G. Deyke reviewed The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo
[Adapted from initial review on Goodreads.]
3 stars
This is a story told through a framing story, bit by bit, so really it is two stories: inner and outer. The inner story I liked quite a bit: both the story itself and the way it's told, which very much requires a framing story, so I like the fact that there is an outer story as well.
Unfortunately I like the framing story itself significantly less. It feels like either too much or too little: the present tense, the dialogue, and the details all make Chih more than a placeholder puppet-figure there to listen and hold the inner story in place. And yet: there's not enough for them to feel like a full character either. I kept grasping for some sort of connection with them and coming up blank.
Regardless, I liked the book overall, and it was certainly worth the read.
Selling points: interesting narrative format; queer representation; …
This is a story told through a framing story, bit by bit, so really it is two stories: inner and outer. The inner story I liked quite a bit: both the story itself and the way it's told, which very much requires a framing story, so I like the fact that there is an outer story as well.
Unfortunately I like the framing story itself significantly less. It feels like either too much or too little: the present tense, the dialogue, and the details all make Chih more than a placeholder puppet-figure there to listen and hold the inner story in place. And yet: there's not enough for them to feel like a full character either. I kept grasping for some sort of connection with them and coming up blank.
Regardless, I liked the book overall, and it was certainly worth the read.
Selling points: interesting narrative format; queer representation; a victory from underneath.
Warnings: misogyny (in the culture, not the narrative), monarchy, forced/coerced pregnancy, lack of autonomy.
