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bangiebangs's review
- 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
4.5
I read this not even knowing what genre this was going to be, and I can recommend doing that. Pick it up now, come read the reviews later and see what you think. It's definitely worth it.
This story is dark and uncomfortable, relentlessly tricking you into thinking what will happen next and then leading you somewhere else entirely. Extremely interesting, couldn't put it down, and even if I don't usually read... horror? Is it horror? ... I really enjoyed this one.
Beautiful language, excellent levels of horror, definitely recommended. I'm only not giving it a full 5* because I'm not sure whether I'd reread it... but maybe?
Graphic: Blood, Medical content, Gore, Cannibalism, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, Death, Child death, Physical abuse, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Religious bigotry
ejoverly's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
Please do not read this book thinking it is a fairy tale. The description is very misleading. This was a gory waste of time. The only reason I finished it was because it was so short I thought surely it would get better. It DID NOT. I don’t think I’ve ever read anything worse.
Graphic: Medical trauma, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Cannibalism, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Body horror, Infertility, Gore, and Kidnapping
elle_e_d_light's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
2.75
Also, this book is incredibly gory and because so much of the gore directly deals with the evolution of the beings in the story—which I already was struggling with—I would read some sections several times over and still struggled with figuring out how the gory bits worked in relation to the monsters involved.
I don't know. I was just very confused by the end.
Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Torture, and Violence
There's a lot of consuming of people, but none of them are human really, so I don't know if it actually counts as cannibalism. Basically, there's several different monstrous creatures and a lot of gore and body horror.alexijai98's review
- 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? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Violence, Child abuse, and Body horror
killerqueen45's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
2.5
Graphic: Violence, Torture, Murder, Medical content, Body horror, and Pregnancy
ruhlen's review against another edition
- 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
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.
Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Child abuse, Child death, Medical trauma, Torture, Animal death, Body horror, Gore, Medical content, and Cannibalism
Moderate: Murder
Minor: Genocide
readerette's review against another edition
- 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
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. 😉
Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content
Moderate: Death and Child death
moonytoast's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.75
Graphic: Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Violence, Murder, Blood, Death, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Torture, Fire/Fire injury, and Child death
alexandramiller's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Grief, Murder, Cannibalism, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Body horror, Gore, Blood, and Medical trauma
bellebeaumont95's review
- 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? No
4.25
The writing is lovely, if a little overdone, coloring the scenes in a way that had me both flinching away and immediately coming back, mesmerized. I would have liked to spend a little more time with the two main characters (who I found fascinating) and exploring their relationship, but as the horror fairy tale it is, the brevity works.
In my questionable habit of comparing things to other things, I might describe this as "What if The VVitch (2015) had a crossover with The Language of Thorns, written by the authors of This Is How You Lose The Time War . (All things I LOVE, so this is high praise).
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Cannibalism, Violence, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Torture, Gore, Blood, Medical trauma, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Vomit