Empire of Salt and Fortune

A 2020 ALA Booklist Top Ten SF/F Debut A Book Riot Must-Read Fantasy of 2020 A Paste Most Anticipated Novel of 2020 A Library Journal Debut of the Month A Buzzfeed Must-Read Fantasy Novel of Spring 2020 A Washington Post Best SFF of the Year So Far Pick Named Book Riot`s Best Book Cover of 2020 Named a Best of 2020 Pick for NPR Library Journal NYPL Chicago Public Library The Austen Chronicle Autostraddle 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.