The Singing Hills Cycle

        

Title: The Empress of Salt and Fortune

Series: The Singing Hills Cycle #1

Author: Nghi Vo

Publisher: Tordotcom, March 24, 2020

Pages: 124

Genre: Myth & Legend

A young royal from the far north, is sent south for a political marriage in an empire reminiscent of imperial China. Her brothers are dead, her armies and their war mammoths long defeated and caged behind their borders. Alone and sometimes reviled, she must choose her allies carefully.

Rabbit, a handmaiden, sold by her parents to the palace for the lack of five baskets of dye, befriends the emperor's lonely new wife and gets more than she bargained for.

At once feminist high fantasy and an indictment of monarchy, this evocative debut follows the rise of the empress In-yo, who has few resources and fewer friends. She's a northern daughter in a mage-made summer exile, but she will bend history to her will and bring down her enemies, piece by piece.

Beautiful. It's a really fun way to tell a story. And the way that the author plays with gender and sexuality is really refreshing. Mostly, I like the idea of a bird tape-recorder that can follow you around and speak to you. That would really come in handy for someone tasked with collecting the stories of their world.

Ratings

Stars: 3/5

Title: When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain

Series: The Singing Hills Cycle #2

Author: Nghi Vo

Publisher: Tordotcom, December 8, 2020

Pages: 98

Genre: Myth & Legend

The cleric Chih finds themself and their companions at the mercy of a band of fierce tigers who ache with hunger. To stay alive until the mammoths can save them, Chih must unwind the intricate, layered story of the tiger and her scholar lover—a woman of courage, intelligence, and beauty—and discover how truth can survive becoming history.

This is riveting. I'm obsessed with the back and forth between Chih and the tiger. I understand why the bird couldn't be there, as a story telling device. Too enticing as prey, too annoying, and would have changed the dynamic quite a bit. I did miss that bird. But the sexy tiger made up for it. And the really cool, pretty much telepathic mammoths didn't hurt!

Ratings

Stars: 3/5

Title: Into the Riverlands

Series: The Singing Hills Cycle #3

Author: Nghi Vo

Publisher: Tordotcom, October 25, 2022

Pages: 100

Genre: Myth & Legend

Wandering cleric Chih of the Singing Hills travels to the riverlands to record tales of the notorious near-immortal martial artists who haunt the region. On the road to Betony Docks, they fall in with a pair of young women far from home, and an older couple who are more than they seem. As Chih runs headlong into an ancient feud, they find themself far more entangled in the history of the riverlands than they ever expected to be.

Accompanied by Almost Brilliant, a talking bird with an indelible memory, Chih confronts old legends and new dangers alike as they learn that every story—beautiful, ugly, kind, or cruel—bears more than one face.

Almost Brilliant returns! What a delight?! This was a really cool story about everyday gods. Seeing Chih capture a story of this magnitude in realtime was beautiful. And I love the idea that gods might be more than willing to live their lives mostly in mundanity while protecting travelers on their way.

Ratings

Stars: 3/5