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thegodmachine393's review
dark
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- 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? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Gore, and Violence
ruhlen's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- 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
The most beautifully written gory fairy-tale romance story I've ever listened to.
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Murder
Minor: Genocide
readerette's review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
An engaging, twisted fairy tale full of gore and hard-won justice, with a bit of love story and Frankenstein vibes.
The descriptors got a little excessive at times.
The gore did get pretty intense about 3/4 of the way in. Overall, not for kids and probably not good to read just before bed regardless of age. đ
The descriptors got a little excessive at times.
The gore did get pretty intense about 3/4 of the way in. Overall, not for kids and probably not good to read just before bed regardless of age. đ
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death and Death
pbeeandj's review
challenging
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
- 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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, and Cannibalism
moonytoast's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
aedoran08's review
challenging
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
- 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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Rape
aecatec's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, and Gore
stellarkai's review
challenging
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Blood, and Murder
heather667's review
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- 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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, and Fire/Fire injury
kaiyakaiyo's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- 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
Did not live up the premise! A lot of overly descriptive, borderline garrulous prose that amounted to very little substance, character building, or plot. it felt like they received a thesaurus for christmas from a loved one and wrote this book to prove theyâd used it.
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 shouldnât have been hard to come up with a word to replace âbathyalâ instead of saying it over & over
neither of the leads were interesting. we were on the cusp of so many interesting details about âmermaidâ 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 âfairytale retellingâ; I was personally okay with that, but donât come in expecting anything detailed in that regard. Khaw doesnât really go into detail about anything that isnât 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 Donât 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
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 shouldnât have been hard to come up with a word to replace âbathyalâ instead of saying it over & over
neither of the leads were interesting. we were on the cusp of so many interesting details about âmermaidâ 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 âfairytale retellingâ; I was personally okay with that, but donât come in expecting anything detailed in that regard. Khaw doesnât really go into detail about anything that isnât 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 Donât 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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Blood, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail