Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo

20 reviews

schnaucl's review against another edition

dark emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

I really liked this novella.  

I liked the idea of a monastery charged with recording things in minute detail and I can absolutely see how that would be a threat to people in power.  I would imagine there would be multiple attempts to disband or burn down such a monastic order over the years.  

I really liked Rabbit and Empress In-Yo.  

The way they passed information was really quite clever, as was the way they slowly replaced the shrine retinue with soldiers loyal to Empress In-Yo, to say nothing of Rabbit's child sitting atop the throne.

I'm really looking forward to reading more.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement

Minor: Death, Infidelity, Misogyny, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Colonisation, War, and Classism

spuriousdiphthongs's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment and Colonisation

Moderate: Death, Murder, and Pregnancy

waterwolves's review against another edition

informative mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Medical trauma, Murder, Colonisation, and Classism

lenaricharz's review against another edition

mysterious relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Colonisation

Minor: Pregnancy

__codex's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal death, Death, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Colonisation, War, and Classism

kell_xavi's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Medical trauma, Murder, Colonisation, and War

Minor: Pregnancy

devynreadsnovels's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

indeedithappens's review against another edition

mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation

kingcrookback's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

I've (as of writing this review) only read one other work of Vo's, Siren Queen, and I find that I much prefer Empress of Salt and Fortune. They're both frame stories that dip in and out of the embedded narrative, but there's something to Empress's setting and pacing that does it for me in a way that Siren Queen didn't. Empress moves along deftly (though I wouldn't necessarily say that it's swift), and the Vo treads the line between detail and ambiguity. Neither detailed to the point of bogging anything down nor ambiguous enough to be called vague. Rabbit's story is both touching and gripping, albeit hazed by time and memory. A nice little capsule.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement and Death

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexual content, Grief, Pregnancy, Colonisation, and War

thereadinghammock's review against another edition

mysterious reflective relaxing slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.0

So much of this book just, sort of, happens around you (as a reader), that it's not until, maybe the last 30 minutes of the book that I had any idea what was actually going on. The world is fascinating, but the delivery is too prosaic for me. It's beautifully written, stunning prose, and I love the respect for archival history threaded throughout the book; but it's simply a case of just not the writing for me--and that's OK!!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Sexism, Grief, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

Minor: Infidelity and Colonisation