The Empress of Salt and Fortune (The Singing Hills Cycle, 1)

Lovely. I really liked the setup of 'here are the stories I know as a servant, passed to you, an 'impartial' cleric, come to catalogue the empress' home in exile after her death and that little by little the layers are drawn away until we get the bigger story. Even in this little novella I was instantly drawn in and found it quite easy to slip into the fullness of this lake house (and the inner palace in the stories, at times). I will happily continue this series!

Today's read: The Empress of Salt and Fortune (Singing Hills Cycle 1) by Nghi Vo

Genre: Asian-inspired fantasy, LGBTQ+ friendly, mystery, novella

Awards: 2021 Hugo for best Novella, 2021 Locus for Best Novella

I very much enjoyed this novella. I didn't read any reviews, so I had no idea what to expect. What I got was a mystery, slowly unpeeled as Chih investigates forgotten belongings from the Empress' past, layer by layer an unexpected truth is revealed. A lyrical and compassionate read about power, oppression, secrets, and loyalty.

A perfect read for the Year of the Rabbit.

Chih, a travelling monk, is collecting stories to save the history of the recently passed Empress. On the journey, they stumble across a dangerous secret.

"When Chih straightened, ghosts and road and empress were gone, leaving nothing behind but Chih’s own pounding heart." ... so begins Story of ghosts and the past that haunts an empire.

Features both non-binary and queer characters.

[Spoilers ahead] For a story told looking back, there's no preamble or info dump - the author assumes the reader will catch up, as indeed I did. At first this seemed a story of unrelenting cruelty to an young woman given over to be an Emperor's wife as a pawn in a battle between kingdoms. She was not popular and was friendless. She gave birth to a prince and was then sterilized and banished. It all sounded pretty hopeless. Far from it. The story that unfolded revealed a woman of resilience, courage and above all, intelligence. The story is told by an old retainer of the Empress, Rabbit, to a visiting chronicler of history and the masterful strategy is slowly revealed. I started off hesitantly, not sure if I was going to enjoy it, especially as it seemed somewhat passive with its retrospective viewpoint, but I ended up loving it.

I avoided this novella for a while because I'm frankly quite tired of all the " [Whatever] of X and Y" titles out there, and now I'm mad at myself for letting that keep me away from this absolutely stellar little story. The characters are so satisfyingly layered, with compelling flaws and deeply-felt motives that kept me emotionally invested for the whole ride. On top of that, the queer characters are well-written and feel like a natural part of the story rather than being shoe-horned in and awkwardly reduced to their gender/sexuality. It made me, as a nonbinary person, incredibly happy to read about a nonbinary character whose gender feels present and relevant within the story, but doesn't serve as their defining characteristic. And there's no forced and clunky Gender 101 talk between characters, which is a tactic that probably has a place somewhere but always ends up feeling both alienating and patronizing to me whenever I encounter it.

Vo really hooked me with the cast of interesting and well-developed characters, but the plot and world-building are also nothing to scoff at. So much is accomplished within a fairly small number of pages-- the writing never feels rushed or utilitarian, but every word brings more depth to the characters, their lives and their world. And although many stories have been written about the fall of one great power and the rise of another, The Empress of Salt and Fortune brings an intimate perspective to this grand undertaking. Battle plans and complex political intrigue clearly take place, but that's not the focus; instead, Vo showcases the private little moments between people that grow to shake the world. It feels human, it feels real, and it's a welcome break from "gritty" fantasy that thinks graphic depictions of bloodshed, rape, and misery are the only way to make an emotional impact.

This is a beautiful gem of a story. Unlike many shorter works I have read, it feels rich and complete in itself. The characters are vivid and feel real despite the fantasy aspects of the story. They have flaws and strengths and depth to them. I was moved to tears a few times.

It’s a story that reveals its heart in layers. I hadn’t known much of anything about the plot before I started reading, and about half way through I said “Oh, that’s what’s going on here,” and went back and reread the first part with my new understanding. (And found it well worth the effort to reread).

Many parts of this book will stay with me. But above all, I find it an amazing story of deep friendship and what huge personal costs may be involved in staying true to that friendship. It’s a book that makes you look at the world a little differently, and that’s a rare treat.

A wonderful first installment to this series. We are introduced to a cleric Chih on a detour of sorts from their current destination and task, but in this detour we are given the story that was meant to be told. I really like stories that feel a bit like puzzles and that is what is given here. You get bits and pieces until everything comes together at the end. The writing is evocative and poignant and even the bits of inventory help to bring the story to life and that is why I enjoyed it so much. A interesting book that explores that way that stories are told and recorded.

This novella has a dreamlike quality with no readily apparent plot. Set in a lush, fantastical dynastic era of ancient China, it proceeds mainly in the form of questions from a historian who has made his way to an eerie lakeside abode and responses elicited from an aged woman. Since girlhood, Rabbit has served an empress who was cruelly exiled from court after producing the requisite male heir. In her "brush and ink" style, Nghi Vo breathes life into her ghosts, lovers, rogues, sentient birds, discarded concubines, fortune tellers, and the single-minded historian/cleric whose role--whether religious or secular is unclear--is uncovering for posterity the events that shaped the beleaguered empress' choices and changed the course of history.

In an Asian empire that is not China, but perhaps based on it, Cleric Chih and their intelligent, talking bird, Almost Brilliant, are sent on a mission from the Singing Hills abbey to document the history of a former empress's place of exile.

In-yo came to Anh to marry its emperor, as a young woman from the far north, from a different culture, with a rich dowry, but no friends or allies. She learned the customs and ways of her new country, and gave birth to a son to be the heir.

Then she is banished to a rural estate called Thriving Fortune, a house that overlooks Scarlet Lake.

Chih arrives on their assignment after the place has been closed off for half a century, and finds there an old woman, the empress's former handmaid, Rabbit.

The story alternates between Chih and Almost Brilliant as Chih works their way through documents, artifacts, and lesser stories from Rabbit, and Rabbit telling larger stories about her time with the Empress, both at court and in exile. It's fascinating, surprising, and absorbing. It's a story smart use of soft power, female strength and courage, and revenge. It takes some surprising turns, and the characters are complex and interesting.

Well worth your time.

I bought this book.

I was excited to read this story after it won a Hugo for best novella. It takes place in a historical Chinese setting, and is about an enby priest who is recording history for their temple’s records, along with a talking bird sidekick. The story starts when they meet an old woman named Rabbit, who tells her life story serving the late empress. I liked that each chapter started with a list of items, creating focal points that lead to new tidbits of the story. While it was a bit difficult for me to totally get into the book in the first 1/3, I became more interested as Rabbit’s story unfolded. Overall, it was a very satisfying, poetic novella.

There's nothing wrong with this little novella. It has nice writing, an interesting world inspired by East Asian mythology and culture--though we only know superficially about it by the end of the story--, lovely LGBT+ content, and some nice characters.

The Empress of Salt and FOrtune is about a cleric named Chih who is traveling the kingdom of Anh to record things for historical research. They come upon an elderly woman named Rabbit who lives alone in a monastery (I think it was a monastery). Rabbit tells Chih the story of the late Empress In-yo, the titular empress, who was from a land foreign to Anh. She tells them how the Empress of Salt and Fortune was both loved and hated while telling them her own story.

As I said, there's' nothing wrong with the book. It's a nice little story, but we only know so much about the world and characters. Rabbit is probably the most fleshed out through both her current discussions with Chih and with the revelation of her background as a handmaiden to Empress In-yo. In-yo's story subtly reveals the prejudices of colonialism, sexism, and ethnocentrism (she was considered barbaric and came from different people like Rabbit) within the world of East Asian imperialism. It was a nicely done message.

Again, nothing too bad about this novella. Nothing too good. It was nice. Uncertain, if I'll read the sequel. That might fill things in though.