The Salt King by Natasha Pulley
With each new story, Natasha Pulley outdoes herself with her imaginative storylines, unique characters, and her ability to immerse the reader in all of it. Avelyn Brocken, a Jesuit priest, has been sent home to Hreodwater to investigate a strange occurrence on behalf of the Vatican. Hreodwater is known for its salt mine and also the abbey in the salt mine that attracts dozens of pilgrims each year. Home is at once familiar and strange for Avelyn, and now with the added complication of the doctor at the abbey lodge, Jericho. As Avelyn struggles with his conflicting feelings about Jericho and being back in Hreodwater there are strange things happening at salt mines around the world. Faith, belief, desire, salt mines, humor, wit, and a fascinating matriarchal community. A less capable author would not have been able to weave together such seemingly disparate elements into a coherent story. I loved every page and can’t wait to convince more people to read this incredible book.
The Salt King by Natasha Pulley, (List Price: $29.99, Bloomsbury Publishing, 9781639737291, August 2026)
Reviewed by Holly, The Country Bookshop in Southern Pines, NC
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I’ve always considered myself a pragmatic optimist, and part of that is my day job. My career has been in government. And I think you kind of have to be a bit of an optimist to sort of throw your entire life into that, because if you don’t believe that the world can be better, then what are you doing? What are you doing with your life? So I like to say that working in government is sort of trying to think about what the world should be, and science fiction is sort of like thinking about what the world could be. And so there’s sort of an interesting intersection between the two. So, yeah, no, I think I’m fundamentally an optimist, but obviously, it’s hard to be in this world and not see everything that’s going on and feel very concerned. And so I think that’s where the little bits of darkness come in.
