This narrator did a phenomenal job!! I had already read the story (which was fantastic) but for the story to be told in such a way truly made it come alive. It was creepy-atmospheric in the best way! I would certainly reach for this audiobook again.

I really enjoyed this. The length is good for this book. It's a very good, gory novella that definitely doesn't shy away from the traditional fairy tales and mythology surrounding mermaids and other creatures. The mermaid and the plague doctor are an unlikely duo; however, I am here for it. My jaw dropped several times. Like horror novellas? You should read this.

4.5/5

Horror Category: Body Horror/Dark Fantasy

The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw is a book akin to the authentic Brothers Grimm fairy tales. At 112 pages, this novella does justice to traditional fairy tales in that it is packed with imagery, is extremely atmospheric, and weaves messages throughout the story. It does all of this without ever naming any of the characters.

Our main character, originally called a mermaid, can more aptly be described as a siren. Regardless of this, she is a monster. Her companion, known only as the Plague Doctor, is a monster. The prince was a monster. Every character in this book is a monster of some sort. There are human monsters, supernatural monsters as well as created monsters. But, no one is ever given a name because monsters can have any name and be found anywhere.

I experienced this book via audiobook. The narrator, Susan Dalian, does a phenomenal job of bringing the lush imagery of the book alive. When listening to the descriptions of the setting, I pictured an icy northern seaside village dipped in gray with a base of black ice. The body horror scenes made my stomach turn, as they should.

One of this novel's major strengths is that it is a hodgepodge of various horror elements. I would say it is a dark retelling of The Little Mermaid, but the original tale the Disney movie was based on was already dark. Combine that with Frankenstein and various other horror elements and you will get this dark treasure of a novella.

The only negative I can give this novella is centered around the prose. While it is beautiful and lyrical, it was difficult to understand in the beginning. I enjoy beautiful prose, but I prefer it to lead me in a straight line of storytelling. This prose felt like it was leading me around in circles for the first quarter of the book.

Withstanding that, I can firmly recommend this book if you like the strange and unusual.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for providing me with an advance copy of the audiobook.

#NetGalley #TheSaltGrowsHeavy

Phenomenal.

The Little Mermaid meets Frankenstein.

A story of love found, lost, and found again. A story of possession taken and given freely.

Dark and bloody and lovely.

This one was really interesting, I just don't think it was for me. The concept was an original twist on familiar themes, they just aren't the types I enjoy reading. I will for sure be looking at Khaw's other books because I really enjoyed the writing.

I think this would be great for readers of contemporary fairytales and fans of The Book Eaters.

Rounded up to 4 stars because in a world where we send people into space and have computers in our pockets, Goodreads cannot manage half star options.

This very short horror novella is outside my normal genre which is my 2023 goal. I want to open up my reading into places I normally do not visit. The Salt Grows Heavy hits that mark in so many different ways. It's a fantasy horror mermaid cannibal tale with an incredible amount of gore, a plague doctor, children and then some more gore. I was unfamiliar with author Cassandra Khaw, but plan to check out more of her writing - she definitely knows how to use words to paint a very disturbing picture.

As an audio book this was slightly less than 3 hours and an easy chance to sample some ...... did I say gore?

BRAVO! MAGNIFICENT!

Okay, for one, I'm so thankful to Cassandra Khaw and Tor NightFire for sending me an Advanced Reader Copy of this gorgeously jaw-dropping horror novella before it's set to publish on May 2, 2023.

Second, I was lucky enough to participate in a buddy read of sorts (even though I suck at those) with the always lovely @Readergirlie. A book this short is quickly sufficient to binge in an hour or two.

The Salt Grows Heavy is a horror novella that tells the tale of an unlikely pair: A ravenous mermaid and a plague doctor. The two travel across the land, seeking vengeance for an undisclosed reason, feasting on the bodies and souls of the unfortunate passerby of the moment. When the duo comes across an odd campsite that tasks their children with hunting each other for sport and resurrection purposes, the plague doctor decides to use his gift for good and save as many poor children as possible.

This fortress includes the task force of several zombie-like surgeons who maim and torture their patients, stitching together various demises and body parts, all to defeat mortality. Backed by the murderous rage of the land-bound mermaid and the plague doctor's unresolved trauma and healing abilities, they combine their forces with standing up against these cult-like practices, and in turn, we see a love story like no othe

A fairy tale reimagining of the Little Mermaid with lots of body horror and a touch of Frankenstein. And lets throw in a plague doctor and a village of creepy children, because why not? If you like gore and folklore, it’s worth a shot. I’m not sure if I liked this, but it was significantly better than Nothing but Blackened Teeth. The love story was surprisingly sweet, for a book pretty heavy on cannibalism, and I enjoyed the epilogue. Overall, a solid horror novella.

I really liked this narrator and will be keeping an eye out for her on future audiobooks I pick up.

Not my usual genre. That said I loved the concept and was very intrigued by the blurb. With Khaw being a fairly talked about new author, I figured I’d give this a go.

Overall I really enjoyed it. Very vivid prose, while I’ll go ahead and call this somewhat genre bending with its folklore elements there is no doubt that it is a fairly gruesome horror story. Honestly it really reminded me of early fairytales with its portrayal of violence and gore- graphic but with that somewhat taken in stride. The telling of an odd love story alongside a quick, bloody fable exploring the existence of souls and the power of manipulating another’s body and mind.

This is a super quick read that honestly probably could have been stretched out to a much more detailed story. Still I enjoyed and definitely would recommend!

The best Horror shows rather than tells, and this is alllll tell.

I am not a huge fan of body horror in general, but when well-deployed it can work. When it doesn’t work, as is the case with this book, is when plot takes a back seat to what feels like the proverbial kitchen sink of every gross thing the author could think up.

I actually forgot that the protagonist was a mermaid partway through this despite how short it is because the text was so fixated on eye roll-inducing, gross-out violence rather than story or character.

The cannibalism aspect of this in particular left me feeling something akin to secondhand embarrassment. It isn’t even scary. Or suspenseful. Or meaningful. It’s just gross.

I can see what Khaw was trying to do here, from an allegorical standpoint. And she clearly has a gift for deftly deploying language. That is, when that language isn’t focused on cramming as many uses as possible into the text of words like “viscera” and “vivisect.”. Y’know, because it sounds so VISCERALLY icky. Sigh.