This is my first Cassandra Khaw book and definitely won’t be my last. The characters in this book were intriguing and definitely let the pace of the short novella going. A lot of body horror and the descriptions were haunting…beautiful too? This book was great.

4.5/5 Stars

TL;DR - A gorgeously-written novella that is short and anything but sweet. Creepy, evocative, and wildly gory, this story takes a fairytale and turns it into a nightmare, one full of heart (and many other organs!). At it’s core a love story and an exploration of resilience, as awe-inspiring as it is stomach-turning.

Big thanks to Tor Publishing Group/Tor Nightfire and NetGalley for providing the ARC for this book in exchange for an honest review!

‘The Salt Grows Heavy’ by Cassandra Khaw is a retelling of the classic fairytale ‘The Little Mermaid’, or, rather, a telling of the aftermath, after the mermaid’s monstrous daughters devour their royal father and all of his kingdom. It's told from the perspective of the mermaid herself, whose name we never learn, and her enigmatic companion, a plague doctor who also never shares their name. We follow them from the ruins of their devoured kingdom, up into northern lands where children run wild and deathless ‘saints’ rule over them.

First off, this book is GORY. Major body horror going on here - people and their parts get eaten, kids get murdered, people are subjected to vivisection, and we see all of it in pretty close detail. If you’re squeamish, be warned that this book is absolutely drenched in blood and guts.

That said, the writing is just so gorgeous. Everything really feels like a fairytale, airy and ephemeral, but it’s also subtly insidious in a way that perfectly captures the slow descent into a horror story as the plot progresses. There are a lot of lines about morality, humanity, and existence that are so heavy-hitting that I had to pause to fully let them sink in. So many ideas beautifully and horrifically delivered, and it was a thrill to read.

With only approximately 112 pages, this is a short novella, but it really packs a lot into such a small space. The plot moves along at a comfortable pace until the end when it picks up, and there are a few twists along the way that I really enjoyed.

The mermaid and her plague doctor are interesting characters, and though we don’t get a lot of time with them, they are still compelling to see in action. The love story is a little rushed, but given the length of the story and the fact that it’s essentially a fairytale, I can buy it. Their relationship is sweet, and I can see why they would fall for each other in the brief time we have with them. Also, big thumbs up for the non-binary rep!

If I had to find fault with this novella, it would be that there’s a lot of really fancy words, and it made reading a bit of a chore. Yes, I learned a lot of new words, and I can see a case for it lending itself well to the style of the story, but it was just a bit too wordy for my taste sometimes. If you’re a big word connoisseur and/or a hardcore logophile, you’ll love this book.

Final Thoughts:

I would consider this novella a “No Plot, Just Vibes” story, and I mean that as a compliment. It was a fun little break from longer books, and overall an engaging and enjoyable story. Honestly, it makes me want to seek out more novellas!

I will definitely be buying a physical copy of this book!

Release Date: May 2, 2023
Genre: Fantasy Horror
Themes: Upside down fairytales, blood and guts, ethereal in a good way

"I am a mother of monsters, better than any of my young."

The story begins with our unnamed mermaid narrator basking in the destruction of her husband's kingdom and the consumption of everyone within it. Emboldened by her escape, trapped in her mute human form, and accompanied by an enigmatic plague doctor, she sets out to begin a new chapter of her immortal life.

When they stumble upon a village of vicious children who serve dubious "saints," however, the pair gets mixed up in a gorey tale of macabre magic, attempted rebellion, and the horrific line between creation and destruction, forcing the main character to break the rules that have kept her a prisoner of her own world for so long.

It should be more than clear that this isn't "The Little Mermaid" story most of us know, or even the pessimistic myth from which it originated. Instead, Khaw has built a grim and beautiful mythology that's equal parts poetry and viscera. It's a world of fierce monsters and wanna-be gods. It's grisly and violent, but their command of language is on full display here, and even the most jarring scenes drip with a lusciousness that seems almost unfair for such bloody happenings.

My only complaint around this book - if it can even be called a complaint - is that I wish there was more of it. This novella was a quick read for me at about 90 pages in the ebook version. Khaw does an immense amount with such small real estate, but I would have been more than thrilled to be carried further along on the protagonist's journey through this terrifying, gorgeous world. Which I guess is a long way of saying yes, it really is that good.

For fans of: Admittedly this is my first book by Khaw, so I can't describe where it ranks amongst their prolific work (something I'll be changing in the very near future), but I would happily recommend this book to horror fantasy fans looking for something that feels similar to but is more bloody than Leigh Bardugo's "The Language of Thorns" story collection. Fans of the more supernatural elements of Christopher Buehlman's "Between Two Fires" will appreciate the lushly decrepit world that Khaw has created. I even think that particularly strong-stomached fans of female characters reclaiming their narratives - such as Madeline Miller's "Circe" - may also find themselves satisfied by how Khaw marries mythology and pure rage into a gem of a novella... If they can live with a little eyeball eating.

The verdict: This book is a horror fantasy fan's favorite dessert - it's deliciously rich, complex in all the right ways, and mournfully over before you're ready for it to be. I was intrigued, disgusted, in love, filled with righteous fury, and heartbroken over and over again in 90 pages - an unexpected triumph that few authors could pull off with such grace as Khaw.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for sending an ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Cassandra Khaw’s new novella, SALT GROWS HEAVY, is a visceral and blood stained fairytale.

In lyrical prose, we follow a mermaid stolen from the sea and mysterious plague doctor on a journey through the woods that and the unexpected events that lead their tale down a different path.

This novella is filled with dark whimsy and carnage - the kind of tale that I’ve been waiting for. And while it was a bit dense in some parts I throughly enjoyed this eerie fairytale.

Thank you to TorNighfire and NetGalley for the egalley

The thought process of reading this novella:

“Wow ok so she’s a mermaid neat”
—quick kindle dictionary check
“Oh her daughters ate a village? Mmmkay”
—another dictionary check
“Who TF is this doctor?”
—dictionary check
“IS THIS A CULT?!”
—multiple dictionary checks
“TF AM I READING AND WHY DO I LIKE IT??”
—more dictionary checks


I’ve never felt dumber but more entranced by a story before. Nightmare meets perfect prose meets fairy tale, this one reads like a wander through the woods. The deep, dark, cannibal-ridden woods.

You know what I’ve not read enough about in the horror genre? Mermaids!

Cassandra Khaw has delivered a horror novella that is seeped in folklore, cults, and vengeance. I love that Khaw has taken the story we all know about a certain mermaid and flipped it into something you could imagine Guillermo del Toro putting on the screen. Khaw’s writing is so vivid and imaginative that the reader can’t help being consumed by this story. There were parts where I really wanted to look away, but I just couldn’t stop wanting to know what was going to happen next. I did find myself googling a few terms here and there that were words like bezoar, that I’m not familiar with. It didn’t take away from the story and if anything served to continue peaking my interest.

I think it’s safe to say that Khaw is the only writer I know of who could somehow manage to sneak a love story into this novella. When the hints first started flying I thought no way and then like magic, they made it come to life in the most natural and fitting of ways, completely authentic to the rest of this story.

Bonus: This novella has possibly one of my favorite lines ever…
“It is always interesting to see how often women are described as ravenous when it is the men who, without exception, take without thought of compensation.”

A huge thank you to Tor Nightfire for my gifted copy!

I feel like calling The Salt Grows Heavy a twisted, gory, horror take on The Little Mermaid would be such a disservice to what it truly is. It is an examination of the cruelness of the very real world backdropped against the whispers of an achingly familiar fairy tale. Khaw doesn't just go back to the original body of work's darkness and tragedy, they bury deep into its marrow—slicing deep into it, sucking it out, and serving it up on each deliciously horrific page.

Khaw's ability to put such deeply nuanced exploration of the human—and not so human—soul and psyche in a short novella astounds me. I finished it in the wee hours of the morning, bombarding my family's group chat with my raving of how it feels as if this novella altered my brain chemistry. There was the me before I read it and who I am now after I have carved a place for it in my soul.

The Salt Grows Heavy is one of my most favorite stories I've ever read, finding odd companionship with Pride & Prejudice, Jane Eyre, Rebecca, Frankenstein, The Outsiders, and Their Eyes Were Watching God. All stories that transformed me and helped to mold me as a person. The Salt Grows Heavy earned it's blood-soaked crown amongst them.

This tale is not for the faint of heart, and I highly encourage you to review content and trigger warnings.

This was absolutely a gory and horrific fairy tale in all of the best ways. I was interested from the first page and this story took me through a snow covered taiga into a fantastical world full of nightmares and violence. I've always been a fan of fairy tales and I thoroughly enjoyed reading one that did not hold back on the horror. I will have to say though that because of the way this story was written it was often confusing to read and sometimes felt like a chore trying to decipher exactly what the author was meaning. I still highly recommend this, just know going into it that it is has a unique writing style and complex wording.

The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw is a horror novella heavy laden with prose. The story is short and a bit hard to follow. It is interesting to use such beautiful descriptive language for such horrendous acts. Very heavy on the body horror and mutilation of people including children. This was an interesting read, but it left be feeling confused.

I didn’t know what I was getting myself into, but I was ready to take the plunge the second I saw this book. The Salt Grows Heavy is a gloriously grotesque dark fantasy retelling three fairy tales: The Little Mermaid, How Some Children Played at Slaughtering, and The Three Army Surgeons, the latter two far less famous than the former. Khaw weaves these stories together to create a new fairy tale, one of cruelty, greed, and love.

Khaw’s mermaid is beautiful and vicious, all teeth and hunger, an angler fish dragged from the deep. I absolutely loved this portrayal of mermaids as a monstrous force of nature. The story of the mermaid here is much closer to Hans Christian Anderson’s original grim story while still embracing the romance of later iterations; it was a phenomenal retelling. This story is less creepy but instead elicits shock and awe.

I also have to mention that I appreciated the nod to the witch bride from These Deathless Bones, a short story that I absolutely adored. I had wished for more of the witch bride, and my wish came true! This is the third novella that I’ve read by Cassandra Khaw, and they never cease to amaze me with their gorgeous prose. Cassandra is easily one of the most creative writers publishing today, and I will read any of their books without question. The Salt Grows Heavy is one of their best works yet.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this fantastically dark book early!

I love dark fairy tale retelling as much as anyone these days, but sometimes I worry that the retelling and dark fairy tale market is a bit over-saturated at the moment. Nevertheless, I was pleasantly surprised by this creepy tale. It is truly unlike anything out there at the moment, as a mermaid and plague doctor (quite an unlikely pair) team up and face challenges both external and internal. The darkness simmers below the surface in this tale until the plot reaches its excellent climax that I, as a new horror reader, did not see coming.

Take note, that this story is not for the faint-hearted or those of weak stomach—at times, this story is darker than the synopsis makes it appear. But, if you are a fan of dark fantasy and horror that sheds light on our own nature, then this is definitely a book to pick up.

This was stunning. I was so immersed in this this world and it was so raw and emotional and lovely all at the same time. If you are a fan of gothic horror, this one is for you.

I figured out why the salt is so heavy… It’s because it is being weighed down by a bunch of unnecessarily pretentious words!!! I’m so torn on what rating to even give this novella, the story itself is fascinating and such a good twist on the Little Mermaid and it’s also giving Frankenstein vibes. However the authors word choices themselves were killing me! The SAT level vocabulary takes away from a smooth and immersive reading experience, I was constantly being taken out of the story because I had to google a word every other paragraph, sometimes every other sentence!! Please just put the thesaurus down! No one knows what paillettes are, but I promise we know what sequins are, you want to say very sparkly got it! Where were the beta readers and the editors? I feel like I can’t be the only one that felt so clueless reading this… but maybe they’re just smarter than me.

It took me 3 days to read a total of 97 pages, and I had to look up 54 words!! Most of them are so obscure and arcane like am I supposed to just know all of these??
I know it feels like I'm just completely hating on this book but the crazy thing is that I actually liked it!! I wish the bonus chapter (after the acknowledgements) which is really just the prologue had been longer, and included at the start because I do want to know more.

Ughhh 3 Stars, but it’s complicated!

Thank you so much Netgalley and TorNightfire for the digital ARC!

My Thoughts:

My Flabber is Gasted!

Did CK really need to go the hard?!

The answer is a resounding YES!

I enjoyed Nothing but Blackened Teeth so much that this next one from Cassandra Khaw was immediately on my radar. Her writing style is rich and thick and sets the scene like no other. It's out there. It's a little weird. It's macabre. It's different. I love it. It draws you in. I hung on to every word. A solid horror novella worth your time.

Phew! Cassandra Khaw's prose is always impeccable. This is a book you'll want to sink your teeth into. It's somehow both delicious and disgusting all at once, and I mean that in the best way. Beautiful, horrible, and heartfelt. Would not recommend reading while eating.

Cassandra Khaw is one of the most skilled and exciting writers on the horror scene today. With past works, Khaw combines folklore with dense, poetic writing and dark folklore. With flawed and imperfect characters both undergoing and causing suffering, it feels like their previous works were simply practice for the masterpiece that is The Salt Grows Heavy.

Combining dark fantasy with the post-apocalyptic, the story is told from the point of view of one of folklore’s most ubiquitous creations: a mermaid. A being who acknowledges her myriad forms through different cultures, the mermaid has murdered her noble husband and burned his kingdom to ash. On the run, she is joined by a mysterious plague doctor with their own inner darkness. The two form a deep bond, discovering a village full of ageless, bloodthirsty children and those who control them.

The Salt Grows Heavy would collapse under the weight of the magnificent prose and beautiful language if not for Khaw's skill with the cast. Khaw provides a luxurious feast of character depth through the mermaid and the plague doctor. These are two people who need one another, but also two very dangerous and very disturbed individuals who will stop at nothing to survive. But they wish to survive together.

With little page time, Khaw constructs a compelling narrative out of well-trod fairytales and breaks them out to reveal the rot at the center. The carnage is vividly rendered, but never does Khaw forget this is a story of people. The mermaid and her plague doctor are dazzlingly, disturbingly human.

The Salt Grows Heavy is an enthralling book, a reminder that fairy tales still have teeth.

Holy hell I devoured this. I consumed every inch of this book and it left a hollow pit in my stomach longing for more.

I was skeptical prior to starting. I wasn’t a fan of Nothing But Blackened Teeth. But THIS!! This novella was divine.

The story follows a mermaid shortly after birthing two children and her journey with a plague doctor following escape from a vicious husband.

The depth to this story, I became so attached to the characters and their story, their development and their relationship. This is something I normally struggle with with novellas. Not this one. I loved every second of their story, and I crave more.

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The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw is possibly one of the prettiest but most gruesome books I've read. Khaw's writing is lyrical, verging on the purple side, but it works to enhance the horror of the scenes they paint. From opening the book by describing how a house looks like the empty bones of a body, to the dark and atmospheric painting of the world in which our characters are traveling. Khaw manages to show us both the horror and beauty of what's around.

The story itself is concise. A former queen, think a twisted Little Mermaid after she bore the Prince children and they turned out to be the horrors that she truly is, and a Plague Doctor are leaving the devastated realm her children destroyed and traveling to another. They find themselves in a village of children that is controlled and 'cared for' by a trio of Saints. We see the reflection of what violence and the search for immortality can do to a person and the victims it creates. Our mermaid is silenced, through violence perpetrated upon her by her husband, and over the course of the story she finds her voice again and becomes the master of her own story and heart.

As I stated the horror in this is intense, I wouldn't recommend this for the faint of heart. From a description to eating an eyeball to the sight of someone's insides leaking out their front, Khaw cuts no corners. My only complaint, in truth, has nothing to do with that. I almost never say this but the epilogue on this felt a bit too much, and unneeded. A tidy and sweet ending to a brutal and visceral story. Though I'm giving this one a high mark, I do wish that last little bit had been left to the reader to decide.

5 out of 5 Plague Masks

*MILD SPOILERS AHEAD!*

This was a weird book. I think that overall I enjoyed it, but it was fucking weird.

So, basically a mermaid falls in love with a plague doctor, and things go incredibly sideways for most of the middle of the book. It had some very Lord of the Flies/Peter Pan lost boys vibes, with this group of mostly pre-teen boys living in the wild with these three “Saints” who have shown them the way to everlasting life. It’s incredibly violent and traumatic, and fairly upsetting.

Despite the large amounts of violence and gore in this book, the ending was actually quite tender and lovely.

Cassandra Khaw is really writing some unique stories, and while they may not be entirely for me, I really appreciate what she’s doing and that she’s having success writing these sometimes rather bizarre stories.

If you liked Blackened Teeth, there’s no doubt you’ll enjoy The Salt Grows Heavy, which is a strange combination of The Little Mermaid meets Frankenstein. It’s not hard to see those Little Mermaid parallels, but this has nothing to do with the Disney tale. No, this is about the kind of mermaid that has sharpened teeth perfect for devouring flesh. Ariel could never.

There are also elements of the Frankenstein story here, and Khaw does not spare us the details. With each cut of the knife and prod of the needle, we experience the pain and euphoria of the saints' experiments. Like in Nothing But Blackened Teeth, the author paints a picture as horrible as it is astonishing. Never have I read such gruesome scenes rendered so elaborately intricate so as to make them almost alluring—except in a Cassandra Khaw book.

There are several morals of the story here, including what defines being a monster—as well as embracing that darkness inside of you. Surprisingly—but fittingly—this is also a love story of sorts, and I ultimately found the ending immensely satisfying. Though The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw won’t be for everyone, I encourage anyone who’s interested in horror and mythology to explore what this book has to offer. You’ll certainly never look at mermaids the same way again.