Review: The Empress of Salt and Fortune

Name -The Empress of Salt and Fortune

Pages -112

Author -Nghi Vo

Publisher -Macmillan/Tor-Forge

Genre -Historical Feminist High Fantasy, LGBTQA

Rating -4/5

Source -NetGalley

ISBN -9781250750303

Review no. -25

Synopsis -
With the heart of an Atwood tale and the visuals of a classic Asian period drama, Nghi Vo's The Empress of Salt and Fortune is a tightly and lushly written narrative about empire, storytelling, and the anger of women.

A young royal from the far north, is sent south for a political marriage in an empire reminiscent of imperial China. Her brothers are dead, her armies and their war mammoths long defeated and caged behind their borders. Alone and sometimes reviled, she must choose her allies carefully.

Rabbit, a handmaiden, sold by her parents to the palace for the lack of five baskets of dye, befriends the emperor's lonely new wife and gets more than she bargained for.

At once feminist high fantasy and an indictment of monarchy, this evocative debut follows the rise of the empress In-yo, who has few resources and fewer friends. She's a northern daughter in a mage-made summer exile, but she will bend history to her will and bring down her enemies, piece by piece.

Review -

The Empress of Salt and Fortune is a short (I mean incredibly short, its just 74 pages) but strong and powerful read. At first the world building and the language seems kind of confusing, but then I got used to it. All the characters were well-built but still it me more than a day just to realize that Almost Brilliant is the name of Chih's pet bird.
Chih is a cleric who is cataloguing household items as its her duty. During her stay at Thriving Fortune, a place beside the supernatural lake scarlet, an elderly women nick-named as Rabbit recounts the story of the Empress who was exiled here, In-yo, better known as the Empress of Salt and Fortune. In-yo was the princess from the North, who was sent away to get married to the Emperor of the South just to bring peace between both the kingdoms. After her days of usefulness are over, that is after she provided an heir to the emperor she is forced into exile. But she doesn't go into silence and depression like the other empresses. Instead, she decides to fight back.
Each chapter begins with an elaborate description of some objects that Chih finds in the house, unravelling its past which involved the Empress in some way or the other.
The story is weaved very elegantly with strong strings of feminism. As it is said in the book,"Angry mothers raise daughters fierce enough to fight wolves.” In short, it is a short but thrilling read full of friendship, love, anger, joy, revenge and victory nonetheless.
I thank NetGalley and Macmillan/Tor-Forge for giving me the amazing opportunity to read and review this awe-inspiring book.