Winner of the 2020 Crawford Award! A 2021 Hugo Award Finalist A 2021 Locus Award Finalist A 2021 Ignyte Award Finalist A Goodreads Choice Award Finalist “Dangerous, subtle, unexpected and familiar, angry and ferocious and hopeful… The Empress of Salt and Fortune is a remarkable accomplishment of storytelling.”–NPR A 2020 ALA Booklist Top Ten SF/F Debut | A Book Riot Must-Read Fantasy of 2020 … ALA Booklist Top Ten SF/F Debut | A Book Riot Must-Read Fantasy of 2020 | A Paste Most Anticipated Novel of 2020 | A Library Journal Debut of the Month | A Buzzfeed Must-Read Fantasy Novel of Spring 2020 | A Washington Post Best SFF of the Year So Far Pick
Named Book Riot’s Best Book Cover of 2020
Named a Best of 2020 Pick for NPR | Library Journal | NYPL | Chicago Public Library | The Austen Chronicle | Autostraddle
With the heart of an Atwood tale and the visuals of a classic Asian period drama, Nghi Vo’s The Empress of Salt and Fortune is a tightly and lushly written narrative about empire, storytelling, and the anger of women.
A young royal from the far north, is sent south for a political marriage in an empire reminiscent of imperial China. Her brothers are dead, her armies and their war mammoths long defeated and caged behind their borders. Alone and sometimes reviled, she must choose her allies carefully.
Rabbit, a handmaiden, sold by her parents to the palace for the lack of five baskets of dye, befriends the emperor’s lonely new wife and gets more than she bargained for.
At once feminist high fantasy and an indictment of monarchy, this evocative debut follows the rise of the empress In-yo, who has few resources and fewer friends. She’s a northern daughter in a mage-made summer exile, but she will bend history to her will and bring down her enemies, piece by piece.
The Singing Hills Cycle
The Empress of Salt and Fortune
When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain
Into the Riverlands
The novellas of The Singing Hills Cycle are linked by the cleric Chih, but may be read in any order, with each story serving as an entrypoint.
Praise for The Empress of Salt and Fortune
“An elegant gut-punch, a puzzle box that unwinds itself in its own way and in its own time. I cannot recommend it highly enough. Gorgeous. Cruel. Perfect. I didn’t know I needed to read this until I did.”–Seanan McGuire
“A tale of rebellion and fealty that feels both classic and fresh, The Empress of Salt and Fortune is elegantly told, strongly felt, and brimming with rich detail. An epic in miniature, beautifully realised.”–Zen Cho
“Nghi Vo’s gracefully told debut . . . resides in the intimate margins of its (beautifully imagined) world’s history, portraying how the marginalized may yet shape those narratives and harness the power of stories.”–Indrapramit Das
At the Publisher’s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
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Read for 2021 Hugos
This was an excellent Asian-influenced journey told partially as memories of events many years past. A cleric of an order that records all happenings in the empire finds a lakeside retreat recently unsealed following the previous empress’ death. After a surprising introduction, the cleric, Chih, learns much from an old woman who was there many years before. I was surprisingly drawn in to the historical accounting style and the simple understanding by Chih. Very happy to learn there’s another adventure in the works!
Plot
This is almost plotted as a mystery, where Chih is attempting to find out what happened to this retreat and why it’s sealed off. The revelations included and surprising yet inevitable, and slowly build a very complete picture of tumultuous events some sixty years previous.
Setting
The Asian setting, very reminiscent of the Chinese monarchy, contains hints of all the court intrigue and scandal that occurred in the time period. However, Chih makes it clear this is only one piece of history, and references other places and times that give the world surprising depth considering the brevity of the story. It really makes me want to journey along with Chih to other destinations!
Character
There are only three characters in the tale, Chih, a nonbinary cleric who records history, Almost Brilliant, their bird/friend who remembers everything, and Rabbit, an old woman. However other politicians, the empress, fortune tellers, and more are brought to life in the stories Rabbit tells. We see a subtle humor and strength in Chih, while Rabbit slowly reveals more about her history. This one might have jumped to the top of my list!
This was a really interesting little novella. I really enjoyed learning about the characters. Both Rabbit and Chi were really interesting. My only problem was that I had a hard time differentiating from the story that Rabbit was telling and the present day. I’m excited to see what comes next in the series.
I’m awestruck by how much character development and world building exists in this concise masterpiece. I’m in love with virtually every character and while I would absolutely read more with them, I’m not left wanting/needing more detail for this story to feel complete. Definite book hangover as I reflect on this moving tale of the power of women, loyalty, sacrifice and memory. Positive queer rep including MC who uses they/them pronouns.
Gorgeous, absorbing novella, perfect for fantasy fans. Packs a lot of complexity into its compact page count, leaving readers wanting more but not unsatisfied. Highly recommended.
At first I thought, eh, but then it picked up and really captivated me. I enjoyed the tale, the pacing, and the political intrigue. My main complaint is that the book really could have been longer. If your only issue is that you want more, then the book gets five star review.
What an exquisitely constructed novella. It unspools perfectly. A perfect, dangerous puzzle about daughters and revenge, loyalty and rebellion. Highly recommended.
I feel like I’m always saying it, but this right here, is why I love novellas so much. In 100 pages (sometimes a little more) I find myself running the gambit of emotions. Anger, hurt, joy, sorrow. This book made me feel them all and so much more, and I loved every moment.
These characters (Chih, Almost Brilliant, Rabbit and the Empress) will stay with me for years to come, and I’m so happy for that. I cannot wait to read anything and everything by Nghi Vo in the future (and the present as I dive directly into When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain)!
It’s not often I describe a book as beautiful but, dammit, The Empress of Salt and Fortune was as gorgeous in its telling as it was lush in its setting. It’s a simple tale in so far a the plot is concerned, but layered and complex in its narrative stylings.
Nghi Vo tells the story through Rabbit, an elderly woman who was once handmaiden to the Empress, as she shares her memories with Chih, a non-binary Cleric, and ALmost Brilliant, their sentient avian companion, prompted by artifacts and mementos found with a cottage on the shores of a haunted lake. The opening pages, as Chih walks the lonely path between spirits, is one of the most fantastic scenes I’ve come across in recent fiction.
The narrative structure here is one of patterns and puzzles. Each chapter opens with a cataloguing of artifacts, paired with thoughts and observations from Chih, followed by Rabbit sharing a memory prompted by those objects, and then finishing with a question regarding the deeper significance of those memories. It should be artificial and repetitive, but the novella-length keeps it from becoming tiresome.
What those memories come together to tell is the story of two women far from home, trapped in some ways, and yet never prisoners. We see them both raised high, cast into exile, targeted for assassination, and quietly raised up again through the subtle plots and plans so easily overlooked by men with time-worn assumptions of purpose and agency. It is a story where how and why are just as important as what, and where each chapter holds a new revelation.
The telling of The Empress of Salt and Fortune makes the novella-length perfect for this tale, but I would have like more detail and depth. There’s an entire novel buried deep within these pages, but we’re only given a surface glance, limited to those artifacts, memories, and questions.