Listen free for 30 days
-
The Salt Grows Heavy
- Narrated by: Susan Dalian
- Length: 2 hrs and 54 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wish list failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy Now for $10.67
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
You may also enjoy...
-
The Archive Undying
- The Downworld Sequence, Book 1
- Written by: Emma Mieko Candon
- Narrated by: Yung-I Chang
- Length: 16 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When the robotic god of Khuon Mo went mad, it destroyed everything it touched. It killed its priests, its city, and all its wondrous works. But in its final death throes, the god brought one thing back to life: its favorite child, Sunai. For the seventeen years since, Sunai has walked the land like a ghost, unable to die, unable to age, and unable to forget the horrors he's seen. He's run as far as he can from the wreckage of his faith, drowning himself in drink, drugs, and men.
Written by: Emma Mieko Candon
-
A House with Good Bones
- Written by: T. Kingfisher
- Narrated by: Mary Robinette Kowal
- Length: 6 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"Mom seems off." Her brother's words echo in Sam Montgomery's ear as she turns onto the quiet North Carolina street where their mother lives alone. She brushes the thought away as she climbs the front steps. Sam's excited for this rare extended visit, and looking forward to nights with just the two of them, drinking boxed wine, watching murder mystery shows, and guessing who the killer is long before the characters figure it out. But stepping inside, she quickly realizes home isn’t what it used to be.
-
-
Terrific listen. Genuinely spooky. Narrator is *chef’s kiss*
- By Sara on 2023-12-06
Written by: T. Kingfisher
-
Rolling in the Deep
- Written by: Mira Grant
- Narrated by: Teri Schnaubelt
- Length: 3 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When the Imagine Network commissioned a documentary on mermaids, to be filmed from the cruise ship Atargatis, they expected what they had always received before: an assortment of eyewitness reports that proved nothing, some footage that proved even less, and the kind of ratings that only came from peddling imaginary creatures to the masses.
-
-
Disappointed with only one person reading the book.The story itself was good.
- By Ozzy D on 2020-09-05
Written by: Mira Grant
-
Mary
- An Awakening of Terror
- Written by: Nat Cassidy
- Narrated by: Susan Bennett
- Length: 15 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mary is a quiet middle-aged woman doing her best to blend into the background. Unremarkable. Invisible. Unknown even to herself. But lately, things have been changing inside Mary. Along with the hot flashes and body aches, she can’t look in a mirror without passing out, and the voices in her head have been urging her to do unspeakable things. Fired from her job in New York, she moves back to her hometown hoping to reconnect with her past and inner self. What she finds instead are visions of terrifying mutilated specters that come with increasing regularity.
-
-
Great story , unnecessarily long
- By mandy cranna on 2023-04-26
Written by: Nat Cassidy
-
This Is How You Lose the Time War
- Written by: Amal El-Mohtar, Max Gladstone
- Narrated by: Cynthia Farrell, Emily Woo Zeller
- Length: 4 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Among the ashes of a dying world, an agent of the Commandment finds a letter. It reads: Burn before reading. Thus begins an unlikely correspondence between two rival agents hellbent on securing the best possible future for their warring factions. Now, what began as a taunt, a battlefield boast, becomes something more. Something epic. Something romantic. Something that could change the past and the future. Except the discovery of their bond would mean the death of each of them. There’s still a war going on, after all. And someone has to win. That’s how war works, right?
-
-
Nothing special, 3 hours too long
- By John on 2021-05-30
Written by: Amal El-Mohtar, and others
-
Camp Damascus
- Written by: Chuck Tingle
- Narrated by: Mara Wilson
- Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Welcome to Neverton, Montana: home to a God-fearing community with a heart of gold. Nestled high up in the mountains is Camp Damascus, the self-proclaimed “most effective” gay conversion camp in the country. Here, a life free from sin awaits. But the secret behind that success is anything but holy. And they’ll scare you straight to hell.
-
-
Wonderful!
- By Amy on 2024-05-11
Written by: Chuck Tingle
-
The Archive Undying
- The Downworld Sequence, Book 1
- Written by: Emma Mieko Candon
- Narrated by: Yung-I Chang
- Length: 16 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When the robotic god of Khuon Mo went mad, it destroyed everything it touched. It killed its priests, its city, and all its wondrous works. But in its final death throes, the god brought one thing back to life: its favorite child, Sunai. For the seventeen years since, Sunai has walked the land like a ghost, unable to die, unable to age, and unable to forget the horrors he's seen. He's run as far as he can from the wreckage of his faith, drowning himself in drink, drugs, and men.
Written by: Emma Mieko Candon
-
A House with Good Bones
- Written by: T. Kingfisher
- Narrated by: Mary Robinette Kowal
- Length: 6 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"Mom seems off." Her brother's words echo in Sam Montgomery's ear as she turns onto the quiet North Carolina street where their mother lives alone. She brushes the thought away as she climbs the front steps. Sam's excited for this rare extended visit, and looking forward to nights with just the two of them, drinking boxed wine, watching murder mystery shows, and guessing who the killer is long before the characters figure it out. But stepping inside, she quickly realizes home isn’t what it used to be.
-
-
Terrific listen. Genuinely spooky. Narrator is *chef’s kiss*
- By Sara on 2023-12-06
Written by: T. Kingfisher
-
Rolling in the Deep
- Written by: Mira Grant
- Narrated by: Teri Schnaubelt
- Length: 3 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When the Imagine Network commissioned a documentary on mermaids, to be filmed from the cruise ship Atargatis, they expected what they had always received before: an assortment of eyewitness reports that proved nothing, some footage that proved even less, and the kind of ratings that only came from peddling imaginary creatures to the masses.
-
-
Disappointed with only one person reading the book.The story itself was good.
- By Ozzy D on 2020-09-05
Written by: Mira Grant
-
Mary
- An Awakening of Terror
- Written by: Nat Cassidy
- Narrated by: Susan Bennett
- Length: 15 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mary is a quiet middle-aged woman doing her best to blend into the background. Unremarkable. Invisible. Unknown even to herself. But lately, things have been changing inside Mary. Along with the hot flashes and body aches, she can’t look in a mirror without passing out, and the voices in her head have been urging her to do unspeakable things. Fired from her job in New York, she moves back to her hometown hoping to reconnect with her past and inner self. What she finds instead are visions of terrifying mutilated specters that come with increasing regularity.
-
-
Great story , unnecessarily long
- By mandy cranna on 2023-04-26
Written by: Nat Cassidy
-
This Is How You Lose the Time War
- Written by: Amal El-Mohtar, Max Gladstone
- Narrated by: Cynthia Farrell, Emily Woo Zeller
- Length: 4 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Among the ashes of a dying world, an agent of the Commandment finds a letter. It reads: Burn before reading. Thus begins an unlikely correspondence between two rival agents hellbent on securing the best possible future for their warring factions. Now, what began as a taunt, a battlefield boast, becomes something more. Something epic. Something romantic. Something that could change the past and the future. Except the discovery of their bond would mean the death of each of them. There’s still a war going on, after all. And someone has to win. That’s how war works, right?
-
-
Nothing special, 3 hours too long
- By John on 2021-05-30
Written by: Amal El-Mohtar, and others
-
Camp Damascus
- Written by: Chuck Tingle
- Narrated by: Mara Wilson
- Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Welcome to Neverton, Montana: home to a God-fearing community with a heart of gold. Nestled high up in the mountains is Camp Damascus, the self-proclaimed “most effective” gay conversion camp in the country. Here, a life free from sin awaits. But the secret behind that success is anything but holy. And they’ll scare you straight to hell.
-
-
Wonderful!
- By Amy on 2024-05-11
Written by: Chuck Tingle
Publisher's Summary
Long-listed, Library Journal Best Books of the Year, 2023
Long-listed, Barnes and Noble Best New Books of the Year, 2023
From USA Today bestselling author Cassandra Khaw comes The Salt Grows Heavy, a razor-sharp and bewitching fairytale of discovering the darkness in the world, and the darkness within oneself.
“Narrator Susan Dalian viscerally conveys the gruesome body horror while deftly capturing the lush imagery.”—Library Journal
“This brilliant novella is not to be missed.”—Publishers Weekly, STARRED review
You may think you know how the fairytale goes: a mermaid comes to shore and weds the prince. But what the fables forget is that mermaids have teeth. And now, her daughters have devoured the kingdom and burned it to ashes.
On the run, the mermaid is joined by a mysterious plague doctor with a darkness of their own. Deep in the eerie, snow-crusted forest, the pair stumble upon a village of ageless children who thirst for blood, and the three “saints” who control them.
The mermaid and her doctor must embrace the cruelest parts of their true nature if they hope to survive.
A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Nightfire.
What the critics say
“Devastatingly effective…a folklore-infused world that feels wholly unique. Expertly blending a gothic atmosphere with elements of splatterpunk, this brilliant novella is not to be missed.”—Publishers Weekly, STARRED review
“A feverishly gory, grotesquely beautiful and baroque fairy-tale-meets-love-sonnet. Cassandra Khaw’s imagination is limitless.”—Paul Tremblay, author of The Cabin at the End of the World and A Head Full of Ghosts
“Cassandra Khaw’s writing is never more lyrical than when they’re describing the knife in your heart. The bones of a fairy tale sunk deep in a charnel house of descriptive prose, an elegant confection with a blood-soaked core. I devoured it in one sitting.”—T. Kingfisher, multi-award winning author of What Moves the Dead and Nettle & Bone
More from the same
What listeners say about The Salt Grows Heavy
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- blorgus
- 2023-07-06
In the style of a parable
Maybe this book just wasn't for me. I get it's supposed to be a parable, and I think the characters really brought that aspect of the dark fairy tale to life, but I can't enjoy characters that only exist to nudge the plot along without motivation or direction. Their interactions with each other weren't all that interesting. I can't believe the mermaid would fall so hard so suddenly for the plague doctor.
What exactly the purpose of the story was is also lost on me. There are nods towards this idea of taking/giving, but because I didn't understand the characters motivations, what Khaw might have wanted to say on those themes doesn't resonate. I didn't appreciate the plague doctor explicitly stating this theme at Luke's resurrection, either. In terms of plot, things just seem to happen. The mermaid's tongue grows back. She just decides she loves the plague doctor. She decides to challenge the surgeons. I don't believe the plague doctor's beezor survived the inforno for a second.
A lot of where The Sale Grows Heavy wins points with me is in its language use. It's not perfect, but it beautifully paints this dark fairy tale world. It's clear and complex without being obscure, while also being surprisingly poetic. While I didn't fall in love with the characters, their voices were distinct, and that's always nice. There are a couple of instances where the prose rely on adjectives and adverbs to detrimental effect. The tone was also weirdly neutral and objective, which is strange for a first person narrator. While the writing is mostly excellent, there's a lot of places where you can find excellent writing these days. I thought the setting was neat, but the story, the main thing I'm reading for, didn't satisfy.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!