I would like to thank Titan for an advance copy of this novella in exchange for a fair and honest review

Publisher - Titan

Published - 2/5

Price - £9.99 hardback £6.99 Kindle eBook

After the murder of her husband and the fall of his empire, a mermaid and her plague doctor companion escape into the wilderness. Deep in the woods, they stumble across a village where children hunt each other for sport, sacrificing one of their own at the behest of three surgeons they call “the saints.” These saints play god with their magic, harvesting the best bits of the children for themselves and piecing the sacrifices back together again.

To save the children from their fates, the plague doctor must confront their past, and the mermaid must embrace the darkest parts of her true nature

It is fairly well known that modern fairy tales have been modernised from the more wilder and darker folk tales. Both are often cautionary - be careful what you wish for; keep to the path and so many other warnings. The sharpness of the warning is to ensure children behave themselves. But it’s also the boundary of fantasy and horror being played with. For the audit audience who loved both we have worlds of magic and also places that really won’t be safe to tread. In Cassandra Khaw’s sumptuous dark tale The Salt Grows Heavy we get an unusual pair of charcters face up to great evil, lost children and the reader will be mulling over what makes for a happy ending for a long time afterwards.

A duo walk into the forest. One a mysterious masked plague doctor full of their own secrets. The other a former Queen; who some called a mermaid and who was a prisoner who with their doctor’s help survived imprisonment and released her daughters who are an entire kingdom. The two now explore the wider world and in the icy forest find children playing a deadly game of hide and seek. They do so on behalf of the Three Saints - Doctors who know the secrets of life and death; who can do wonders with any flesh and whom the plague doctor knows and is wary of. Now the mermaid and doctor alone have to consider if survival is possible.

My one caveat is that it helps if you know Khaw’s earlier story ‘And In Our Daughters, We Find A Voice’ a deeply brilliant reimagining of the The Little Mermaid and it’s very dark and brilliantly horrifying. This is given at the end of the novella but could slightly confuse a brand new reader. That is my sole issue with the story because it’s just a wonderful dark tale skilfully sitting between the lands of horror and fantasy.

We have the traditional elements - a dark forest; lost children, strange magical men to bargain with and yet this is not at all suitable for the very young. Our children like to kill another and rejoice when the Saints make them live again. The Saints are made of various body parts not their own and the whole tale is filled with viscera and blood but Khaw makes it all darkly poetical in their decorative and delicious use of language.

For this tale the mystery of the Plague Doctor gets explored who was more an unusual character who took our mermaid’s side. Now we find out their backstory and why they so identified with the mermaid as a prisoner. The plague doctor’s relationship to the Saints explains a lot and also give the characters their impetus to stay and get involved. Is this good people fighting evil? Probably not perhaps more monsters fighting monsters to get a sense of justice is a better explanation of what is to come.

All told via our mermaid’s narration and Khaw ensures that we know that while she may look human she is not in her insights and also her physiology. Saints who play with Mermaids are risking a lot and as the two sides decide to abandon cat and mouse games the finale is bloody, spectral and yet managed to have moments of tenderness erupt too but possibly not ones you’ll find Mr Anderson try to tell at bedtime.

The Salt Grows Heavy is a wonderful dark tale that is full of surprises, Khaw’s trademark skill in using language and delicious visceral horror. It’s the very unsafe trip into the forest with no fairy godmother to assist - but isn’t that alway the more fun journey? Highly recommended!