AAPI Heritage Month #17

author: Chinese Malaysian

I was first interested in picking up Cassandra's work when I saw the cover for Nothing But Blackened Teeth. Since the audio didn't work for me, it has been on my list to try on print/ebook. I'll get to it during next month's themed reads. Or October's.

This was a weird one, and I love weird. A mermaid comes to shore to marry a prince. We all know that story, yes? Yeah, no. She births a half-breed race of cannibals that eats their entire kingdom. Still with me?

So the mermaid goes on the run with an androgynous plague doctor. I didn't love the voice the narrator used for them, but that's personal preference. Anyway, they go on a journey. They find these little vampire children.

I'm fine with the mermaid cannibals. I'm fine with the vampire children. I'm not sure both made sense, but perhaps I'm not the target audience here. I'd like to eventually try this on print. I kept zoning in and out while listening to the audio. But I will be picking up more of Cassandra's books, because they're non-binary and I like to support marginalized authors.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher.

Khaw has such gorgeous, elaborate, descriptive writing that I absolutely love. Her vocabulary certainly gives you a run for the money! I enjoyed this novella but I do have to say I was a bit confused about the story and its characters overall- until I read the 6 or so pages included in the back that are actually the immediate prequel to this story. From looking it up, it looks like Khaw originally wrote a short story that is very much Little Mermaid meets Grimm’s Fairy Tales. She then wrote this novella immediately following the events of that short story. I wish I had read this short story before starting the novella because it definitely helped clear up a lot of confusion for me. The novella itself didn’t really have many Little Mermaid feels to me, it most definitely reminded me of Frankenstein though!

Great narration!

This is one of those "It's not you, it's me" moments. I liked the general premise of this, a dark Little Mermaid retelling. Unfortunately, I couldn't get invested in this story. There just seemed to be a lot of gore and I couldn't grasp onto a solid plot or the characters. DNF @ 63%.

Thanks to the publisher for this audio arc!

By outfitting this adult Little Mermaid retelling with Full Gory Horror*** regalia (not that you’d be reading anything by Cassandra Khaw if you didn’t like horror, but JEEZ twtwtw***), she has masterfully landed on a story that is (in atmosphere) both closer to the original fairytale AND more relatable to contemporary readers.
The narrator chosen for this audiobook was perfect and added to the overall eeriness.

While I am not used to reading horror, this book hit the nail on the head for me thematically. I find the discussion of “how much can one physically change while still remaining the same person” incredibly compelling (re: Becky Chambers’ ‘Monk and Robot’ series).
I also loved that the main character isn’t intended to be entirely likeable; it was a strong choice for such an age-old story, and I think it worked.

This was bold and brutal (did I mention this book is GORY?! Like, eating-peoples’-eyeballs-and-describing-how-they-taste gory), and I loved it. Consider me equal parts unsettled and intrigued.
Well played, Mz. Khaw.

4.5

Dark and deadly mermaids really called to me from the synopsis and I liked the dark tone that this took overall. I really enjoyed the descriptive language of this book, but at the same time I found it somehow distracting from the horror elements as well.

In the end, THE SALT GROWS HEAVY was a quick read and worth giving a try, but not one that I ultimately loved.

I ended up DNFing. The vocabulary used through out was just above me and having to look up the meanings of things so often just made for a poor reading experience.

I enjoyed this much more than Nothing But Blackened Teeth. I loved the atmosphere that was created, but I do still feel that Khaw’s writing would really thrive in a longer form than the novella and continue to keep my fingers crossed for a longer work. I would have loved for parts of this to feel less rushed so that they could really be immersive. Thank you to Tor & NetGalley for the ARC

Maybe because I listened to it on audio, but I didn't care for the story. It was grotesque, which I can handle, but it was also meandering. I wish there was more explanation of the backstory to understand why the main character and the Plague Doctor were in the woods, who they were staying with, why, etc. DNF at 60%

The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw is delightfully dark and wildly weird in all its organic and creative glory. The prose and world built are nothing short of brilliant. I love this level of weirdness! Brilliant!

I received a review copy of this book from the author/publisher through NetGalley for my honest review. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

Book Name: The Salt Grows Heavy
Author: Cassandra Khaw

ARC
Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for Cassandra Khaw’s novella The Salt Grows Heavy

Stars: 3.5
Spice: NA

Audiobook
Narrator: Susan Dalian
Audiobook
- Calm Smooth Narration
- Theatrical Dialogue
- Lyrical Beauty Juxtaposed with Horror

Book

- Standalone
- Cliffhanger:
- Single POV
- High Fantasy Dark Storybook Retelling
- Little Mermaid + Frankenstein + Cult
- Topic:
- Dark Little Mermaid Epilogue
- Revenge & Survival
- Monstrosity & Humanity
- Tropes
- Monsters
-
- Thoughts.
- Atmospheric and Detailed
- SO DARK
- Body Horror and Torture
- If Hans Christian Andersen was an Feminist with a penchant for Horror
- A step into the horror genre for those who love romance and fairytales.

Fairytales conjure images of love, beauty, and happy endings, but what happens when you spin a fairytale into a horror novel? We get twisted love, darkness, and a gory quest for eternal life. Cassandra Khaw takes Ariel’s (The Little Mermaid) story to dark corners.

Our mermaid escapes her kingdom because her daughters burned it down. She joins an androgynous plague doctor in search of a new kingdom and stumbles upon a village of ageless children ruled by three “Saints.” To survive this deadly village, the mermaid and the doctor must rely on their own destructive nature.

What I liked:
✨Blend of fantasy + horror + dystopian + cult vibe + fairytale retelling
✨Body Gore - lots of it, including body mutilation and consumption.
✨Dark, twisted love story - I loved this creepy romance - @the.smashbot.diaries pegged this correctly with her reference to Frankenstein. Check out her review.

I will add that the story is quite lyrical. The prose and vocabulary, at times, worked both exceptionally well and, at the same time, challenging to comprehend on audio. I’m glad I have the physical copy to reread. This book will not be for everyone. So, I recommend this one for dark horror lovers.

The Salt Grows Heavy is a dark and twisted retelling of a fairytale we all know: The Little Mermaid.

That is enough said on really what this is about, but I want to further this a bit more-I want you to think less of The Little Mermaid we know and love by Disney, but to really think of the Brother's Grimm when it comes to the fairytale.

The Salt Grows Heavy is really dark and reimagines this fairytale of the mermaid as a fantasy and horror tale. There are cannibal mermaids and we see our main character travel with a plague doctor. It's definitely an interesting concept and image.

For those who do not know, this is a novella and is obviously a fast read. The story was well done and I think because I read this on audiobook, I did not get to encompass the atmosphere of the story well and it could have been the narrator pulling me out of the story since I found myself engaged and not engaged as I was listening to this book.

This novella is really gory so discretion beware and I did find this novella to be fascinating at times. I think for me this was an okay read, but like I said it could have been a different experience if I physically read this book.

I received this audiobook in exchange for my review via NetGalley and Macmillan Audio, all opinions stated here are my own. This title was published May 02, 2023.

I do appreciate the beauty of the language Cassandra Khaw used in this story, but the story dragged on for how short this book is, and I found it was difficult to keep track of what was going on in the plot, causing me to want it to be over. I almost DNF'd this title but wanted to see it through in case the plot got easier to follow, which was not the case for me. This is a dark story, involving lots of gore which is not usually my thing. I do see lots of others have rated this well, so maybe it is me that isn't a good match for this book. I will continue to keep an open mind and try titles that are a little outside of my comfort zone, but this one was a miss for me.

Note: I did not finish this book due to the graphic violence

A gorgeous and gruesome journey through a world of fairytales and folklore.

Beautifully written with lush and vivid poetic prose. The narrator of the audiobook is fantastic and the voices are absolute perfection.

The text is intricate and compelling, and I had to listen closely and attentively to follow, but it was not difficult to stay enrapt.

What was difficult, was that this book far exceeded my personal threshold for graphic violence. In the part I listened to (about the first 2 hours), it draws on "The Little Mermaid" and other lore about merfolk, "How the Children Played at Slaughtering" (a tale the Grimm Brothers removed from later editions of Kinder- und Hausmärchen due to its extreme violence), and "The Three Army Surgeons" (which I was not familiar with beforehand) - so pretty universally brutal source material. Every violent moment (which is essentially every moment) is lingered in, fleshed out, explicated in rich, sensuous prose. The effect is incredible, but overwhelming.

I you enjoy rich, complex, literary books filled with relentless brutal imagery, I highly recommend this one. If you prefer your violence perfunctory and underdeveloped, this is one to skip.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review

Our story begins with a mermaid princess and an androgynous plague doctor walking away from a ruined kingdom. They venture into a snowy forest where they stumble upon a village with ageless children & the ‘saints’ who oversee them. Now the stage is set for this darkly atmospheric fairytale that will see our two protagonists embracing the darkest parts of their inner nature in order to survive.
Susan Dalian does a wonderful job of bringing Cassandra Khaw’s words to life. Khaw has created such a tantalizingly dark world that is somehow both terrifying and beautiful. I found myself so invested in the relationship between the mermaid and the plague doctor that the gore never felt overwhelming but just a necessary part of their story. I will say that I only ready horror when it leans more toward dark fantasy or psychological as I’m not a fan of gore but in this situation, it wasn’t off putting for me as this was a rather short novella, if it had been a longer story then it may have been too much for me. Overall, an atmospheric novella that rides the line between horror and dark fantasy with a touching yet unexpected relationship at its heart.
Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for early access to this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

not your typical mermaid story. a mermaid & a plague doctor encounter a young child being hunted by other children in an eerie village. the village is full of ageless children who thirst for blood, and the saints who control them. it just gets darker & more gruesome from there. beautiful writing filled with a lot of disturbing images & body horror. could have used a bit more elaboration on some elements, but overall i did enjoy this one, even if it made my stomach curdle.

I had no idea what I was getting into when I requested this book. Mermaids not being the cute and loveable Ariel was a great twist. I definitely would love to see more fairy tales flipped on their head as Khaw did this tale. They crammed so much into such a short story, yet I was never confused and feeling like there was anything missing from the story. I now want to read more by this author.

This book is a dark and brilliantly twisted version of a fairytale most of us know from our child hood. I never knew a story could make an eyeball sound so delicious!

This book has everything: frangipane, cannibal children, bezoars, delightful descriptions of eating human flesh

The relationship between the mermaid and plague doctor was so tender and loving, I couldn’t help but root for them.
This story has so much imagery and painted a picture like no other. It was simply beautiful and I will definitely be checking out more of Cassandra’s work in the future.

The narrator was great!

Thank you Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the ALC. A special thanks for Cassandra Khaw! All opinions are my own.

A newly imagined take on mermaids and what terrifying creatures they really are. Lyrical prose and graphic descriptions blended perfectly together in this amazing book!

This story follows a mermaid, who marries a prince. It is not what you think. This is a mermaid with no love for humanity. The ripple effect of her presence is destroying their world.

This fairy tale is grippingly dark and gut wrenching it gruesome. It reminds me of classic horror tales like those written by Poe or Shelley’s Frankenstein. The protagonist is a monster, and we know it, but he can’t help but feeling that the humans around her are even worse. I love the idea of a mermaid that is a predator. While she is an enigma to humanity, her perception of us is quite accurate.

I did this one on audio and listen straight through. When it finished, I wanted to go back and listen again to gather all the beautiful words I hadn’t caught the first time.

Thanks to MacMillan Audio for gifted access via Netgalley. All opinions above are my own.