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bookishlittlewitch 's review for:
The Salt Grows Heavy
by Cassandra Khaw
“It is this desire, perhaps, that drives so many to seek spouses among the inhuman and the immortal. Valkyries who cloak themselves in swan feathers. Long-throated crane wives, foreheads slashed with scarlet. Fox girls with bloody mouths and carnivore grins. Dryads, fairy women, the huldra with spines of gnarled bark. And mermaids, of course, hunger and glimmering scales, like nothing the air might ever produce and nothing the land could hope to keep.”
First published: 12/05/23
Genre: Horror, fairytale retelling
Page count: 113
Series: N/A
Format read: 📖
Others read by this author: Nothing But Blackened Teeth
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A short but memorable novella retelling the story of The Little Mermaid. Khaw’s writing is incredibly lyrical, oftentimes more poetry than prose. It makes for a strange reading experience, as you’re often pulled from the narrative by the inclusion of an unfamiliar word or phrase, & can sometimes feel more like a creative writing exercise than a story. Despite this, it is beautiful, visceral, monstrous; poetry dripping with blood & gore, lines that took my breath away & left me haunted by ghosts with razor sharp teeth.
First published: 12/05/23
Genre: Horror, fairytale retelling
Page count: 113
Series: N/A
Format read: 📖
Others read by this author: Nothing But Blackened Teeth
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A short but memorable novella retelling the story of The Little Mermaid. Khaw’s writing is incredibly lyrical, oftentimes more poetry than prose. It makes for a strange reading experience, as you’re often pulled from the narrative by the inclusion of an unfamiliar word or phrase, & can sometimes feel more like a creative writing exercise than a story. Despite this, it is beautiful, visceral, monstrous; poetry dripping with blood & gore, lines that took my breath away & left me haunted by ghosts with razor sharp teeth.