Unlike Throwback Thursday, I’m using Fridays to look ahead to books publishing soon that I’m excited for! Today’s is The Empress of Salt and Fortune, by Nghi Vo. And oh my, does it have promise.
Expected Release: March 24, 2020
Why wait on this one?
- Magic. Throw magic into any book and I’m immediately more likely to want to read it.
- Revenge. I’ve read Coriolanus and Foul is Fair, okay; I know the pitfalls of vengeance. And yet, I still delight in those who pursue it, for all their faults and failures.
- Political intrigue. Sometimes tedious, but sometimes exquisite, I trust that Vo will weave me a tale of royalty that I will love like my Korean dramas.
- Imperial Chinese themes. I love the cultural requirements, the physical setting, and the mindsets that come with it. Plus the usual character traits and growth that accompany it, like the loyalist who turns coat or the man who is but a figurehead for the woman truly controlling it all.
Summary:
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.
My Book Joy 
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