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

by Nghi Vo

Haha

Haha

the imperial war mages

without winter the mammoths of the north were dull and helpless, inclined to die of strange southern fevers and heartsickness.

ambition.

made them hungrier.

Kazu,

Simile

Simile metaphor

she could stand boredom far less well than she could stand work.

Haha

Haha

the hangdog look of someone caught in the wrong, but unashamed of it.

Haha

It was easy to believe that they might have an eye on the doings of the gods when they had risen so far in the world.

Haha

Simile

In-yo had her secrets, sealed away inside her

Simile extended

Simile

that year,

the north finally sent their exiled princess a box of black salt instead of white.

Chilling

Baker.

“lucky.”

Crying Widow.

“mourning.”

Rooster.

“open-eyed.”

Palace of Gleaming Light

Empress In-yo, dead precisely a year before the upcoming eclipse, was one of the most well-recorded monarchs in history.

She had brought the clerics of Singing Hills back from their exile beyond the borders of Anh,

every place she had lived between her banishment from court and her return six years later.

Eventually, the historian clerics knew, things would come out, whether it took five years, fifty, or a hundred.

Haha

I missed Kazu

Rabbit

One night, In-yo and I became very drunk, and we talked

It didn’t matter, of course. Whether she escaped or died, neither In-yo nor I ever saw her again.

To us

Haha

Out of the lot, we found three who became integral to In-yo’s plans.

Zhang Phuong,

Zhang’s wife had turned herself into a kingfisher

Question

Wantai Mai,

an actress born from a gravestone cutter and a dove keeper,

Question

Haha wonderful - a goth!

Simile haha

Lucky,

Bucket,

Haha question

In-yo’s oh-so-deadly relatives,

Sukai,

he had a gift for loyalty.

Haha - the perfect excuse for eavesdropping and guarding.