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3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
dark
tense
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A wonderful body horror/dark retelling of what happens after the traditional mermaid love story. The descriptions in this book are stellar, and real tears were shed while reading. I cannot recommend this book enough
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Violence, Cannibalism
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
“Bury me, my love, and take a lock of my hair with you. Carry me through the centuries. I think I’d like to share, just a little, in what immortality is like.”
In just a hundred pages, Cassandra Khaw has created such an immersive, gruesome, yet utterly beautiful story. The Salt Grows Heavy is written in a way that grips you and you just can’t look away. It’s dark, haunting, and enchanting. Despite its horror, this is also a love story; despite the brutality of this world, we can find love. We can fight back against those who wish to oppress us, reclaim power and autonomy, and refuse to be silenced. While this novella will not be for everyone, I believe it is worth it, if you can.
In just a hundred pages, Cassandra Khaw has created such an immersive, gruesome, yet utterly beautiful story. The Salt Grows Heavy is written in a way that grips you and you just can’t look away. It’s dark, haunting, and enchanting. Despite its horror, this is also a love story; despite the brutality of this world, we can find love. We can fight back against those who wish to oppress us, reclaim power and autonomy, and refuse to be silenced. While this novella will not be for everyone, I believe it is worth it, if you can.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
so, so tender. so situating to read
(I understand but do not agree with the reviews calling the language overt. It works, beautifully, and later, extremely painfully. I don't know when I started fighting for my life to finish reading it.I only wanted to take a 0.5 star off because I'm not so fond of stories about rescuing people, and wish that the two had had more interpersonal time together. Then again, I want to take all the stars off, for that heartbreaking ending.)
(I understand but do not agree with the reviews calling the language overt. It works, beautifully, and later, extremely painfully. I don't know when I started fighting for my life to finish reading it.
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
As someone who rated Nothing But Blackened Teeth a 1 star, this was slightly better
I think the concept was intriguing, however the writing kind of bogged down the story it was trying to tell and many times I’d have to go back and reread pages because I’ve lost track of where the story was going. Someone said they couldn’t tell when Khaw was trying to be poetic or if they were being literal and that’s exactly how I feel
Also definitely read the snippet after the epilogue titled “And In Our Daughters, We Find a Voice”. Not only did I find that it’s the better part of the book, it provided context to the beginning portion
I think the concept was intriguing, however the writing kind of bogged down the story it was trying to tell and many times I’d have to go back and reread pages because I’ve lost track of where the story was going. Someone said they couldn’t tell when Khaw was trying to be poetic or if they were being literal and that’s exactly how I feel
Also definitely read the snippet after the epilogue titled “And In Our Daughters, We Find a Voice”. Not only did I find that it’s the better part of the book, it provided context to the beginning portion
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Gore
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
If you want to spend three hours reading the book and six hours pouring through dictionaries, this book is for you. If you want a story that had so much potential to be cool but just turned weird and fell flat, this book is for you.
You have essentially Frankenstein's Monster, mermaids, and the opening of a medieval video game mixd together. If there's meant to be a plot, it's incredibly difficult to find. The plague doctor and the mermaid cross a group of Lord of the Flies styled Lost Boys that lead to the equivalent of Skyrim styled Dr. Frankensteins? The mermaid tries so hard to hide the fact she's a mermaid but then eats every person in the camp? Way too much going on with not enough meat in the plot to really enjoy anything.
You have essentially Frankenstein's Monster, mermaids, and the opening of a medieval video game mixd together. If there's meant to be a plot, it's incredibly difficult to find. The plague doctor and the mermaid cross a group of Lord of the Flies styled Lost Boys that lead to the equivalent of Skyrim styled Dr. Frankensteins? The mermaid tries so hard to hide the fact she's a mermaid but then eats every person in the camp? Way too much going on with not enough meat in the plot to really enjoy anything.
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
i thought that this book would be exactly the kind of thing i’d enjoy because of the mermaids and the nonbinary plague doctor and the fact that it’s a horror, but i struggled to actually care about what happened to the characters. it was so beautifully written yet i didn’t care about the storyline. i’d probably still read something else this author writes because clearly they are talented, but this one wasn’t my favourite. i also think that because of the way that this was written it made it difficult for me to understand, i may come back and re read it at some point.