The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo

The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo is a standalone novella set in a fantasy-tinged world based on imperial China. I picked it up because the blurb seemed interesting and also because it was a novella.

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.

This story is told in two timelines: a framing narrative set in the "present", in which a cleric, Chih, is investigating the titular Empress, and a series of flashbacks as Rabbit tells Chih about slices of her life with the Empress. As we gradually learn throughout the story, the Empress was pretty awesome, as were the people she chose to associate with. I liked the way in which the story was revealed in discrete chunks that furthered our understanding of the underlying story and the worldbuilding.

Honestly, the only negative thing I have to say about this novella is that I read it during the initial intensifying part of the pandemic (for where I'm living) and as a result I found it very hard to concentrate on it properly. I am pretty sure this wasn't the book's fault, since I very much enjoyed it when I was able to focus on it better. I think this will be one I'll have to reread at some point in the future. I feel confident that I'll enjoy it even more the second time around, for spotting the foreshadowing as well as my improved concentration.

I recommend The Empress of Salt and Fortune to readers who enjoy intrigue but don't feel like reading an entire epic fantasy trilogy for their fix. Also to readers who enjoy Chinese-inspired fantasy settings and/or framing narratives and/or are excited by the idea of war mammoths. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for Vo's future work.

4.5 / 5 stars

First published: March 2020, Tor.com
Series: No
Format read: eARC
Source: Publisher via NetGalley