The Salt Grows Heavy

Hardcover, 128 pages

Published May 12, 2023 by Titan Books.

ISBN:: 978-1-80336-342-4

(1 review)

Myths are full of lies. This is not one of them.

Fleeing the downfall of an empire, a mermaid and her plague doctor companion escape into the eerie shadows of a wintery forest.

Amongst the bark and snow they are drawn into ancient games for ageless children – a murderous hunt of blood and sacrifice – deep in the woods, where three who call themselves ‘saints’ rule over them all like gods.

Trapped in a feverish nightmare of masked monsters, stitches and surgeons, and needle teeth, the mermaid must embrace all of her cruelty and hungers to free the children.

4 editions

enne📚 reviewed The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw

The Salt Grows Heavy

4 stars

I quite enjoyed this dark fairy tale / body horror novella about the relationship between a mermaid and a plague doctor, as they investigate mysterious violent children in the woods in the thrall of three surgeon saints. I enjoyed the prose quite a bit, but I am also a sucker for stories about monsters and bodies, broken and (re)constructed.

(Also seriously though, I will content warn for on page violence, death, and gore. Various characters are eviscerated several times on page.)

The ebook that I read also included the short story "And In Our Daughters, We Find a Voice", which can be read here: www.thedarkmagazine.com/daughters-find-voice/

It's possible that I'm slow on the uptake, and so I didn't twig to the fact that the mermaid in The Salt Grows Heavy having her tongue cut out (losing her voice, in other words) was a riff on the little mermaid story. This short …

I quite enjoyed this dark fairy tale / body horror novella about the relationship between a mermaid and a plague doctor, as they investigate mysterious violent children in the woods in the thrall of three surgeon saints. I enjoyed the prose quite a bit, but I am also a sucker for stories about monsters and bodies, broken and (re)constructed.

(Also seriously though, I will content warn for on page violence, death, and gore. Various characters are eviscerated several times on page.)

The ebook that I read also included the short story "And In Our Daughters, We Find a Voice", which can be read here: www.thedarkmagazine.com/daughters-find-voice/

It's possible that I'm slow on the uptake, and so I didn't twig to the fact that the mermaid in The Salt Grows Heavy having her tongue cut out (losing her voice, in other words) was a riff on the little mermaid story. This short story prequel is much more obviously a retelling of that story. In my opinion, it can be read after or before The Salt Grows Heavy. It's got a similar tone (body horror, fairy tale vibes) but a different thematic focus.