A review by claudiaque
The Empress of Salt and Fortune, by Nghi Vo
5.0
Sometimes its so much harder to write a review for a book you found great than one you didn’t like. I just want to point at it and say IDK its just neat when its so hard to describe what exactly you loved about it. Well, ok I guess I will try.
The Empress of Salt and Fortune is a novella focusing on a very loosely described fantasy world where a history recorder finds a woman in a remote cabin and begins getting her story about the former Empress.
This is my second Vo and I think it helped coming in knowing I would more than likely become a little lost at moments. My first attempt was the audiobook of Siren Queen and I think in the future I will stick to text. It translated much better here and Vo played with the formatting a bit to make things even more interesting visually. Each chapter is prefaced by a list of described items that the recorder is…recording. The storyteller then tells a story relating to at least one of the items that was listed. It's an interesting format and worked for me.
I loved the rather slow paced unwinding of the elements of the story. Despite the book being short it felt detailed and very fulfilled. The story evolved in such an organic and frankly beautiful way. It felt like a tale that took its time smelling the flowers of the world it was in and the people that were in it even if we only got small glimpses and knowledge of most characters.
Overall, a really enjoyable and beautiful novella. I will definitely pick up the rest of the series in the future and keep an eye out (especially visually) for more works from Vo.
The Empress of Salt and Fortune is a novella focusing on a very loosely described fantasy world where a history recorder finds a woman in a remote cabin and begins getting her story about the former Empress.
This is my second Vo and I think it helped coming in knowing I would more than likely become a little lost at moments. My first attempt was the audiobook of Siren Queen and I think in the future I will stick to text. It translated much better here and Vo played with the formatting a bit to make things even more interesting visually. Each chapter is prefaced by a list of described items that the recorder is…recording. The storyteller then tells a story relating to at least one of the items that was listed. It's an interesting format and worked for me.
I loved the rather slow paced unwinding of the elements of the story. Despite the book being short it felt detailed and very fulfilled. The story evolved in such an organic and frankly beautiful way. It felt like a tale that took its time smelling the flowers of the world it was in and the people that were in it even if we only got small glimpses and knowledge of most characters.
Overall, a really enjoyable and beautiful novella. I will definitely pick up the rest of the series in the future and keep an eye out (especially visually) for more works from Vo.