Snippet: The Brides of High Hill, by Nghi Vo

The Cleric Chih accompanies a beautiful young bride to her wedding to the aging ruler of a crumbling estate situated at the crossroads of dead empires. The bride's party is welcomed with elaborate courtesies and extravagant banquets, but between the frightened servants and the cryptic warnings of the lord's mad son, they quickly realize that something is haunting the shadowed halls.
As Chih and the bride-to-be explore empty rooms and desolate courtyards, they are drawn into the mystery of what became of Lord Guo's previous wives and the dark history of Do Cao itself. But as the wedding night draws to its close, Chih will learn at their peril that not all monsters are to be found in the shadows; some monsters hide in plain sight.

“Fear serves, when nothing else is left.”

Nghi Vo's The Brides of High Hill is another great installment in the Singing Hill Cycle, a story about the many faces monsters can wear, about lies and deception. It becomes clear very quickly that this is a version of Bluebeard, but then the story takes an abrupt turn, careening towards a plot twist that leaves you reeling. The ending was a bit rushed for my taste, making this installment a bit weaker than the other books in the series, but it's still an incredible story, and Vo's prose is excellent as always. This is also the first novella when Cleric Chih seems to be attracted to someone.

✨ 3.5 stars

Snippet: Mammoths at the Gates, by Nghi Vo

The wandering Cleric Chih returns home to the Singing Hills Abbey for the first time in almost three years, to be met with both joy and sorrow. Their mentor, Cleric Thien, has died, and rests among the archivists and storytellers of the storied abbey. But not everyone is prepared to leave them to their rest. Because Cleric Thien was once the patriarch of Coh clan of Northern Bell Pass--and now their granddaughters have arrived on the backs of royal mammoths, demanding their grandfather’s body for burial. Chih must somehow balance honoring their mentor’s chosen life while keeping the sisters from the north from storming the gates and destroying the history the clerics have worked so hard to preserve. But as Chih and their neixin Almost Brilliant navigate the looming crisis, Myriad Virtues, Cleric Thien’s own beloved hoopoe companion, grieves her loss as only a being with perfect memory can, and her sorrow may be more powerful than anyone could anticipate.

"Memory is greater than death". Nghi Vo's Mammoths at the Gates is an exploration of grief and mourning, a novella about how memories can be shaped and how your loved ones are their own people with stories that you don't know. It's a story about change and the need to embrace the unfamiliar, sometimes funny, sometimes poignant; another extraordinary novella in the Singing Hills cycle, with so much to say about the nature of stories.

✨ 4 stars

📚📚📚 IF YOU LOVE THIS, YOU MIGHT LIKE:

* The Heretic's Guite to Homecoming - Theory, by Sienna Tristen

for: the power of stories, healing

List: Most Anticipated Books of 2023 - July to December

In January I posted a list of my most anticipated books for the first part of the year. Now's the time to post a list for the second half of the year!

In order of publication:

Publication date: August 22, 2023

HERE you can find the Goodreads page.

Publication date: August 22, 2023

HERE you can find the Goodreads page.

Publication date: August 22, 2023

HERE you can find the Goodreads page.

Publication date: September 12, 2023

HERE you can find the Goodreads page.

Publication date: December 5, 2023

HERE you can find the Goodreads page.

List: Best Books of 2022

2023 is almost here and here I am, attempting to list my favorite books of the year! This is going to be hard: to avoid a headache, I've decided to list only five titles; but having to choose was excruciating.

Without further ado, in no particular order of appreciation save from this first title who's already among my all time favorites:

You can find my review here. This book has so much heart, and it's so complex and beautiful, that it truly is a must read. If you can read only one book from the many I reviewed this year, make it this one.

You can find my review here. This stunning novel isn't for the faint of heart, exploring the cruelties of Old Hollywood with a dash of faerie, beautiful and dangerous and just as much cruel.

You can find my review here. A delicate exploration of trauma and endurance, of healing despite all odds, of intimacy and acceptance. A lovely book that must be read with caution.

You can find my review here. A perfect second volume for a perfect series, rich and complex and terrifying in parts; love isn't enough when the fate of the world is at stake.

You can find my review here. Perfect for fealty enthusiasts, this book is a loving comfort read set in a richly detailed world and features a thorough exploration of anxiety and power differentials in a relationship.

Review: Siren Queen, by Nghi Vo

 

“No maids, no funny talking, no fainting flowers.” Luli Wei is beautiful, talented, and desperate to be a star. Coming of age in pre-Code Hollywood, she knows how dangerous the movie business is and how limited the roles are for a Chinese American girl from Hungarian Hill—but she doesn’t care. She’d rather play a monster than a maid.
But in Luli’s world, the worst monsters in Hollywood are not the ones on screen. The studios want to own everything from her face to her name to the women she loves, and they run on a system of bargains made in blood and ancient magic, powered by the endless sacrifice of unlucky starlets like her. For those who do survive to earn their fame, success comes with a steep price. Luli is willing to do whatever it takes—even if that means becoming the monster herself.

There's power in what we choose to call ourselves. Nghi Vo's titular Siren Queen is unnamed, forced to use her own sister's name when a pseudonym is demanded of her. Battling against racism and sexism and later, homophobia, she shrouds herself in a coldness that protects her and allows her to succeed in an old Hollywood where studio executives are literal monsters, inhabited by ancient beings - maybe fairies, maybe demons - powered by blood sacrifices. Such coldness, and her determination to not have what she perceives as demeaning roles, finally lands her the role of a monstress, a murderous mermaid in a successful movie franchise. The character we know as Luli Wei is the Siren Queen, at least in the studio.

Inside, we see her insecurities and her loves, from her first love to the person whose comments pepper and interrupt the recollection, small playful moments that show us how things will get better, which constantly remind us that while things are bleak in the narration, there exists a future where Luli is free. We also see her friendships, the lengths she can go to in order to help the people she loves; but we see her shortcomings too, and her regrets. She's very human in this regard, a character who is allowed to make mistakes. Every character is fallible and complex, and the strongest part of this book are the bonds between them, messy and real and tragic and beautiful. Her lovers especially are all treated with the same dignity, and even when her first love ends due to her partner's choice to protect herself, said partner isn't villanised. After all, the villains of the book are something else.

The magic is fey, never explained, in the same way as it was(n't) in Nghi Vo's The Chosen and the Beautiful. This is a world were the Wild Hunt takes place every Friday night, where the Hunters mount cars instead of horses. Every year on Halloween, an actor is sacrificed. Actors and directors sometimes disappear; sometimes their place is taken by dolls. It's unclear whether the studio changeling are actual folklore changelings, or if it's a metaphor. Pacts are made with creatures who will take years off someone's life in exchange for the chance to be extraordinary. Sometimes your fellow actor can be a kidnapped magical being, or a plain boy transformed into a beautiful man. Immortality can be achieved by successful Hollywood stars. These things are all taken for granted, and never explained; but it works perfectly.

In the Afterword Nghi Vo says that the novel began as a set of novellas. This is especially visible in the structure, with each part taking place some years after the climax of the previous one. I wouldn't mind other novellas further exploring this world and the protagonist. While the ending is satisfying, it leaves tantalizing morsels of information that beg to be turned into a full story.

Nghi Vo caught my attention with The Empress of Salt and Fortune, but with this book she fully captured my heart.

✨ 5 stars