characters in a way that no other publisher really is right now. They’re catalog is diverse, not only in terms of inclusivity but also culturally. There is absolutely no reason why, in the year of our lord 2020, sci-fi and fantasy and horror should still be a bunch of cookie cutter, white, straight, anglo-saxon based, stories. None.

The Empress of Salt and Fortune is a perfect example of how giving writers of various cultures a platform can only enhance genres and the stories available to us. The story opens with a cleric travelling the countryside. Cleric Chih is making a pilgrimage to the capital to witness an eclipse but they stop along the way when they meet a mysterious woman living by a lake who invites them into her house.

This story is told through Chih’s point of view and everything they find in the woman’s house that they think is of historical significance and should be documented, given that is their job as a cleric, and also from Rabbit’s point of view, the lady of the house, as she shares her story.

I absolutely loved everything about this novella, so much so that I read it in one quick sitting, completely devouring it. The character development that Vo manages to get across without saying too much is a sight to behold. Reading between the lines you can see how Rabbit’s story starts to break through Cleric Chih’s preconceptions about what their job entails.

As a person who is prone to small bouts of depression that I’ll never get to be a passive observer of times past and clenches their fists at the mere thought of the Library of Alexandria, I’m a little jealous of Chih’s job. I wish I could experience the telling of history and mark it for those in the future without having any stake in the game.

Maybe that’s why I loved this novella so damn much. I eagerly await anything else that Nghi Vo puts out, because I know my wanderlust heart will crave it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor.dom Publishing for providing me with a free galley of this book for the purpose of this review.

The Empress of Salt and Fortune is out now! Learn more below.

Barnes & Noble | Amazon | Goodreads

Gahhh. I’ve been struggling to put my thoughts into words for this one! I tried jotting down some notes…

Meandring. Nonlinear, yet linear. A tale within a tale. Intriguing. Mesmerizing. Heartbreaking. Heartfilling. Lush and immersive.

Okay, if that stream of consciousness didn’t strike your fancy let me continue. The story unfolds as we follow a cleric raised to record stories who visits home of the former empress during her time in exile. As the cleric records the mundane of the household, they encounter Rabbit. Rabbit is the former servant and confidant of the Empress. Rabbit tells the tale of the Empress in exile in small bursts. It is both a story about the famous Empress In-yo and Rabbit’s story of a no name woman who befriended a lonely foreign wife.

The story centers around rebellion and political intrigue as the Empress claws her way out of exile into the throneroom. And the overwhelming feeling I was left with was the power of women’s rage to change their circumstances and world, on one hand. While on the other hand there is a since of love between between women and the epicness of true love between everyday people.

I’m not sure I did this novella justice. Just read it. Trust me.

this book proved that stories can be both short and impactful. we get to spend so little time with these characters, and yet we learn so much about them. we learn about their hopes and deepest desires, their fears and dreams. this little fantasy book inspired by Chinese history did more to my heart than some of the longest fantasy books I've read. this is about untold stories, the ones you don't learn about because they're not seen as important enough, the ones that hold the truth. it's about women loving and supporting each other fiercely. it's about loyalty, to the people you love, alive or dead. it's a beautiful book.

This novella is set in an alternate Asian country. A royal woman from the North is married to the Emperor in the South. After the birth of a son, she is sent away from court to keep her from plotting against the Emperor. Her life story is told over a series of nights to a young traveling monk by the Empress’ only handmaiden. Rabbit is an unlikely royal handmaiden, but she is loyal to her Lady as she tells the story of what happened to her in the court and after she was sent away. A great story and I enjoyed how the story unfolded brought about by simple objects found in the house.

This was a really interesting novella and I enjoyed the structure very much, but ultimately, I found the story a little bit forgettable.

The Positives: I thought the 'story within a story' aspect to this narrative worked really well, and I particularly liked the way in which the storyteller would ask the scribe at the end of each segment whether they understood. There is a lot of diverse representation in the characters here, despite there only being three key figures, which I really appreciated.

The Negatives: Something about the way in which the story was told kept the reader at arms length from the action, which made it difficult to connect fully with the characters and their plights. I also think that the story itself just did not stick in my mind for the same reason, which is a shame.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

There's not much I can say about this novella because nothing can grasp its enormity. This is a handmaiden-empress tale of the whispers that pass through the cracks of recorded history. It's a deeply feminist read that doesn't fail to transport you in its world, carving a place for the reader whithin its words.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher and author for this opportunity.

This was a very well crafted story, and different to anything I've read before. The format is basically two people having a conversation, one of them is a cleric and the other an old woman, and the old woman, Rabbit, tells a story of an exiled empress who rises to power again.

It's difficult for me to quite wrap my head around how I feel about this book. It's wonderfully diverse, with queer characters, including a non binary (they/them) protagonist called Chih, and the mythology of the world/political system seems very interesting, but nothing about the story grabbed me. It didn't make me FEEL anything. I was more drawn in by the story that Rabbit was telling than the present day story of Rabbit, Chih and Almost Brilliant, but even that felt a little boring at times.

Considering how short the story is I think it did a good job of trying to pack in a lot of details about the world that these characters live in, but I just don't think this was for me. This isn't to say that it isn't worth the read though because the writing itself is very well done, the world is interesting, I think I just need a bit more action to keep me paying attention.

Empress of Salt and Fortune is gorgeously written. Celebrating queer stories, Empress of Salt and Fortune is a testament to taking back power - whether that be through uprising or stories. The frame narrative style of Rabbit telling her story to a Cleric is one of my favorite writing styles. It allows us to look at the past, from not only the present, but also from this external conversation. (One of my favorite examples of this is The Bone Witch!) It allows moments of self-reflexivity and tenderness.Full of diversity (Asian period drama meets nonbinary MC and queer MC), Empress of Salt and Fortune is both a story of the North meeting the South, and of a woman who is isolated and searching for moments of happiness in a land of hidden blades. There are slivers of sadness, in the way we become isolated and forced to play games of friendship, but balanced by rays of tenderness.

Nghi Vo's debut novella "The Empress of Salt and Fortune" is an enthralling high fantasy about an Empress' exile, the handmaiden who stayed by her side, and a young cleric who bears witness to that history. Feminists and fans of Chinese period dramas alike will love this.

I received an advanced copy of this book via NetGalley.

Lyrical, haunting, heartbreaking. This novella exemplifies the extraordinary work that Tor is sharing with the world right now. Truly, this is a read that makes you feel all the feels.

A cleric travels the land to preserve tales for generations to come. Along an isolated, incredible lakefront, they intend to chronicle a place important in the life of the Empress of Salt and Fortune: a woman who produced an heir but did not quietly accept her new life, banished to the hinterlands. The cleric encounters Rabbit, an old woman who was once a handmaiden to the Empress. Day by day, the cleric finds objects of historical relevance and listens to the tales of Rabbit. Listens, and eventually, learns.

Truly, this elegant read expresses the importance of storytelling, and how the voices of the people sneered at as the most insignificant are often the ones we are the wisest to heed. There are touches of magic in this setting, but worldbuilding and action are not the emphases here. This book is about people--women in particular. It is angry, it is rebellious, and ultimately, triumphant, even amid deep sorrow.

I am adding this novella to my shortlist for awards consideration this coming year.

The Empress of Salt and Fortune was hard to follow for me but once it clicked, I ended up enjoying the story. It follows Chih, a cleric who is listening to the stories of Rabbit. Rabbit was a handmaiden to the exiled Empress and tells the story of how she gathered power. The Empress of Salt and Fortune was exiled after she delivered a baby boy and was given surgery to no longer have any children. She is viewed as plain and stupid for liking fortunes but in the years she is exiled, she plants fortunes and build a legion of spies that help her take the empire from the hands of her monsterous spouse.

As stated, the book was a little hard for me to follow but mostly when Rabbit and Chih are interacting. I enjoyed the story that Rabbit tells with the Empress being isolated, stripped from her home, ripped away from her child, denied the lover she wanted, and taking down the empire that humiliated her. Rabbit also has her own story of being sold off to the empire, raising to become the empress handmaiden, falling in love, helping the Empress, and the throne. I wish it had been longer with more emphasis on how the Empress gathered power and Rabbit's role in it but I can't be mad at the story. Ultimately, the story is about women helping and protecting other women from the cruel ways of a world designed by men.

Angry mothers raise daughters fierce enough to fight wolves.


Shout out to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book in advance in exchange for an honest review.

The beautiful writing and imagery in The Empress of Salt and Fortune captivated me and had me hungry for more! In a little over 100 pages, this book offers a gripping story about women reclaiming their place and power. The narrative is driven by the objects that Chih the cleric finds, from which Rabbit shares their significance and piece by piece brings Empress In-Yo's life to light. I loved how objects that initially seemed plain and forgettable could carry layers of symbolism. There was a wealth of delightful details in this book - the games, the mammoths, the clothing! I enjoyed this novella so much and would absolutely read more set in its world.

I received this digital ARC (through Netgalley) from the publishers in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are mine.

''Angry Mothers raise women fierce enough to fight wolves''
The most powerful line in a book I have ever read till date!
This story consists of an Enby clerk, a talking bird [named Almost Brilliant] and an old lady who lives by a spooky lakehut and has a story to tell. The story is told in flashbacks, the clerk asks questions and then the old lady dives into the history of the object. Some are beautiful and touching while some are painful and horrific to remember.
This book is short, but it packs a punch. It’s very easy for you to finish this in one sitting but i would advise you to pause in order to savour this book and transport your mind to the world Nghi created. You need to see the beauty and intelligence of women ,the bond between them and woman power because my God this book delivers that.

This novella was poetic and lovely and it was very easy to pick out the underlying message of women's stories that were buried in history despite the roles they've played and how easy it is to forget about them. I thought that this story did a wonderful job of showing that and the bravery that comes with wanting your story heard. The latter especially came out around the end where Chih asked Rabbit, more or less, if she knew the consequences of her sharing this story, and Rabbit replies with, more or less, that she is loyal to the dead and the dead don't care.

I did struggle reading through this story and it could have been a factor of things. One of them being that I read this when I was very busy and had to keep putting it down, another factor, I think, is that there was too much distance between the storyteller and the characters. There's a lot of emotion and trauma with some of the stories being recounted and the distance that was present kept me from really reaching for it despite my busy schedule. I struggled really empathizing with the characters at times and while I did enjoy and understood everything, by the end, I didn't feel the heaviness I thought I should have felt. Then, because of the distance, I felt like the storytelling itself became a bit "this and this happened" and I lost the parts of the story that were meant to be more emotional and painful.

Overall, I really did enjoy this story and it's message and I can't wait to see where Nghi Vo continues with her writing journey.

"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."

And damn, this might be my favorite cover in a LONG time.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ three stars
*
Thank you @netgalley and Tor for giving me those ARC in exchange for an honest review.
*
Publication date: March 24th
*
If you are in the market for a whimsical fantasy novella, please consider The Empress of Salt and Fortune. The world is interesting, the writing is beautiful and the characters are interesting. My main issue is the length of the story.
*
I am still a journey to find a five-star novella. With a little more time and effort, this story could have easily been a full length novel... and I would have been here for it! More depth and complexities added to the characters and plot. More world building and a fleshed our magic system. *sigh* If only there were 100+ extra pages...
*
Empress checks off all the boxes. It’s Asian inspired, LGBT cast of characters and kick ass females at the lead. It was a fun read... not necessarily anything new or profound, but fun nevertheless.
*

3.5
We first meet a cleric, a non-binary character, Chih and their hoopoe, Almost Brilliant, who came to Lake Scarlet to witness the coronation of the new Empress. At the lake, they meet an old lady, who identifies herself as Rabbit, later revealing herself as Empress In-yo’s handmaiden.

While there, Chih discovers items that belonged to Empress In-yo, which Rabbit reminisces with Chih and Always Brilliant by telling the story of the Empress and how she avenged the emperor who exiled her to prevent her from ever giving birth to a rival.

I wanted desperately to enjoy this novella as much as the rest of the readers, but unfortunately, I just thought it was ok. Storytelling was great; loved the tone and pace and how the author used objects as a tool to tell the Empress’ story; I loved the relationship and bond that grew between Rabbit and In-yo, and Rabbit and Sukai, both I found were most engaging. I loved the twist at the end too. I thought it was well done!

That said, I felt the characters a little one dimensional. I’d love to see more personality in the hoopoe, Always Brilliant, too. I also wanted so much to love the relationship Chih and Always Brilliant, but I found something was lacking.

I love all my novels with strong characters which I found this one lacked. The plot I thought was OK (my expectations were probably elevated by the reviews). The saving grace of this novella was definitely the setting – a sprinkle of magical realism (the magical lake), a touch of Asian folklore, the exquisite objects related to the Empress and her story behind them. I enjoyed reading about the games they played in the empire and the fortune-telling the Empress strongly believed in.

If you’re looking for a quick read, a short getaway from the hustle and bustle, pick this one up.

All that said, I'd still recommend this and look forward to reading Vo's future works!

Thank you Netgalley and Macmillan/Tor for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are mine.

Let’s get one thing clear and out of the way to start with: I loved this novella and I want more. This intricately woven tale is packed into 112 pages. It’s atmospheric, beautifully descriptive, and full of feminist strength. The characters were charming and interesting, but because of its length I did not fall as deeply in love with them as I could have. For me, my biggest criticism is that it is too short.

Nghi Vo has woven a beautiful story here that unfolds in a masterful way. There is no extraneous language or words. Everything lends either to the world-building, the plot, or the characters. I won’t argue that everything in it is truly unique as it is inspired by Asian culture and they say that nothing is original anymore. However, I still found it to be unique enough that I wanted more.

I would say that the world is a cross between Chinese and Mongolian cultures primarily, but as I am not the author nor an expert in any Asian culture, I could be mistaken. The descriptions of the characters and the locations remind me of them the most.

Chih is a great main character. They are as far as I can tell non-binary or gender neutral. They use the they/them pronouns and it isn’t made a big deal of. It just is. There is also some mention of a sapphic romance between two characters. Basically, the author made sure to include some representation in her feminist tale, but it doesn’t feel gratuitous.

I am already looking forward for anything that Nghi Vo comes out with next and I am probably going to go hunting for her back catalog. I can’t wait to see what sort of tale she weaves next. I would recommend this for those who like Asian culture, strong women, revenge plots, LGBTQ+ representation, and interesting fantasy settings. I hope that it leaves you wanting more much as it did me.

Thank you to Tor.com and Netgalley for providing an e-ARC of this novel. However, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

An incredible, quick read that packs such a punch. Vo does a great job of quickly setting up enough of the world to make sense from the beginning, and filling in gaps and adding detail as the story progresses. A fairy tale/fantasy about the strength of women - their friendships, their love, and their "unimportant" hobbies.

This review is going to be brief, because I feel like there’s very little I can say about this novella other than that it’s the kind of story you have to read and experience for yourself. I gobbled it up in one sitting during a train journey, and I already feel like I need to re-read it – this novella feels like the kind of story I could read again and again, and notice something different each time.

In this Asian-inspired fantasy novella, we follow a non-binary protagonist whose job is to collect stories and record history as they meet a woman, known as Rabbit, who worked as a maid for their country’s empress. Through Rabbit, we learn how the empress rose to power.

The Empress of Salt and Fortune is beautifully written. Vo is definitely an author I’d like to read more from in future; there was something so immersive and visual about her writing that made me feel like I was right there with Rabbit throughout her memories.

This novella is a celebration of female power and, perhaps more importantly, of the stories that can so easily slip through the cracks of history unless they’re recorded. We all know about kings and queens, emperors and empresses, but it’s their handmaidens like Rabbit who can so often have the biggest impact, and yet are forgotten by history. As someone who’s very into how we can better discover and record history’s marginalised voices, this novella was nothing short of a joy to read.

I highly recommend this novella – particularly if you’re a fan of Asian-inspired fantasy and stories by authors such as Zen Cho, Ken Liu and Fonda Lee!