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The Empress of Salt and Fortune (The Singing Hills Cycle, #1)

Nghi Vo

Start date: May 1, 2020

Finish date: May 31, 2020

Discussion: FIF

Why we're reading this: FIF Book, May 2020
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What Members Thought

Aug 26, 2020 J.C. rated it it was amazing

I just finished rereading Empress of Salt and Fortune, a novella by Nghi Vo.

I had to reread it because to be honest, I was losing interest, until I reached the mind-blowing end and was like, WTF did I miss? While it was easy for me to put down the first time around, taking six days to finish, the re-read took 2 hours.

It's a story about how an exiled empress foments a rebellion. The narrative, like her, is so subtle in the way it drops clues. Like the antagonist, I totally didn't see what was ha ...more

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Jan 20, 2021 Sasa rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy-epic-high, asian-rep, east-asian, adult, nonbinary-trans, sapphic-bi-pan, romance, anthology-novella, angst-grief-tragedy, wuxia-xanxia

You know those people who tell you really cool things and you never understood just how cool the thing was until much later? Nghi Vo is that kind of writer and this was that cool story for me. I loved this book so much. At times, it made me feel like it was too smart for me but the chapter would wrap up in a way that made me go "OHHHH" and I absolutely loved that! The politics, the world, and the characters--all incredibly beautiful, haunting, and fully fleshed out despite The Empress of Salt an ...more

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Sep 21, 2020 Ale rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: loved, women-of-genre-fiction-2020, r-fantasy-bingo-2020, kindle, published-in-2020s, lgbt-literature, politics, contemporary-author, fantasy, amazing-female-heroines

Read as part of the r/fantasy Book Bingo Challenge 2020 for the "Novel with chapter epigraphs" category. Hard Mode for this square is a book where the epigraphs are original to the work.

One drunken evening, many years on, In-yo would say that the war was won by silenced and nameless women, and it would be hard to argue with her.

The story of a young woman sent from the north to be an empress in the south, The Empress of Salt and Fortune didn't initially strike me as something that would reso Read as part of the r/fantasy Book Bingo Challenge 2020 for the "Novel with chapter epigraphs" category. Hard Mode for this square is a book where the epigraphs are original to the work.

One drunken evening, many years on, In-yo would say that the war was won by silenced and nameless women, and it would be hard to argue with her.

The story of a young woman sent from the north to be an empress in the south, The Empress of Salt and Fortune didn't initially strike me as something that would resonate so much with me. But through its lyricism, its wonderful setting and its strong and memorable characters, it completely captivated my heart and made me yearn for more fantasy that really revels in its storytelling. Chih is a
cleric sent on a mission to gather records for the Abbey of the Singing Hills. They come across Rabbit, an old woman living out her last years in the place where the Empress In-yo was exiled, near Lake Scarlet. There, they spend time recording the history of that exile and through this, we learn the true story of what In-yo did and how she brought about change in the empire of Anh.

For a novella that barely clocks in at 100 pages, there is so much wealth and history here. Vo is able to masterfully peel apart the story and through Rabbit, we learn about how much power one woman can wield, when she is told that she is nothing more than a simple pawn. It is, in some ways, a story of revolution and change, of love and betrayal, of loyalty and determination. It is a story about how even small things can come to matter in the great tapestry of history and how those who would discount the lesser would end up rueing the day they did so. The constant refrain that Rabbit repeats for Chih, "Do you understand?" becomes a mantra. This isn't just the story on In-yo and her deeds, it is the story of how you can bring down an entire empire that has forgotten to look to its downtrodden. Over and over, as a reader, you are anchored into the storyline, into Rabbit's tale and into the narrative. Every time that line would come up, I found myself feeling the urge to continue reading, to carry on, to see what would happen next.

It is, in a sense, the story of a young woman expected to follow a traditional path: marry, bear an heir and then quietly go into exile, one of a faceless number of empresses who did their duty and moved on. But while In-yo might have come to the court hopeful, she left it full of anger and vengeance. She had given up so much, without complaint, without sedition, only to be cast aside when she is no longer of use? Not for In-yo a life of quiet retreat, oh no. For in her blazed a fire that would consume the empire of Anh and make everyone tremble to have ever doubted her. The dichotomy between the Empress of Salt and Fortune and the way that Rabbit remembers her is one that kept me reading and made me dread the ending. They are two women from very different social classes who find in each other a solace and an understanding that transcends their roles. They are empress and servant, yes, but they are also friends and the deep affection they carry for each other keeps them going through harsh times.

Angry mothers raise daughters fierce enough to fight wolves.

As Chih learns throughout the narrative, the true stories of resistance don't come from brave fighters that go out in a blaze of glory, to be immortalised in song and story. The true resistance comes from the voiceless, nameless people who kept the revolution going (and yes most of them are indeed women), whose stories never get told, whose names are forgotten to history. In-yo's success depended on the working people's support, it depended on entire groups normally discounted as being irrelevant and having very little influence in the world, it depended on mystics and fortune tellers and servant women who kept her secrets and had her back. Rabbit is the primary example of course, but there are many characters (again, amazing for a work that barely breaks 100 pages) and their stories matter just as much.

Overall, The Empress of Salt and Fortune is a brilliant debut, a feminist story of power and revolution and change, of how even the smallest can be a part of something great. It is something that I feel works so well in the absolute garbage year that is 2020 and it makes me incredibly excited for whatever Nghi Vo comes out with next. You should do yourself a favour and make sure you read it. ...more

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Feb 12, 2023 Kati rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Listened on Libby Audio

Enjoyable short read/listen. In it a chronicler is retold historical events from a sider character which were so fascinating I would love a story from the main character told as current events.

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Apr 03, 2022 Naomi rated it liked it

I... feel like I'm missing something. This felt like one bite taken out of an apple- it was good but I wanted more. I wanted to know the characters more and we only got a surface level of them. I like the way the story was told and even the reveal at the end but it was so short and I found myself really only caring about what Rabbit was saying and not the other chapters. ...more

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Apr 27, 2021 Sneha rated it really liked it

Wow!
For a short fiction I am blown. I loved the story telling, its whimsical, easy to read and you just flow through it with so much ease. Its beautiful ❤️

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