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yourbookishbff's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Moderate: Death, Misogyny, Suicide, Xenophobia, and Murder
devynreadsnovels's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
o_romeo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Moderate: Death, Infertility, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, and Abandonment
Minor: Fatphobia, Infidelity, Sexual content, Violence, Xenophobia, Medical trauma, and War
green_amaryllis's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Moderate: Death, Racism, Violence, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, and War
Minor: Death of parent
anaisqsn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
It demanded a lot of focus for me to fully understand the storyline—probably because I listened to the audiobook. I read another review mentioning that the names of characters or places could be misleading with only the audio, such as Almost Brilliant the bird or the palace Thriving Fortune, and I fully agree with this. This feeling of disorientation in the first ~30% slightly lowered my rating.
However, once I got to understand the settings and the name of each place and character, the plot unfurled into a brilliant story of vengeance and sisterhood.
Each character felt real, making the story even more fascinating. I love how the story of In-yo’s rise to power and rebellion is told by Rabbit, her handmaiden, to Chih several decades later. The diversity of objects Chih finds in the palace adds a new piece of the story, further enhancing the experience of the reader.
Vo's writing is phenomenal. Even though I finished this book yesterday, I am still fascinated by how effective the storytelling was. Are you really telling me this was only 121 pages? Barely more than two hours? Dude. Weaving the threads of such a complex story in such an effective way is incredible. Every word is precisely chosen by the author and has a full impact on the reader.
This ended up being a 4 out of 5 stars for me. I will surely read this again, and probably purchase a copy of the novella to read along. I might even check out the sequels :).
If you’re looking for a short read, with strong-willed women (and a non-binary cleric?), set in what seems like Imperial China, I highly recommend it!
Moderate: Pregnancy
Minor: Death and War
legs_n_chins's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
There is so much packed into so few pages, it’s honestly sort of breathtaking. I couldn't put it down. The story itself was beautiful and stunning. I found myself emotional over characters I had really only just been introduced to simply because of the modest length of the novella. Which I think speaks highly to the writing craft and how much skill the author has when it comes to writing characters with a lot of depth and care. The way plans fell into place was absolutely incredible and so fascinating. So much thought was put into the entire plot from start to finish, and I loved the tangible pieces that Chih picked up along the way that tied into the overall narrative. Everything was just so neatly pulled together and laid out, I honestly wasn’t certain I understood at the very beginning, but by the end it all felt so obvious. It was such an enjoyable journey.
I also really liked the craft of the book. I loved how the shape of the story started to appear and the way it gained clarity as it went along. And I think that was helped immensely by the way it was told, through the mouth of a character recounting events to an objective party. It felt like sitting by a campfire the whole way through, but the added trinkets discovered by Chih enhanced the experience. I think it also added to the mystery to have this reminiscing storyteller voice rather than take the reader on a more active path through the events — none of the information was fed to us and the narrative was given with the assumption that we already know the ending. This way, it felt like there was more opportunity to figure it out myself. If that makes sense. I just really loved the contrasting POVs and story set-up.
Also I just really liked the feminist narrative and that clerics, as I understand it, use they/them pronouns. I was expecting a feminist story and this delivered, but the non-gendered pronouns was just a nice little surprise :)
Angry mothers raise daughters fierce enough to fight wolves.
Graphic: War
Moderate: Death and Murder
avacadosocks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Confinement, Death, and Misogyny
Minor: Infertility, Suicide, and War
quinnyquinnquinn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Graphic: Confinement, Death, and Misogyny
Moderate: Grief and Pregnancy
Minor: Trafficking
spootilious's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Title: The Empress of Salt and Fortune
Review:
Minor: Death, Grief, Pregnancy, and Classism
auudrey's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Moderate: Death and Violence