Love, Danger, Homecomings & Heart — Your June Reading Escape Starts Here

The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo

Purchase

Add to Wish List

Also by Nghi Vo:

The Scarlet Ball, October 2026
Hardcover
A Long and Speaking Silence, May 2026
Hardcover / e-Book / audiobook
The City in Glass, October 2024
Hardcover / e-Book
The Brides of High Hill, May 2024
Hardcover / e-Book
Mammoths at the Gates, September 2023
Hardcover / e-Book
Siren Queen, June 2023
Trade Paperback / e-Book (reprint)
Siren Queen, May 2022
Hardcover / e-Book
The Chosen and the Beautiful, May 2022
Trade Size / e-Book (reprint)
The Chosen and the Beautiful, June 2021
Hardcover / e-Book
The Empress of Salt and Fortune, April 2020
Trade Size / e-Book

THE EMPRESS OF SALT AND FORTUNE
By: Nghi Vo

Singing Hills Cycle
Tor.com
April 2020
On Sale: March 24, 2020
112 pages
ISBN: 125075030X
EAN: 9781250750303
Kindle: B07VH6Y4JD
Trade Size / e-Book
Add to Wish List

Young Adult Coming of Age | Fantasy

With the heart of an Atwood tale and the visuals of a classic Asian period drama, Nghi Vo's The Empress of Salt and Fortune is a tightly and lushly written narrative about empire, storytelling, and the anger of women.

A young royal from the far north, is sent south for a political marriage in an empire reminiscent of imperial China. Her brothers are dead, her armies and their war mammoths long defeated and caged behind their borders. Alone and sometimes reviled, she must choose her allies carefully.

Rabbit, a handmaiden, sold by her parents to the palace for the lack of five baskets of dye, befriends the emperor's lonely new wife and gets more than she bargained for.

At once feminist high fantasy and an indictment of monarchy, this evocative debut follows the rise of the empress In-yo, who has few resources and fewer friends. She's a northern daughter in a mage-made summer exile, but she will bend history to her will and bring down her enemies, piece by piece.

Praise for The Empress of Salt and Fortune

“An elegant gut-punch, a puzzle box that unwinds itself in its own way and in its own time. I cannot recommend it highly enough. Gorgeous. Cruel. Perfect. I didn't know I needed to read this until I did.”—Seanan McGuire

"A tale of rebellion and fealty that feels both classic and fresh, The Empress of Salt and Fortune is elegantly told, strongly felt, and brimming with rich detail. An epic in miniature, beautifully realised."—Zen Cho