The Empress of Salt and Fortune
- 75
- Pages
- about 1.5 h
- Reading time
- Hugo Award for Best Novella
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Our view
“The Empress of Salt and Fortune” is a small, quiet fantasy that tells an empress’s life at one remove. A cleric listens as the story of the late ruler comes out piece by piece, so this is a novella to feel one’s way through; some readers find the telling confusing. Best for those who like tales nested inside tales and have a single evening to give.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
The Empress of Salt and Fortune is a 2020 fantasy novella by American writer Nghi Vo. The plot focuses on a cleric who listens to stories about the recently deceased empress. It was well-received by literary magazines and critics and won the 2021 Hugo Award for Best Novella and the Crawford Award. It was also a finalist for the 2021 Locus Award for Best Novella and a Goodreads Choice Award.
Reading order · The Singing Hills Cycle
Full order & progress →- The Empress of Salt and FortuneThis book
8.08.0 / 10 - When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain
8.28.2 / 10 - Into the Riverlands
8.08.0 / 10 - Mammoths at the Gates
–Not ranked yet - The Brides of High HillThe Brides of High Hill–Not ranked yet
- A Mouthful of Dust
8.08.0 / 10 - A Long and Speaking Silence
–Not ranked yet
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.8 across 447 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 75% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Fantasy average of 8.0. That is how 8.0 comes out. A further +0.10 comes from the small bonus for major awards.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 7.3 | 6 | 1% |
| Hardcover | 7.8 | 441 | 99% |
Frequently asked
How long is The Empress of Salt and Fortune?
It has 75 pages — shorter than 99% of the ranked books in Fantasy.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
The same shelf — Fantasy — and a score of 8.0, the closest to this book.
