Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw

169 reviews

ceruleanseas's review

dark emotional fast-paced

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

4.75

This is a stunning fantasy horror novella. Khaw reimagines a version of The Little Mermaid where the prince wasn't so sweet and spins a tale, not about revenge, but about the aftermath. The mermaid (for lack of a better description or a name) leaves her husband's kingdom in ruins, accompanied by a plague doctor who is more than they seem. I adored the elegant and imaginative prose, and appreciated the complex motivation of characters who are unapologetic about their natures. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Physical abuse, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Medical trauma, Torture, Grief, Self harm, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, and Medical content

Moderate: Kidnapping

Minor: Confinement, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, and Rape

rookdigoo's review

4.5

Oh, how I love retellings that twist deep, deep into the lifeblood of their sources. 
Prose that tastes like the other side of the coin from Andersen's. The seamless twining of The Little Mermaid and The Three Army Surgeons? Not an expected combination and I adored every dark, dripping moment of it. This isn't a "dark" retelling where the "dark" bits are played for shock value, to make you gasp, "this didn’t  happen in the Disney version". It's a story that knows itself, that doesn't care what pre-conceived notions its reader brings. A fairy tale horror story of love and staying. 
I'm so delighted to find a retelling of such totally different fairy tales, mixed in which a healthy helping of more pieces of folklore stitched together with nearly invisible thread.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Medical content, Blood, Child death, Violence, and Body horror

Moderate: Pregnancy

Minor: Miscarriage

emzhay's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

This is a captivating and wonderfully grotesque fairytale, but the vocabulary distracts from the atmosphere and emotional beats. So many times I was pulled out of a scene because I had to look up a word that was used. I understand what the author was going for, but sometimes it seemed like they wanted to pick the most obscure synonym from a thesaurus. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, Gore, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, and Death

Minor: Miscarriage

fox_at_the_circus's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful mysterious sad tense 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? No

5.0

I loved how poetic and flowery and even animalistic at points the writing of this book got. It really pulled me into the world and set the atmosphere of the story perfectly! And I love this world; even though the book is pretty short, it still felt like a developed setting with hints and more lore.
And I really like the two main characters and their relationship with each other, too. This is a story about two people dealing with their trauma together, healing together in a way, and supporting each other throughout it. They are not perfect or try to be, but they feel realistic and are loyal to each other. I especially loved the line, where the plague doctor calls out the "your trauma makes you stronger" bullshit. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Medical content, Murder, Violence, Body horror, Child abuse, Cannibalism, Death, Blood, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Grief, Kidnapping, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Confinement

ktkumpf's review

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

An absolutely gorgeous short story. Will absolutely be looking into more work from this author. They dynamic was excellent, the prose were phenomenal the pacing worked wonderfully. 0 complaints except that I can never read it again for the first time. But please be mindful this is graphic, profoundly so, and if body horror or child death is not something you can tolerate do not touch it with a 10 foot pole. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Body horror, Murder, and Medical content

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Miscarriage

gloom_lord's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective 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? No

5.0

Khaw's The Salt Grows Heavy is itself a bezoar, a taut antidote, a charm against the deafening silence of our thrownness into the world. It reminds us that love can be transcendent, that it may very well be all we have to cling to at life's terminus. It is a beautiful book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Cannibalism, and Torture

Moderate: Grief, Death, Pregnancy, Blood, and Misogyny

vavocado's review against another edition

dark emotional fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Gore

meagan123's review

adventurous 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Violence, Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, and Gore

Moderate: Animal death

Minor: Abandonment and Pregnancy

anderska1011's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Child death, Cannibalism, Gore, Body horror, and Blood

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Domestic abuse

gothic_moss's review

adventurous dark mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

I really loved this story. It's characters were strangely endearing, and the fairy-tale esc horror was quite simply, delicious. A lot of people critique this book's prose, and admittedly, it is not for everyone. If you do not enjoy graphic, often lengthy descriptions, this book may annoy you. I however, am an absolute fiend for over-explanation, and for 'flowery' prose. This writing style especially shone in Chapter 4, which broke my heart.

I would recommend reading this book if you:
-can tolerate gore/graphic descriptions of it
-liked the dark Grimm stories better than their retellings
-love casual Non-binary rep, especially as a mysterious plague doctor
-found the black plague intriguing

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Medical content, Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Fire/Fire injury