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Library | Shelf Number | Material Type | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
Searching... Hattiesburg Library | FICTION KHAW | Book | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
"Khaw's poetic prose and stylish approach to gore make it a blood-soaked, unforgettable gem." -- The New York Times
From Cassandra Khaw, USA Today bestselling author of Nothing But Blackened Teeth , comes The Salt Grows Heavy , a razor-sharp and bewitching fairy tale of discovering the darkness in the world, and the darkness within oneself.
A Best Horror Book of 2023 ( The New York Times , Library Journal ) * An Best Book of 2023 (NPR) * A Bram Stoker Award Nominee! * An Indie Next Pick
You may think you know how the fairy tale goes: a mermaid comes to shore and weds the prince. But what the fables forget is that mermaids have teeth. And now, her daughters have devoured the kingdom and burned it to ashes.
On the run, the mermaid is joined by a mysterious plague doctor with a darkness of their own. Deep in the eerie, snow-crusted forest, the pair stumble upon a village of ageless children who thirst for blood, and the three "saints" who control them.
The mermaid and her doctor must embrace the cruelest parts of their true nature if they hope to survive.
"This brilliant novella is not to be missed." -- Publishers Weekly , STARRED review
"With this brilliantly constructed tale...Khaw cements their status as a must-read author." --Library Journal, STARRED review
Also by Cassandra Khaw :
Nothing But Blackened Teeth
A Song for Quiet
Hammers on Bone
The Dead Take the A Train (co-written with Richard Kadrey)
Author Notes
CASSANDRA KHAW is the USA Today bestselling author of Nothing But Blackened Teeth and the Bram Stoker Award-winner, Breakable Things . Other notable works of theirs are The Salt Grows Heavy and British Fantasy Award and Locus Award finalist, Hammers on Bone . Khaw's work can be found in places like The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction , Year's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy , and Tor.com . Khaw is also the co-author of The Dead Take the A Train , co-written with bestselling author Richard Kadrey.
Reviews (2)
Publisher's Weekly Review
In this twisting and pitch-black horror tale from Khaw (Nothing but Blackened Teeth), a voiceless mermaid plucked from the ocean ventures into a snowy forest alongside a melancholy plague doctor. These unlikely traveling companions soon encounter a village of mutilated children and uncover the architects of this bizarre encampment: three surgeons obsessed with immortality and the reconstitution of the body. As more of the village's terrible secrets come to light, the mermaid and the plague doctor must rely on each other to survive. Khaw's prose is rich and gorgeous ("In my dreams, I still swim that soundless black, still travel its eddies of salt and cold nothing"), and the surprising tenderness at the story's heart is only magnified by the violence and gore that surround it. Both elements prove devastatingly effective in constructing a folklore-infused world that feels wholly unique for contemporary horror fiction. Expertly blending a gothic atmosphere with elements of splatterpunk, this brilliant novella is not to be missed. (May)
Library Journal Review
What if the Little Mermaid laid eggs and her hatched children's hunger laid waste to her prince's land? Khaw's (Breakable Things) latest novella tackles this question with a brutally visceral but seductive opening sequence. The mermaid, who's been held captive and rendered mute by her husband, meets up with the only survivor in the land, a plague doctor. They soon come upon a band of children gleefully hunting another child at the direction of their keepers, "The Saints," three adult cult leaders who rebuild the near-death child with parts taken from themselves. Told in three sections, each satisfyingly complete as its own story, and ending with a cliff-hanger, this compelling tale features strong worldbuilding, innovative uses of body-horror tropes, lush language, and a captivatingly direct narration as it takes the protagonists and readers on a journey to contemplate what it means to be "saved." VERDICT With this brilliantly constructed tale that consciously takes on a well-known story and violently breaks it open to reveal a heartfelt core, Khaw cements their status as a must-read author. For fans of sinister, thought-provoking, horrific retellings of Western classics by authors of marginalized identity like Helen Oyeyemi and Ahmed Saadawi.