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sydresnik's review against another edition
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Child death and Murder
hoganbreathesinink's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I would definitely read a lengthier book with the mermaid and the plague doctor's backstories!
Graphic: Torture, Murder, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child death, Gore, Blood, and Death
elle_e_d_light's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
Also, this book is incredibly gory and because so much of the gore directly deals with the evolution of the beings in the story—which I already was struggling with—I would read some sections several times over and still struggled with figuring out how the gory bits worked in relation to the monsters involved.
I don't know. I was just very confused by the end.
Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Torture, and Violence
There's a lot of consuming of people, but none of them are human really, so I don't know if it actually counts as cannibalism. Basically, there's several different monstrous creatures and a lot of gore and body horror.yourbookishbff's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Cannibalism, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, Gore, Medical trauma, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Animal death
melshoo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Moderate: Body horror, Death, Child death, Gore, Violence, Murder, Self harm, and Injury/Injury detail
alexijai98's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Violence, Child abuse, and Body horror
_scvvter's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
As I've been trying to get back into the groove of reading again, the two other short novels I picked for easiness has not been the best in my eyes. Started to make me think that I was not the biggest fan of short novels. But this completely changed my tune. A horrifying but exillerating ride from start to finish, Knaw's was able to easily suck me into the world with these character I grew quite found of really quickly. The plot had me on the edge of my seat, well more like bed, waiting to find out what's gonna happen to these characters. I was actually very nervous that the characters would actually not succeed and that was a great feeling to actually have from a novel.
On critique, if you can call it that, is that a lot of words flew over my head while reading this. Looking it up to find a lot of it be medical terms for the body, so be ready for that. And some other tiny things that I got over such as
Overall, absolutely loves this book and can't wait to look for more novels by Cassandra Know
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Blood, Gore, Violence, and Murder
Minor: Pregnancy
killerqueen45's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
2.5
Graphic: Violence, Torture, Murder, Medical content, Body horror, and Pregnancy
ruhlen's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I'm kind of glad it was so short.
I must admit that I chose to listen to this novella based purely on the cover art and the title. The Salt Grows Heavy is an awesome, intriguing title and the cover art is striking and mysterious. Cassandra Khaw is an interesting writer - I'm still not sure if she is for me. I've read Food of the Gods, so I'm not unfamiliar with Khaw's viscerally graphic style. It did make me uncomfortable listening to it in this book, though.
The Salt Grows Heavy is a first-person retelling of the mermaid myth. It also includes a Frankenstein-esque tale of man trying to achieve immortality and what reminded me of Lord of the Flies group of children worshiping the trio of immortal "Saints." If you're looking for a deep, dark fairy tale, this is about as deep and as dark as you can get.
Susan Dalian performs the narration of the audiobook beautifully. I would compare this audiobook to Circe or Piranesi for the overall tone it evokes. The prose is poetic and delicate and gorgeous, in stark contrast to what it is describing. Much like my warning for Food of the Gods, do not read or listen to this story during any type of meal.
Overall, I think I would give this more like a 3.5. Did the story and writing make me uncomfortable? Yes. Was it memorable? Yes. Did it add something new to the fairy tale fantasy space? Yes. Was it my kind of story? Undecided. Since it is so short, if you are curious about Cassandra Khaw as an author and what she brings to the genre, I would definitely give this one a try. And I highly recommend the audiobook.
Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Child abuse, Child death, Medical trauma, Torture, Animal death, Body horror, Gore, Medical content, and Cannibalism
Moderate: Murder
Minor: Genocide
moonytoast's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.75
Graphic: Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Violence, Murder, Blood, Death, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Torture, Fire/Fire injury, and Child death