Lilibet Bombshell's Reviews > The Salt Grows Heavy

I absolutely adore stories that read as both horrific and beautiful at the same time. Absolutely elegant prose filled with gore and terror. Colorful and evocative imagery juxtaposed against apathetic and dismissive dialogue. Compassionate concern wrapped in manipulation and poison. This novella is Hans Christensen Anderson, Poe, Dickinson, and Shelley tossed into a cauldron and simmered together into a black magic soup. And it is delicious.

I don’t normally give warnings. I don’t like them, because I feel it ruins the story. Especially if you’re reading dark fantasy or horror. In my opinion, you should pretty much be buckled in and ready for whatever when you open up a book in these genres. In this case, I am going to warn you this book isn’t for people who want to avoid gore or body horror. Just trust me on this.

Clocking in at around 115 pages (depending on your format), Cassandra Khaw makes efficient and effective use of every single word, using brilliant sentence and scene construction to bring this story together in the most economic, efficient, and elegant way possible. It’s not a complex story at its core: It’s two characters simply traveling together to see what’s over the next mountain. That’s generally what most stories are about, really: What’s over there? It’s a classic journey. In a full-length novel, the characters would be waylaid several times by side quests and subplots. In this novella, our two protagonists reach their first side quest and that’s where the vast majority of the story takes place.

I love that. I love that these two characters abandon their journey for what they think will just be a little while: First out of curiosity, then out of obligation, then out of vengeance, and then…Well, that would be spoiler territory.

It’s lovely and ghastly and perfect, in my opinion. Macabre, sinister, and sad. I highly recommend it.

I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All ideas, views, thoughts, and opinions expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.

File Under: Dark Fantasy/Horror/Mythological Fiction/Novella/Body Horror