Reviews with content warning for Torture - The Salt Grows Heavy

Reviews tagging 'Torture'

The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw

126 reviews

sofiadanielle's review against another edition

dark tense

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

Almost docked it to a 3.5, honestly. However!!! Though I think the first 30 pages makes the story framework difficult to understand, I very much enjoyed the last 30 pages.

A critique I will stand by, though, is the use of overly complex, “flowery” language. While I do believe that this type of writing helped in creating that uneasy horror-esque feeling, I would’ve enjoyed the story written in a plainer way.

Feels very fever dream-like (said positively, towards the end.) Quite unique, and I adore the epilogue.

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bonzaklibo's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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valodniece's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Daaaaaamn. I'm not sure if Khaw intended this to be a criticism of the Russian state throughout all of its incarnations (imperial, communist, modern), but it certainly is. Set in the taiga, worshiping those who hurt you and cannibalize you and the belief that they will still somehow lift you up but never do... on the surface, sure, it is a dark and cannibalistic Little Mermaid retelling, told through the looking glass inspired by Lord of the Flies, but it really reads as more than that. Excellent work by Cassandra Khaw, and I will definitely be reading more of their work.

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gaeliloveweiss's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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themorrigan43's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

3.0

This is a novella, it's very fast and it is very gory. A strange adaptation of The Little Mermaid story, mixed with some Frankenstein.

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duzzle's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced

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

3.5

A quick, gore-filled fairytale. There was quite a bit of "show, don't tell" that left me wanting for more substance, but I guess that's the price one pays for a novella. I'm curious as to the author's decision to put the first chapter at the very end of the book, even after the acknowledgments, which I rarely read and oftentimes immediately return the book once I finish the epilogue. While the cold open leads to more mystery, it was obviously written with the first chapter in assumption.
Also, the language was at times needlessly obtuse - I understand the implication was the narrator's high status / intelligence, but it came off as CTRL+H --> replace a word with its most hauty-sounding synonym.

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biblio_lore's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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? No

5.0

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moodreader89's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

3.25

I think it definitely should come with trigger warnings —that’s on me though for not checking.

It was very descriptive, there is a lot of body horror, like…a lot. I definitely found myself shocked and gagging while reading; while the characters and world are fascinating and I might be interested in more about it, I don’t think the character development was enough to make me care as much as I could have? It is a beautifully poetic, grisly—also in a poetic and purposeful way, story though.

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kileyjojo's review against another edition

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dark fast-paced

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

2.5

If you're expecting this to be a horror retelling of The Little Mermaid, it's nothing like that. This book is a short novel about the aftermath of what would have been that story. That doesn't make it bad, but it's something to note if that's what you are looking for in a book.

I go back and forth on how I feel about this book. The pace is extremely fast and the story flies by but I don't think that's a bad choice. It could have been fleshed out more but I think it gets the job done. That being said, you're thrown right into the midst of the story and are given practically no background on the characters or what they are encountering. This does prevent the feeling of the book being padded but it also makes it harder to connect to the characters.

The vocabulary used in this book is very advanced. I found myself skipping every other word because I didn't know the meaning of them. This, in combination with the fast pace, makes the book confusing. When the scenes aren't clearly spelled out, it's hard to understand what is happening and how the characters got from point A to point B. For example,

there is a portion of the book where the mermaid is dissected on a table. Two sentences go by and she's whole again and running through the woods. The dialogue and the story are so hard to comprehend that I feel like I missed an entire chapter

.

If you enjoy horror, gore, and just going with the flow, you would like this book. I don't think the author is a bad writer. I think the book is falsely advertised in where the story goes and that the vocabulary makes the already short book feel even shorter. There are great messages in the book and the characters are unique and interesting. I just wish we got to see more of them. The page count really hinders the character development. The story feels completed but feels like something is missing.

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ladykatka's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I had to read the first few pages a couple times to get used to the writing style. Once that happened it did have a unique beauty to it. The conversation between the mermaid and the plague doctor was easily the best part. It was gruesome at times but it added to the atmosphere.

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