The Empress of Salt and Fortune

Starred review from January 20, 2020
Vo’s adventurous debut combines myth and fable with political intrigue to build a stunning feminist fantasy set in a land inspired by imperial China. Chih, a traveling cleric, and their bird, Almost Brilliant, meet Rabbit, an elderly woman who spent her life as a handmaiden, and collect her many stories. Rabbit was sold to the court when she was five years old because her parents could not pay their full taxes. Once installed there, Rabbit quickly rose in the ranks of servants. The exiled Empress In-Yo from the North arrived at court later intending to take part in a political marriage and produce an heir. Both outsiders, In-Yo and Rabbit form a fast bond that runs deep, defying simple categorization. As Rabbit, who has remained loyal to the empress, reveals a tale of conspiracies and rebellion, Chih must decide what they will do with these spilled imperial secrets. The subtlety and nuance of Vo’s evocative storytelling lend the novella an epic, timeless feel. Equal parts love and rage, this masterfully told story is sure to impress. Agent: Diana Fox, Fox Literary.

Starred review from February 15, 2020
A young novice, Chih, and their hoopoe companion make their way to the house where the Empress of Salt and Fortune once lived in exile, hoping to recover and note any artifacts for the abbey's historical records. Instead they find an old woman named Rabbit, who tells them that back when the empress was just a northern royal named In-yo, Rabbit was her shadow, her servant, and her devoted friend, and she can tell stories no one else would know. This novella tells an epic story through small moments and intricate details, and its world-building is done with care, from the codes hidden in fortunes and linguistics to the folktales mentioned in passing in Rabbit's story. In-yo is a transfixing figure, and Rabbit is a moody, fascinating character in her own right. Vo's debut has it all: from sapphic love to cruel betrayals; from political intrigue to lakes that glow red to ghosts that continue to walk old paths. Despite its length, The Empress of Salt and Fortune will appeal to all fans of epic fantasy, and readers will be excited to read whatever Vo comes up with next.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

Starred review from March 1, 2020

After war comes a political marriage: A young royal woman from the north arrives in the Emperor of Ahn's palace to become Empress and signal a new beginning. But In-yo is a stranger in a strange land, reviled for her foreign origin, and eventually exiled to a mage-created summer prison after birthing a son. With her is Rabbit, a handmaiden sold by her family to the palace to cover a tithe, becoming friend and confidante to the new empress. For the next four years, In-yo's surface is stoic and resigned, but as spies and fortunetellers sift through her residence, she begins to ascend a path that will lead her away from the decisions of the men in power--to find her own. VERDICT Rich details and emotional prose captures readers from the first page of this imaginative and powerful novella. Spun through reflections of the past, in archived objects of love and hate, the tale of Rabbit and In-yo lights up the dark history of monarchy and turns it into a delightful feminist fantasy.--Kristi Chadwick, Massachusetts Lib. Syst., Northampton

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