Reviews tagging 'War'

The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo

68 reviews

__codex's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal death, Rape, Suicide, Classism, Murder, Pregnancy, Blood, Death, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Colonisation, Violence, Grief, War, and Xenophobia

amylynnknitsreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional reflective 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

5.0

I really enjoyed this novella. It was a beautiful unfolding of an intricate story of love, politics, and history. I'm excited to move to the next.

Vo's writing is lovely and the story is surprisingly complex for such a short book.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Trafficking

Minor: Murder, War, and Misogyny

There is a mention of forced sterilization.

ash_tree57's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

This is easily one of the best pieces of media I have ever consumed. Hands down. I will never shut up about this book

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, War, Violence, and Pregnancy

kell_xavi's review

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Medical trauma, War, Colonisation, and Murder

Minor: Pregnancy

melodyseestrees's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Confinement, and Misogyny

Moderate: Grief, War, and Pregnancy

Minor: Infertility, Suicide, and Murder

starduststyx's review

informative mysterious reflective medium-paced

4.0

Beautifully written and packed in a lot of world building for such a short read. I'm looking forward to look at more of Nghi Vo's work because this was a great read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Sexism, and War

Moderate: Pregnancy

Minor: Bullying

devynreadsnovels's review

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, War, Sexism, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Death, Confinement, Violence, Classism, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, and Misogyny

o_romeo's review

emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Death, Abandonment, and Infertility

Minor: Medical trauma, War, Xenophobia, Infidelity, Fatphobia, Violence, and Sexual content

green_amaryllis's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Murder, Death, Violence, Pregnancy, Grief, and War

Minor: Death of parent

anaisqsn's review against another edition

inspiring mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

To be honest, I picked this book up solely because of its short length. I had never even heard of it before. And boy did it not disappoint!

It demanded a lot of focus for me to fully understand the storyline—probably because I listened to the audiobook. I read another review mentioning that the names of characters or places could be misleading with only the audio, such as Almost Brilliant the bird or the palace Thriving Fortune, and I fully agree with this. This feeling of disorientation in the first ~30% slightly lowered my rating.

However, once I got to understand the settings and the name of each place and character, the plot unfurled into a brilliant story of vengeance and sisterhood.

Each character felt real, making the story even more fascinating. I love how the story of In-yo’s rise to power and rebellion is told by Rabbit, her handmaiden, to Chih several decades later. The diversity of objects Chih finds in the palace adds a new piece of the story, further enhancing the experience of the reader.

Vo's writing is phenomenal. Even though I finished this book yesterday, I am still fascinated by how effective the storytelling was. Are you really telling me this was only 121 pages? Barely more than two hours? Dude. Weaving the threads of such a complex story in such an effective way is incredible. Every word is precisely chosen by the author and has a full impact on the reader.

This ended up being a 4 out of 5 stars for me. I will surely read this again, and probably purchase a copy of the novella to read along. I might even check out the sequels :).

If you’re looking for a short read, with strong-willed women (and a non-binary cleric?), set in what seems like Imperial China, I highly recommend it!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pregnancy

Minor: War and Death