Scan barcode
ruhlen's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I'm kind of glad it was so short.
I must admit that I chose to listen to this novella based purely on the cover art and the title. The Salt Grows Heavy is an awesome, intriguing title and the cover art is striking and mysterious. Cassandra Khaw is an interesting writer - I'm still not sure if she is for me. I've read Food of the Gods, so I'm not unfamiliar with Khaw's viscerally graphic style. It did make me uncomfortable listening to it in this book, though.
The Salt Grows Heavy is a first-person retelling of the mermaid myth. It also includes a Frankenstein-esque tale of man trying to achieve immortality and what reminded me of Lord of the Flies group of children worshiping the trio of immortal "Saints." If you're looking for a deep, dark fairy tale, this is about as deep and as dark as you can get.
Susan Dalian performs the narration of the audiobook beautifully. I would compare this audiobook to Circe or Piranesi for the overall tone it evokes. The prose is poetic and delicate and gorgeous, in stark contrast to what it is describing. Much like my warning for Food of the Gods, do not read or listen to this story during any type of meal.
Overall, I think I would give this more like a 3.5. Did the story and writing make me uncomfortable? Yes. Was it memorable? Yes. Did it add something new to the fairy tale fantasy space? Yes. Was it my kind of story? Undecided. Since it is so short, if you are curious about Cassandra Khaw as an author and what she brings to the genre, I would definitely give this one a try. And I highly recommend the audiobook.
Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Child abuse, Child death, Medical trauma, Torture, Animal death, Body horror, Gore, Medical content, and Cannibalism
Moderate: Murder
Minor: Genocide
pbeeandj's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Cannibalism, Child abuse, Body horror, Child death, and Gore
stellarkai's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Murder, and Domestic abuse
heather667'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? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, and Fire/Fire injury
bellebeaumont95'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
4.25
The writing is lovely, if a little overdone, coloring the scenes in a way that had me both flinching away and immediately coming back, mesmerized. I would have liked to spend a little more time with the two main characters (who I found fascinating) and exploring their relationship, but as the horror fairy tale it is, the brevity works.
In my questionable habit of comparing things to other things, I might describe this as "What if The VVitch (2015) had a crossover with The Language of Thorns, written by the authors of This Is How You Lose The Time War . (All things I LOVE, so this is high praise).
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Cannibalism, Violence, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Torture, Gore, Blood, Medical trauma, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Vomit
kaiyakaiyo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
it got to the point where the sensorial detail even became repetitive; blood = rubies, entrails = coils/ribbons, bones = baby teeth… we get it! tons of words used over & over to the point where it almost felt like copy/paste. for a book so short it shouldn’t have been hard to come up with a word to replace “bathyal” instead of saying it over & over
neither of the leads were interesting. we were on the cusp of so many interesting details about “mermaid” lore, about human reanimation, the magical universe they are in, but the author chose to squander that on pages and pages of describing trees and skin and teeth. the romance had potential to be interesting, but again… the author chose to focus on how everything smelled and tasted for some reason
also this was an extremely loose “fairytale retelling”; I was personally okay with that, but don’t come in expecting anything detailed in that regard. Khaw doesn’t really go into detail about anything that isn’t a texture or a taste
if style over substance is your jam, this may be for you! it is firmly not mine so 2 stars trending downward. I had a similar complaint with Nothing But Blackened Teeth, so I think this author is just on the Don’t Read list for me :/ kernels of really interesting but ultimately unrealized premise seem to be the lay of the land. spent the whole book waiting for Khaw to get into the story only for there not to be a story at
Graphic: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Kidnapping, Gore, Child death, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Cannibalism, Miscarriage, and Child abuse
kylasmv15's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Gore, Blood, Body horror, Death, Child abuse, Child death, and Violence
Moderate: Cannibalism, Physical abuse, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, Murder, and Torture
r_o_s_e's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
Graphic: Child abuse, Misogyny, Death, Blood, Kidnapping, and Murder
Moderate: Torture, Medical content, Child death, and Confinement
Minor: Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Dysphoria, and Cannibalism
eaterofwordsandworlds's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
5.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, and Domestic abuse
infinitelibrary's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Body horror, Death, Gore, Medical content, and Blood
Moderate: Torture, Pregnancy, Kidnapping, Violence, and Miscarriage