On these dark winter evenings, with Storm Barra bringing blustering gales, it’s the perfect time to cosy up with a good read. I bring you two recommendations, currently among my favourite fantasy reads:
The Empress of Salt and Fortune, by Nghi Vo
The Empress of Salt and Fortune is a delightfully exquisite read. Set against a backdrop reminiscent of Imperial China, it tells the story of the empress In-Yo who is sent south for a political marriage. With her brothers dead, and her armies and their war mammoths defeated, she is alone in a mage-made summer exile. But this northern daughter is powerful enough to bring her enemies down. Told using layers of stories bound in culture and mythology, tenderly drawn on and richly described, I wanted to linger, and so when I finished the book I went straight back to the beginning and started again.
“Angry mothers raise daughters fierce enough to fight wolves.”
The storyteller is Rabbit, an elderly woman and former handmaiden to In-Yo, the Empress of the North. A cleric named Chih (non-binary) and their hoopoe, Almost Brilliant, are listening to the tale of The Empress of Salt and Fortune. ‘Do you understand?’ Rabbit says infrequently, as if she is speaking to the reader as much as to Chih. The tale is told in magical layers, with a unique structure and flow that challenges convention and tired tropes, and offers the reader the feel of complete immersion into the world of these heart-warming characters. Packed into 118 pages this is an epic, incandescent tale of resilience, rebellion, devastating truths and forgotten secrets. Richly-woven characters often side-lined take centre stage to deliver the tale through memory and meditation, with exquisite prose creatively told, unravelling worlds within worlds that leave you literally spellbound.
The Forgotten Beasts of Eld, by Patricia McKillip
Sixteen-year-old Sybel has grown up on Eld Mountain among a fantastic menagerie called there by wizardry. She cares nothing for humans, until a baby is brought to her to raise.
I adored this magical read with its wild mountainous setting, home to Sybel, a complex, flawed, self-critical, compassionate and brave woman. The presence of the child, Tamlorn, awakens unfamiliar emotions in her, and their relationship develops from simple care and compassion set against a complex world. Her home is the wild, and it is through her relationships with the creatures in her life, including a swan, a dragon, a lion and a boar, that we see her true nature reflected. But caring for the boy brings her into the world of men, where revenge becomes her motive no matter the cost.
A fairy tale with great emotional depth, the story tackles issues from love to abuse to blind revenge, providing a fascinating look at how our desires and fears can make or undo us. A range of human relationships are explored from the perspective of a woman who would choose no relationship at all, except for with her menagerie of beasts. Sybil’s character has realness that feels like a refreshing portrayal, one I could get behind from the start. Her personal journey is the emotional depth, revealing what it is to love, to betray, to be misunderstood, to let go, and ultimately to face yourself.
A compelling and weirdly comforting read that now ranks among my favourites.
What are you reading?
