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The Singing Hills Cycle #7
A Long and Speaking Silence
From USA Today bestselling author Nghi Vo comes a beautiful new tale in the Hugo Award-winning Singing Hills Cycle, drawn from the earliest days of Chih's career as a wandering cleric.
"Nghi Vo is so good."—NPR on The Brides of High Hill
Every story begins somewhere.
On the banks of the Ya-lé River, the town of Luntien gathers to celebrate the start of the rainy season, but the celebration is marred by the arrival of refugees from the sea. Everyone has a story about the foreigners newly in their midst—lazy, violent, unwanted—while the refugees themselves grieve the loss of the home they loved.
Cleric Chih, very recently still Novice Chih, is also a stranger in Luntien. A moment of carelessness and bad luck leaves them waiting tables as they struggle to establish themself as a real cleric. A cleric’s job is to listen and record, but the stories emerging in Luntien are ugly and violent, as hard to predict as the river itself. With their hoopoe companion Almost Brilliant by their side, Chih must help the refugees while also unraveling a mystery that may have roots in their own faraway home in the abbey of Singing Hills.
In the seventh entry of the award-winning Singing Hills series, we meet Chih and Almost Brilliant just beginning their journey together as Chih assumes their place on the road and in the world.
The novellas of the Singing Hills series are standalone stories linked by the Cleric Chih, and may be read in any order.
"Nghi Vo is so good."—NPR on The Brides of High Hill
Every story begins somewhere.
On the banks of the Ya-lé River, the town of Luntien gathers to celebrate the start of the rainy season, but the celebration is marred by the arrival of refugees from the sea. Everyone has a story about the foreigners newly in their midst—lazy, violent, unwanted—while the refugees themselves grieve the loss of the home they loved.
Cleric Chih, very recently still Novice Chih, is also a stranger in Luntien. A moment of carelessness and bad luck leaves them waiting tables as they struggle to establish themself as a real cleric. A cleric’s job is to listen and record, but the stories emerging in Luntien are ugly and violent, as hard to predict as the river itself. With their hoopoe companion Almost Brilliant by their side, Chih must help the refugees while also unraveling a mystery that may have roots in their own faraway home in the abbey of Singing Hills.
In the seventh entry of the award-winning Singing Hills series, we meet Chih and Almost Brilliant just beginning their journey together as Chih assumes their place on the road and in the world.
The novellas of the Singing Hills series are standalone stories linked by the Cleric Chih, and may be read in any order.
144 pages, Hardcover
First published May 5, 2026
About the author
Nghi Vo
42 books4,512 followersNghi Vo is the author of the acclaimed novellas The Empress of Salt and Fortune and When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain. Born in Illinois, she now lives on the shores of Lake Michigan. She believes in the ritual of lipstick, the power of stories, and the right to change your mind. The Chosen and the Beautiful is her debut novel.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 149 reviews
May 7, 2026
need this rn
(thanks to the publisher for the e-arc)
(review to come)
(thanks to the publisher for the e-arc)
(review to come)
Want to Read
December 31, 20251.) The Empress of Salt and Fortune ★★★★★
2.) When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain ★★★★★
3.) Into the Riverlands ★★★★
4.) Mammoths at the Gates ★★★★
5.) The Brides of High Hill ★★★★★
6.) A Mouthful of Dust ★★★★
2.) When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain ★★★★★
3.) Into the Riverlands ★★★★
4.) Mammoths at the Gates ★★★★
5.) The Brides of High Hill ★★★★★
6.) A Mouthful of Dust ★★★★
Want to Read
August 16, 2025OMG A PREQUEL STORY ABOUT YOUNG CHIH!!!! Look at that cover those hands are making me cry, can’t say why, I just know this is gonna be amazing. I need this in my hands asap!!
//Anyone else periodically checking if any new info about the upcoming 3 books released or is it just me with Chih and Almost Brilliant living rent-free in my head??
//Anyone else periodically checking if any new info about the upcoming 3 books released or is it just me with Chih and Almost Brilliant living rent-free in my head??
May 8, 2026
"…so day after day, the loneliness grew more at home inside her chest. It hollowed out a place next to her heart, curled up tight at first, but after a while, it started to stretch and to paw at the cage of her ribs."
it was actually nice seeing Chih as a novice cleric.
it was actually nice seeing Chih as a novice cleric.
Read
May 16, 2026Sedma stavka u ciklusu pripovedaka s istim glavnim likom ne može imati istu svežinu kao prva, a u ovom slučaju nema ni prekrasnu, složenu narativnu strukturu zbog koje su prve priče iz ovog ciklusa bile čista čitalačka radost. Ono što i dalje poseduje - a možda i u većoj meri - jeste promišljeno, nijansirano pisanje o konkretnim, višestranim i teškim društvenim situacijama kakva, recimo, može biti izbeglička kriza izazvana velikim prirodnim nepogodama. Sudar kultura i čista fizička preopterećenost društva koje mora nekako da prihvati i amortizuje (a da ne pominjemo nahrani, zaleči i uposli) navalu gladnih, iscrpljenih i umornih ljudi - to danas nikome ne deluje baš jako fantastično ali ovde je smešteno u evokativan, uverljiv i detaljno prikazan fantazijski seting, bez olakih odgovora i površnih rešenja, s bar jednim čisto fantastičnim preokretom koji čitalac može i da previdi.
(I kao i uvek kod Ni Vo, kad se dođe do hrane, njeno spisateljsko pero prosto poleti, dvaput sam ogladnela čitajući. Ne znam nikog drugog ko bi protagonistu smestio u veganski monaški red a onda mu/joj dozvolio da u svakoj izvodljivoj prilici, čim se izmigolji ispod nadzora, štrpne malo mesa.)
(I kao i uvek kod Ni Vo, kad se dođe do hrane, njeno spisateljsko pero prosto poleti, dvaput sam ogladnela čitajući. Ne znam nikog drugog ko bi protagonistu smestio u veganski monaški red a onda mu/joj dozvolio da u svakoj izvodljivoj prilici, čim se izmigolji ispod nadzora, štrpne malo mesa.)
May 23, 2026
“Begging you pardon, cleric, but we are not yet ready to be history.”
At a time when we are witnessing democratic countries closing their doors to migrants and refugees, I believe Nghi Vo has perfectly translated the terrifying reality we see every day into this fantasy world. A Long and Speaking Silence follows Chih on their first trip as a Cleric. The town of Luntien is receiving visitors to celebrate the start of the rainy season, but Muyese refugees continue to arrive, something that is not well received by the townspeople. Cleric Chih will begin to collect the names of these refugees and their families, in case they encounter any of their relatives in other towns.
For those who haven’t read any of the novellas in The Singing Hills Cycle, these are self-contained, non-chronological stories that follow Cleric Chih and their hoopoe companion, Almost Brilliant, as they travel the world collecting stories. So, although A Long and Speaking Silence is technically the seventh installment, it is a prequel to all the previous ones and can perfectly serve as an entry point into the series.
I always eagerly await the publication of these novellas because Nghi Vo has created a world that fascinates me, and because in each story she always offers the reader something unique—different stories, as well as different subgenres or narrative styles. As I mentioned at the beginning, I think a story dealing with the displacement of an entire people and the hypocrisy and unjustified hostility of host communities feels particularly timely, reminding us of the need for empathy.
This is one of the installments I’ve enjoyed the most in the series. It made me angry thinking about the injustice and suffering that hundreds of thousands of people are forced to live with every day: the persecution of migrants that we see in the news while far-right groups continue to gain more followers in democratic countries, and seeing how humanity looks the other way while a genocide is being committed. I’m not sure whether to give it 3 or 4 stars because, although I loved the author’s commentary, I wasn’t fully captivated by the story itself, and the ending in particular felt a bit underwhelming. However, it’s an installment I wholeheartedly recommend to both fans of the series and new readers.
Previous installments:
1. The Empress of Salt and Fortune ★★★★
2. When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain ★★★
3. Into the Riverlands ★★★
4. Mammoths at the Gates ★★★
5. The Brides of High Hill ★★★
6. A Mouthful of Dust ★★★
May 14, 2026
When Chih was a young cleric
A Long and Speaking Silence is the seventh book in Nghi Vo's Singing Hills Cycle. It is probably the first of the series in chronological order.
Chih is a very young cleric. In fact, we are told near the beginning "Chih had finished their novitiate ten months earlier." They are sill a teenager, a little uncomfortable being addressed as a cleric. More than that, they are not entirely comfortable with their role as a mere recorder of stories and histories. They are in the river town Luntien, far from home, home being the Singing Hills Monastery. They are destitute, their purse having been cut when they disembarked. They are waiting table at a restaurant so as not to starve.
Luntien is a town under strain, because of a large influx of Muyese refugees, fleeing from a natural disaster. Luntien is not treating the refugees with grace or generosity. Chih does the little they can to help them out. Aside from trying to help the refugees with food, Chih and their neixin Almost Brilliant attempt to record names and family relationships of the refugees, with the hope of finding relatives who can take them in.
Chih finds it difficult -- nearly impossible, actually -- to maintain the detachment of a cleric. Besides that, they haven't yet established the comfort with Almost Brilliant that characterizes the earlier (but later in time) novellas of the series. Almost Brilliant is more of an authority figure to Chih than the friend and coworker she will become.
I enjoyed this. The story has more of a bite than the previous novellas. Chih struggles to figure out what the right thing to do is, and then to do it. They struggle with self-doubt.
Blog review.
A Long and Speaking Silence is the seventh book in Nghi Vo's Singing Hills Cycle. It is probably the first of the series in chronological order.
Chih is a very young cleric. In fact, we are told near the beginning "Chih had finished their novitiate ten months earlier." They are sill a teenager, a little uncomfortable being addressed as a cleric. More than that, they are not entirely comfortable with their role as a mere recorder of stories and histories. They are in the river town Luntien, far from home, home being the Singing Hills Monastery. They are destitute, their purse having been cut when they disembarked. They are waiting table at a restaurant so as not to starve.
Luntien is a town under strain, because of a large influx of Muyese refugees, fleeing from a natural disaster. Luntien is not treating the refugees with grace or generosity. Chih does the little they can to help them out. Aside from trying to help the refugees with food, Chih and their neixin Almost Brilliant attempt to record names and family relationships of the refugees, with the hope of finding relatives who can take them in.
Chih finds it difficult -- nearly impossible, actually -- to maintain the detachment of a cleric. Besides that, they haven't yet established the comfort with Almost Brilliant that characterizes the earlier (but later in time) novellas of the series. Almost Brilliant is more of an authority figure to Chih than the friend and coworker she will become.
I enjoyed this. The story has more of a bite than the previous novellas. Chih struggles to figure out what the right thing to do is, and then to do it. They struggle with self-doubt.
Blog review.
May 15, 2026
I love these books.
Cleric Chih has a purse stolen and so has to work in a restaurant to pay their way. Meanwhile, many immigrants are coming to town from their ravaged home islands, and not exactly welcomed. Chih tries to help as much as possible, but doesn't always understand the complexity of the situation. They are a little naive, frankly. Fortunately they have their helpmate and bird Almost Brilliant to straighten things out.
This is a bit of an origin story where Chih has just recently become a cleric rather than a novice, and their inexperience shows.
As with the previous book 'A Mouthful of Dust', Vo is incorporating some big and timely topics into these tales of capturing people's stories. in 'Dust' it was famine, and in this one it's mass immigration of refugees and the tensions that causes.
Despite the seriousness of the topics, the books have a gentleness about them due to the nature of Chih and Almost Brilliant, and the stories that people tell are often delightful vignettes or cultural legends that are, by themselves, little masterpieces of storytelling.
Cleric Chih has a purse stolen and so has to work in a restaurant to pay their way. Meanwhile, many immigrants are coming to town from their ravaged home islands, and not exactly welcomed. Chih tries to help as much as possible, but doesn't always understand the complexity of the situation. They are a little naive, frankly. Fortunately they have their helpmate and bird Almost Brilliant to straighten things out.
This is a bit of an origin story where Chih has just recently become a cleric rather than a novice, and their inexperience shows.
As with the previous book 'A Mouthful of Dust', Vo is incorporating some big and timely topics into these tales of capturing people's stories. in 'Dust' it was famine, and in this one it's mass immigration of refugees and the tensions that causes.
Despite the seriousness of the topics, the books have a gentleness about them due to the nature of Chih and Almost Brilliant, and the stories that people tell are often delightful vignettes or cultural legends that are, by themselves, little masterpieces of storytelling.
May 10, 2026
Another fun addition to the Singing Hills Cycle.
In this one, we follow Chih's early days as a Cleric of the Singing Hills, as the are still learning how and when to ask the right questions. This novella also dealt a lot with racism, xenophobia, and the general discrimination faced by immigrants and refugees.
I really enjoyed the traditional stories of the island people in this one!
In this one, we follow Chih's early days as a Cleric of the Singing Hills, as the are still learning how and when to ask the right questions. This novella also dealt a lot with racism, xenophobia, and the general discrimination faced by immigrants and refugees.
I really enjoyed the traditional stories of the island people in this one!
May 13, 2026
Очень интересно было посмотреть на Чи в самом начале их пути, пожалуй, это будет у меня одна из любимых повестей в серии.
May 6, 2026
there's just something about reading bout cleric chih and their companion's adventures that makes me feel all wholesome and warm inside every single time. this once again was utterly- not ALMOST- brilliant (iykyk)
May 12, 2026
Another great installment in The Singing Hills novella series, though I am not even surprised at this point- I head into them simply knowing I am going to get a great story. In this one, we follow Chih when they're a newer cleric, and they're still kind of feeling out how to get people to tell them stories. We get a glimpse into how Chih ended up a cleric, and some of the stumbles that inevitably occur when one is just starting out. There's some great commentary on how difficult life can be for a refugee, and some great reflection on shared humanity. This installment is a bit quieter, but I definitely enjoyed it all the same!
May 10, 2026
One day, everyone will have always born our silence.
May 7, 2026
Like all the other books in this series, this one was quite short, but as always, very entertaining and enjoyable. I love our two main characters.
I always find the stories they tell and the ones told to them so interesting and fascinating. Probably because all these stories come from a culture different to my own.
I always find the stories they tell and the ones told to them so interesting and fascinating. Probably because all these stories come from a culture different to my own.
May 10, 2026
This entry is all about refugee camps and/or communities.
May 11, 2026
As always, I love the way Vo weaves Chih's journey and the stories they hear during their journey. This book mixed an almost coming-of-age story for Chih as a newly minted cleric with a story of the bitter sweetness many immigrants face in their new "home".
I love oral storytelling and the writing style of this book (and all in the series) embodies that spirit. I also like how all the books in series stay true to Chih's purpose as cleric of the Singing Hills abbey and lets everyones stories unfold before Chih. While they might get involved in the periphery, they are never the main character, merely an observer and record keeper.
I love oral storytelling and the writing style of this book (and all in the series) embodies that spirit. I also like how all the books in series stay true to Chih's purpose as cleric of the Singing Hills abbey and lets everyones stories unfold before Chih. While they might get involved in the periphery, they are never the main character, merely an observer and record keeper.
May 13, 2026
(4 stars) I received a free advanced copy from the publisher. This is my honest review. The latest installment of the Singing Hills Cycle does not disappoint! We follow a young Chih during their early months as a cleric. After having their purse stolen, they are waiting tables in a new village until a they are able to obtain enough money to move on. As the village prepares for a large festival, violence simmers as tensions grow between the villagers and refugees fleeing their homeland. A LONG AND SPEAKING SILENCE is a beautiful story about the power of storytelling and remembrance, as well as the importance of empathy and friendship. This series continues to be one of my favorites!
May 8, 2026
Nghi Vo does it again and this time also rubs salt directly into my eyes in the last 5 minutes... 😭
May 21, 2026
I always love this series and I always enjoy every novella. Going back to Cleric Chih's early days was really nice, and this entry focused on themes around immigration that are way too relevant to our cultural landscape today. The title was a very interesting take on immigration and displacement of peoples and cultures, which I think is always the biggest strength of these books - looking at themes from different angles. I just wish there was a tiiiiiny bit more meat to the theme, as the novella just sort of...ends.
May 6, 2026
We all need to find our home and our in the world. That's the message our young novice Cleric Chih learns in A Long and Speaking Silence. In this seventh book, we come back to the beginning of their journey with neixin spirit Almost Brilliant, unsure of themselves and their mission in a bitter world. Like with all of the Singing Hills Cycle books, we are treated to a range of storytelling, much of it this time through the eyes of children.
I always enjoy a new entry in the Singing Hills Cycle. They can be picked up in nearly any order, as the journey is nonsequential. If you've read one before, you know what to expect. If you haven't, our cleric Chih and their spirit friend collect stories on their journey from town to town. They are low on plot and high on theme. Each one is a joy to read.
Thank you to Tordotcom for an eARC. A Long and Speaking Silence is out 5/5/2026.
I always enjoy a new entry in the Singing Hills Cycle. They can be picked up in nearly any order, as the journey is nonsequential. If you've read one before, you know what to expect. If you haven't, our cleric Chih and their spirit friend collect stories on their journey from town to town. They are low on plot and high on theme. Each one is a joy to read.
Thank you to Tordotcom for an eARC. A Long and Speaking Silence is out 5/5/2026.
May 8, 2026
This was so good! I love this series, and this might be one of my favorite entries.
This is when Cleric Chih was just starting out, and they were very newly made into a cleric. On a mission with Almost Brilliant, their money is stolen, so they have to take a job at a restaurant in a waterfront town. There are a lot of immigrants coming to this town, and tensions between the locals and immigrants. There's a deeper story about Singing Hills that had its own exodus when the emperor at the time was persecuting them. This felt very timely and nuanced to me.
This is when Cleric Chih was just starting out, and they were very newly made into a cleric. On a mission with Almost Brilliant, their money is stolen, so they have to take a job at a restaurant in a waterfront town. There are a lot of immigrants coming to this town, and tensions between the locals and immigrants. There's a deeper story about Singing Hills that had its own exodus when the emperor at the time was persecuting them. This felt very timely and nuanced to me.
May 11, 2026
3.5
a prequel to the rest of the series, when Chih has just gotten their start as a cleric and honestly isn’t great at it. a little underwhelmed with this one
a prequel to the rest of the series, when Chih has just gotten their start as a cleric and honestly isn’t great at it. a little underwhelmed with this one
May 6, 2026
didn’t wow me like the others did but still a decent read and addition to the series.
May 21, 2026
A mixed bag for me, and one that I may need to re-visit in the future to digest a second time. It's a bit less focused than previous books in the series. Previous entries featured gripping central narratives, but this one takes a meandering approach, with Chih navigating a city in the midst of a refugee crisis. There are no grand revelations or conclusions here, which I am now realizing may very well have been a deliberate choice. All books in the Singing Hills Cycle focus on a different aspect of storytelling. In A Long and Speaking Silence, however, the central thesis is about the tragedy of forgotten and lost stories. Entire lineages forgotten across a refugee diaspora, historical records lost in imperial purges, personal histories that no one bothered to write down. It's all a bit uncertain, but what I struggled with was how the various plotlines in the book didn't really coalesce into a cohesive narrative for me. Additionally, and this is a petty complaint, but I was disappointed that the fantastical elements took a back seat to old-fashioned human problems. I don't know, I'm rating a 3 for now, but may upgrade it to a 4 after a re-read or some reflection.
May 16, 2026
A bit of an odd entry in the series since it goes back in time to the earliest days of Chin's travels as a cleric, and consequently is a lot about not being that good at their job yet while also being thrust into the middle of a desperate refugee situation. Structure is more uneven than all previous books, but still has many beautiful moments.
May 6, 2026
the best one yet 😭 this series continues to be so relevant and heartfelt, thank you nghi vo!
May 19, 2026
Wow. Yeah... I cried.
Maybe I'm just in the perfect headspace for novellas right now, or maybe this is my new favorite installment in this series since Empress of Salt and Fortune.
Something about the shift in perspective as we jump back to Cleric Chih's early years - their naivety and youth is so refreshing and adds so much to the setting of the story. Plus I could truly picture the world and the village and people of this book more strongly than I could with the settings of the previous few novellas. It was so strong in my heart, I felt like I could smell and feel everything Chih could.
Or maybe it's just how apt this story is, how perfectly timed with troubles around the world. This is a book about immigration, about belonging and the realistic conflicts around the beaurocracy of immigration that become personal and hateful. It is also a book about home - what makes a place home? It can be the foods, the ingredients and recipes. It can be the people, the community and traditions. But most importantly, what makes a place home is its stories, and the stories of its people. All of the stories Chih collected in this novella felt like they held added meaning and heart because they were the pillar that the people in this place were going to build their lives and families around. The stories they grew up with, the stories from the world they used to call home ... their children will hear those stories in this new place and it will be the only thing that connects those children to the history of their people.
It's also a novella that reminds us that ... we all descend from refugees, from people who move. The origins of all life of earth is with movement - the need to move and change and grow together as the time strikes. Just because your generation isn't the one moving doesn't exclude you from that natural human process. While there is an ongoing refugee crisis at the core of this book - it's also a story about revealing how everyone else in the book, including Chih, has come from or been a refugee at some point. And it should bring them together, rather than pulling them apart.
So yeah I cried. Everything just connected so perfectly for me in this one. Even if you don't feel like working your way through this whole series, I will happily tell anyone to just read Empress of Salt and Fortune, and A Long and Speaking Silence. They're are absolutely my favorites in the collection.
A silence in the historical record - the places where people don't want their stories told... that silence speaks loudly. That's what I got from the title, and I think it came across beautifully.
"There could be too little food, too little water, too little money, too little kindness, too little sense; there were never too many people." Pg. 68
"But we listen to stories. And we tell them. At the end, when we can’t cook, can’t work, can’t go home, maybe all we can do is tell stories.” pg. 83
"Someday, you’re going to be far from home, whether that distance is counted in miles or years. When you are, be kind to yourself, okay?" Pg. 133
Maybe I'm just in the perfect headspace for novellas right now, or maybe this is my new favorite installment in this series since Empress of Salt and Fortune.
Something about the shift in perspective as we jump back to Cleric Chih's early years - their naivety and youth is so refreshing and adds so much to the setting of the story. Plus I could truly picture the world and the village and people of this book more strongly than I could with the settings of the previous few novellas. It was so strong in my heart, I felt like I could smell and feel everything Chih could.
Or maybe it's just how apt this story is, how perfectly timed with troubles around the world. This is a book about immigration, about belonging and the realistic conflicts around the beaurocracy of immigration that become personal and hateful. It is also a book about home - what makes a place home? It can be the foods, the ingredients and recipes. It can be the people, the community and traditions. But most importantly, what makes a place home is its stories, and the stories of its people. All of the stories Chih collected in this novella felt like they held added meaning and heart because they were the pillar that the people in this place were going to build their lives and families around. The stories they grew up with, the stories from the world they used to call home ... their children will hear those stories in this new place and it will be the only thing that connects those children to the history of their people.
It's also a novella that reminds us that ... we all descend from refugees, from people who move. The origins of all life of earth is with movement - the need to move and change and grow together as the time strikes. Just because your generation isn't the one moving doesn't exclude you from that natural human process. While there is an ongoing refugee crisis at the core of this book - it's also a story about revealing how everyone else in the book, including Chih, has come from or been a refugee at some point. And it should bring them together, rather than pulling them apart.
So yeah I cried. Everything just connected so perfectly for me in this one. Even if you don't feel like working your way through this whole series, I will happily tell anyone to just read Empress of Salt and Fortune, and A Long and Speaking Silence. They're are absolutely my favorites in the collection.
A silence in the historical record - the places where people don't want their stories told... that silence speaks loudly. That's what I got from the title, and I think it came across beautifully.
"There could be too little food, too little water, too little money, too little kindness, too little sense; there were never too many people." Pg. 68
"But we listen to stories. And we tell them. At the end, when we can’t cook, can’t work, can’t go home, maybe all we can do is tell stories.” pg. 83
"Someday, you’re going to be far from home, whether that distance is counted in miles or years. When you are, be kind to yourself, okay?" Pg. 133
May 5, 2026
“The clerics who had taught them always counseled patience, but it was a hard lesson to learn when the whole world felt like a storehouse of strange and wonderful things, none of which anyone had bothered to record or report.”
A prequel of sorts, this novella takes place just ten months after Chih finishes their novitiate and becomes Cleric Chih. They are still becoming closely acquainted with Almost Brilliant and are stumbling their way through awkward villager interactions as they get to know people on this leg of their journey. A journey that has hit a rough patch, as they find their money pouch missing and have to spend some time serving in a local restaurant to make some coin until eventually they can move on.
The village is celebrating the start of rainy season and is also a reluctant host to many refugees who were forced to flee their homelands. As Chih spends more time in the village, we see the distrust and inherent dislike the locals display toward the refugees, in a tale as old as time that feels even more relevant to the real world as ever before. Chih collects their stories and tries to change the minds of the villagers, and old secrets are slowly revealed as Chih hears more and more stories. We also learn a bit more about Chih’s life before the Singing Hills.
This was a solid addition to the Singing Hills series and as always, I’ll gladly be back for the next installment! Thanks so much to NetGalley and Tor/Forge for the advanced copy of the book!
A prequel of sorts, this novella takes place just ten months after Chih finishes their novitiate and becomes Cleric Chih. They are still becoming closely acquainted with Almost Brilliant and are stumbling their way through awkward villager interactions as they get to know people on this leg of their journey. A journey that has hit a rough patch, as they find their money pouch missing and have to spend some time serving in a local restaurant to make some coin until eventually they can move on.
The village is celebrating the start of rainy season and is also a reluctant host to many refugees who were forced to flee their homelands. As Chih spends more time in the village, we see the distrust and inherent dislike the locals display toward the refugees, in a tale as old as time that feels even more relevant to the real world as ever before. Chih collects their stories and tries to change the minds of the villagers, and old secrets are slowly revealed as Chih hears more and more stories. We also learn a bit more about Chih’s life before the Singing Hills.
This was a solid addition to the Singing Hills series and as always, I’ll gladly be back for the next installment! Thanks so much to NetGalley and Tor/Forge for the advanced copy of the book!
May 19, 2026
I really enjoy this series of tales of Cleric Chih, a monk who travels to collect stories from around the country. This one is interesting because it’s going back in time to before the first in the series, to a time right after Chih officially became a Cleric, on their first trip. The heart of this story seems to be incoming groups of refugees into the city in which Cleric Chih is currently residing and working — these refugees are disdained and mistreated by those who live in the town, even those who claim to be helping them. It seems, though, that many of the people in town originally came from other places, and how well they were accepted seemed to depend on how much they looked like those who already lived there. Cleric Chih even discovers that the owners of the restaurant they are working in originally came from their home, the Singing Hills. While I love the writing of this series and Cleric Chih and Almost Brilliant as characters, there wasn’t as much to this story as there is in other books. What I did enjoy is getting an early look at how Chih interacts with others as a new cleric and the connection they and Almost Brilliant are building together.
May 12, 2026
I enjoyed this book a lot. I greatly enjoyed seeing young Chih and Almost Brilliant learning their way and making mistakes. (Yes, the neixin too.) It didn't take me long to get used to this being their first solo adventure, though it was sometimes odd to see the normally self confident Chih struggle with things that they do so routinely later on. I really liked the way Almost Brilliant reminded the reader of the newness of their adventures, by saying things like "I've heard about that but I want to see it for myself" about things.
The plot itself almost doesn't matter for this book. The story is about Chih's growth, and so the action in the book could have been a number of things as long as it provided room for the cleric to grow and think about the differences between life as a novice in the abbey and life as a cleric on the road. As it was, the story about the refugees and tensions between ethnic groups was an echo of real world themes, and felt sadly all too real.
The plot itself almost doesn't matter for this book. The story is about Chih's growth, and so the action in the book could have been a number of things as long as it provided room for the cleric to grow and think about the differences between life as a novice in the abbey and life as a cleric on the road. As it was, the story about the refugees and tensions between ethnic groups was an echo of real world themes, and felt sadly all too real.
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