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

by Nghi Vo

Emperor Sung

The crown prince was spirited away, the prince in exile until his own keepers killed him some years later.

Question: who was the mom?

the Empress of Salt and Fortune,

Dowager Empress.”

Empress of Wheat and Flood,

“Look to your records, cleric. Honor is a light that brings trouble. Shadows are safer by far.”

Sukai, her dad - Ch. 8 p. 68

Our beloved infra-diegetic narrator, Rabbit

Whom she grew up with -

2020. Bought for $5.29 on 5/3/24 to read for North Country Gaylaxians on 5/14/24. Nominated for the 2021 Locus Award for Best Novella and won the 2021 Hugo Award for Best Novella. I can see why. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Empress_of_Salt_and_Fortune REVIEWS: https://www.npr.org/2020/03/28/822621732/uncovering-the-secrets-of-a-fallen-ruler-in-empress-of-salt-and-fortune https://locusmag.com/2020/07/katharine-coldiron-reviews-the-empress-of-salt-and-fortune-by-nghi-vo/ https://thenerddaily.com/the-empress-of-salt-and-fortune-nghi-vo/ https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-2507-5030-3 Gaylaxian ethos: A non-binary cleric, and the Empress has (at least?) two lesbian relationships: with Yan Lian (ch. 4 p. 39) and with Rabbit (ch. THEME: “Save that anger,” Mai said with a sigh. “Angry mothers raise daughters fierce enough to fight wolves.” Ch. 10 p. 102 WISDOM: Chih was old enough to know that no one was harmless, and still young enough to obey instantly that tone of command from an older woman. Ch. 1 p. 15 “That is your calling, isn’t it? To remember and to mark down.” “It is. Sometimes the things we see do not make sense until many years have gone by. Sometimes it takes generations. We are taught to be content with that.” Ch. 2 p. 26 “Those who bear children hold the keys to life and death, and their ill wishes are to be feared.” Ch. 4 p. 36. “They teach us [girls] to look out of the corners of our eyes when we are very young in the north. Less movement to startle the things we hunt or to attract the attention of those who would hunt us.” Ch. 4 p. 41 “It is trash,” she said shortly, “but if you want to understand people who have gone, that’s what you look at, isn’t it? Their offal. Their leavings.” Ch. 5 p. 44 “Look to your records, cleric. Honor is a light that brings trouble. Shadows are safer by far.” Ch. 11 p. 114 VOCABULARY: neixin accessory wives the noble kirin palanquin magery OVERALL: Cerebral; much is told, of intrigue, of violence, of politics, of linguistics, of geography, but little happens in the presence of the reader; the action is all through report, making Rabbit an intra-diegetic narrator. There is some lovely dialogue, e.g., 87, CHARACTERS: Chih Almost Brilliant Rabbit In-yo Mai Phuong Sukai Minister of the Left Chih’s dreams: Ch. 2 p. 28 Ch.5 p. 46 Ch. 11 p. 114 PLACES: the Singing Hills abbey Thriving Fortune, home of the Anh empress in exile the Palace of Gleaming Light, imperial palace of Anh QUESTIONS: Declassification ch. 1 p. 17 - 60 years later? On the death of In-yo? By her command? Why wait so long? > The new Empress - of Wheat and Flood - what happens to her? Is she “fierce enough to fight wolves”? Or does that require the anger the aphorism speaks of? Will the new Empress exhibit the cunning and ruthlessness of the titular Empress, or will she remain in the (safer) shadow like her mother? > Several 60-year passages are spoken of. Does that mean history is cyclical? That it can only be interpreted well, after a passage of 60 years? E.g., ch.1 p. 14; ch. 4 p. 35; ch. 7 p. 52; ch. 11 pp. 108, 113. > Why was Kau-tan, known as the prince in exile, killed? And on whose orders? Ch. 11 p. 114: “The crown prince was spirited away, the prince in exile until his own keepers killed him some years later.” Only 17 similes, but this cluster puts five of them together as a work of art: quadruple, plus two metaphors, plus another simile, ch. 2 p. 24: History will say that she was an ugly woman, but that is not true. She had a foreigner’s beauty, like a language we do not know how to read. She was barely taller than I was at ten, and built like an ox drover’s daughter. Her two long braids hung over her shoulders as black as ink, and her face was as flat as a dish and almost perfectly round. Pearl-faced, they call it where she came from, but piggish is what they called it here. She walked past with her spine like one of these birch trees,…

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