Into the Riverlands - Review
*I received a physical copy from B2 Weird Book Tours via Tor. All reviews are my own.
I couldn’t decide which book from Nghi Vo’s Singing Hills Cycle series was my favorite, and this latest one nearly replaced Empress of Salt and Fortune at the top of my list. After putting it off for a while, I finally finished (for the second time) the third book in the series, Into the Riverlands, as part of my B2 Weird tour duties.
"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 themselves 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."
Cleric Chih and their bird companion, Almost Brilliant, travel the dangerous roads of the Riverlands. Along the way, they meet two young women, Khanh and Wei Jintai, and an older couple, Lao Bingyi and Mac Khan. The group decides to stick together as they journey through the risky paths, sharing stories, myths, and legends about famous Riverlands figures like Wild Pig Yi and Gravewraith Chen. When they finally arrive at their destination and hear about a bandit fight that puts children and the wounded in danger, the stories they shared suddenly become real as the action unfolds.
This was good old-fashioned storytelling between people. The group traded stories and debated their validity, giving you the feeling of roasting marshmallows around a campfire. It also makes you appreciate the history of oral retellings and the people who remember them to pass the legends along. I especially liked the book's climax. It made the conversations connect, and it gave you a moment to appreciate the good fortune of being introduced to strangers while traveling in the same direction.
Overall, I rated this book 4-stars. I‘ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I really enjoy this series. I love that a monk travels the world, experiencing life by watching and recording stories for future generations. There’s something simplistic and wholesome about it. As I mentioned before, it took some years, but I’ve finally completed my tour duties for the Singing Hills Cycle series. I’m not too sad about leaving this world, because Vo dropped three new titles in the franchise that I will be purchasing later on. I will be continuing with Cleric Chih and Almost Brilliant as they continue to travel the world, one story at a time.
Into the Riverlands is available now!
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