The Salt-Black Tree

Book Two of the Dead God's Heart Duology

By: Lilith Saintcrow

Narrated by: Barrie Kreinik

What happens when you find a way to save your loved one… but the price might not be worth it—the stunning conclusion to New York Times bestseller Lilith Saintcrow’s The Dead God’s Heart

Nat Drozdova has crossed half the continent in search of the stolen Dead God’s Heart, the only thing powerful enough to trade for her beautiful, voracious, dying mother’s life. Yet now she knows the secret of her own birth—and that she’s been lied to all her young life.

The road to the Heart ends at the Salt-Black Tree, but to find it Nat must pay a deadly price. Pursued by mouthless shadows hungry for the blood of new divinity as well as the razor-wielding god of thieves, Nat is on her own. Her journey leads through a wilderness of gods old and new, across a country as restless as its mortal inhabitants, and it’s too late to back out now.

Blood may not always prevail. Magic might not always work. And the young Drozdova is faced with an impossible choice: Save her mother’s very existence…

…or accept the consequences of her own.

A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Books.

©2023 Lilith Saintcrow (P)2023 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"Terrifying, rich, and expertly told, this conclusion to the Dead God's Heart duology should not be missed."—Booklist

Lacked the catharsis of confrontation

“Fish don’t think about water.”
The part of me that loves atmosphere, philosophy, and folk tales was well nurtured.

“There’s dying and there’s dying.”
The part of me the craves smart plotting and rational character behavior was less impressed.


… mild spoiler…



“Even a thief had to know what truth was in order to effectively lie.”
The part of me that hung on to the end of this 19 hour duology was low key raging that Nat and her mother never had their showdown. Also, Dimitri and Nat are apart for the majority of this book, which was unfortunate because the best parts were with them together. And finally, I’m still put out that this story was split into two books for no rational reason.

Fantastic continuation of Spring's Arcana

You need to read Spring's Arcana prior to attempting to read this one. This duology does feel like it's one book that's been split in half. You pick up the story right where you left off at the end of the first book.

This book is both beautiful & creepy. I enjoyed Nat's journey. Questions from the first book get cleared up along the way. This duology is one of the best books I've read this year.

The narrator, Barrie Kreinik, was great.

Amazing Conclusion

What an amazing conclusion to the duology! Loved the narrator and storyline...only wish it had been a bit longer. Highly recommend these two books. I plan to check out other books by Lilith Saintcrow after this series.

A Perfect Conclusion

As others have said, you need to read Spring's Arcana first. The story has a lot of depth, yet it's handled perfectly, never bogging down in details in building this world. And the performance was perfection. The characters are real, never two-dimensional, and never handled through exposition. Saintcrow implies enough for the reader to infer the rest. It's a fantastic world. I hope it's a world that the author might return to one day.