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The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo

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stivaktis's review against another edition

4.0

A dreamlike tale that I kinda wish was... less dreamlike. At times it felt very vague for my poor ADHD brain. But overall it was beautiful and left me with a Ghibli-esque feeling that I really appreciated.

pterawaters's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful mysterious reflective slow-paced

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? It's complicated

4.0

pharris95's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

leonrascal's review against another edition

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adventurous reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.25

youngling80's review against another edition

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4.0

Empress of Salt and Fortune was such an absorbing and quick read. A cleric on their way to an eclipse encounters an old woman with a firsthand account of how the former express came to court, was exiled, and eventually gained her revenge. The cleric is understandably intrigued by the prospect of recording such a history. At first it was difficult to place ... yes, it's fantasy - there were fantastical creatures and spirits. But most fantasy stories have a time period that we can relate to some period of our history. This seemed to be an Asian inspired fantasy set in conquesting times of dynasties, which is what brought the empress, In-Yo, to Ahn initially, her family having been conquered, In-Yo served as a token bride to the emperor of Ahn to create a mixed heir to legitimately overtake the symbolic "throne" of her people. The descriptions of court, servant life, and politics build a world that's easy to fall into. I was only brought out of this setting when the cleric mentioned something about the changing colors of the lake reminding them of fireworks in New York ... it felt wrong and disjointed and had no further information to make that observation feel anything other than wrong and impossible in the world that had been built before and afterward (and my rating reflects this). That aside, I can't complain.

For such a short read, this packs a bit of a wallop. I DO recommend reading this (as opposed to simply listening). Even better would be to read the book, while listening to the narration. This is what I ended up doing, and it really was the best call. I had tried to listen to this several months ago on audio, but I struggled to keep track of who was speaking (and about whom they were speaking). I decided to put a hold on the ebook from my library app and wait until I could physically read it.
When my turn in the queue came, I still had access to the audio version, so I popped it in (I increased the speed to about 1.9x) and listened as I read along on my kindle.

Definitely an interesting choice with light fantasy elements, high political intrigue, and Asian influence.