Into the Riverlands
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4.7 • 22 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Nghi Vo's Hugo and Crawford Award-winning series, The Singing Hills Cycle, continues...
Lambda Award Finalist
Ignyte Award Finalist
Hugo Award Finalist for Best Novella
Locus Award Finalist for Best Novella
A Best Of Pick for USA Today | Buzzfeed | Ms Magazine | Arlington Magazine | Transfer Orbit | LitHub
"A delicious bonbon of a novella about stories and their unreliable narrators, who wink at their listeners (or readers), fully expecting us to catch on."―The Wall Street Journal
"Nghi Vo is one of the most original writers we have today."―Taylor Jenkins Reid on Siren Queen
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.
The Hugo Award-winning Singing Hills Cycle
The Empress of Salt and Fortune
When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain
Into the Riverlands
Mammoths at the Gates
The Brides of High Hill
The novellas of The Singing Hills Cycle are linked by the cleric Chih, but may be read in any order, with each story serving as an entry point.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Historian cleric Chih returns in Vo's spellbinding third Singing Hills Cycle novella (after When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain). This time, Chih and their companion Almost Brilliant, a bird with near-perfect memory, wander into the riverlands of Anh, where an encounter with a bully brings them together with two young women: a martial artist skilled in a rare style and her sworn sister, a self-proclaimed "ugly girl." The four of them accept an elderly couple's offer to escort them through the land's winding trails, though their guides have no patience for the myths and rumors that Chih collects. When they come upon the remains of a man killed in the fashion of one of those very myths, Chih finds that they can no longer just passively record stories—they're in one. Vo expertly weaves myths and histories of this fantastical land throughout, while also offering readers a deeper understanding of Chih themself, a character who may have been left as a framing device in lesser hands. The result is a pitch-perfect series installment.
Customer Reviews
Third Novella in the Singing Hills Cycle Delivers a Good Story
“Into the Riverlands” is the third novella in the Singing Hills Cycle by Nghi Vo. It is a fantasy, set in a Asian-inspired alternate world. Like it’s predecessors, this novella tells a story nestled within a story.
In the beginning story, Chih, a Cleric of the Singing Hills Temple is at a tea house, about to undertake a journey into an area known as the Riverlands. An altercation breaks out that is quickly resolved by the martial prowess of another customer. Chih joins together with four others to journey on the road through the Riverlands, as it is an area known historically to be rife with bandits. On this journey, many tales of the Riverlands and their larger than life inhabitants are shared, but how much of these tales are true?
The world in which this story is set resembles a medieval Asia of our world, but has a few supernatural and alternate historical differences. One difference that is exhibited in this tale is Chih’s avian companion, Almost Brilliant. This being looks like a Hoopoe, but is an intelligent and conversational being with perfect memory. Very helpful for a cleric who collects stories. It’s a great story, and I look forward to future tales in the Singing Hills Cycle. I’ve read that at least two more novellas are planned.