Mammoths at the Gates - Review

*I received a physical copy via Tor. All reviews are my own.

I really enjoy Nghi Vo’s The Singing Hills Cycle series. Each book brings something fresh, and it never conflicts with the characters’ journey. I’m now on book 4, The Mammoths at the Gate, and I can say that this story is truly different from the rest, while keeping to its theme of storytelling and recorded memories.

"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. . ."

I have a rule: when I start a collection, I have to finish it the same way I began. For example: If I decided to start a new anime series, it's either going to be dubbed or subbed. Depending on which one I choose, I’m riding out with that decision all the way through. I mean, have you ever experienced dubbed Sailor Moon with their Jersey accents, then switched to sub because they couldn’t get the same characters to do their English voices? Nightmare. Do not recommend. So, knowing this, it was silly of me to try and test the audiobook version of Mammoths at the Gate. I didn’t stick around long enough to experience the narrator, Cindy Kay, at her full capacity, but after listening to a couple of chapters, I knew she wasn’t for me. Back to physical reading I go!

Mammoths at the Gate breaks down three topics: Grief, growth, and acceptance. Cleric Chih is back home from their world travels to find out that their mentor, Cleric Thein, has passed away. Chih also learns that their longtime friend Ru is now acting Divine (an honorary title given to the supreme head, leader, or most revered elder of the Singing Hills Abbey), and struggles to separate their friendship from Ru’s new role. Meanwhile, there are strangers with massive mammoths at the gate who are demanding the body of Cleric Thein to be brought back home for proper burial, which goes against the abbey’s customs. Each character deals with grief in their own way while also trying to hold on to traditions that are slowly changing.

Nexins play a big part in this story too. To outsiders, they are seen as ordinary birds, but they are, in fact, the animal counterparts of their humans. While people can forget the slightest details in memory or make mistakes, the nexins are there to set the record straight. The story shows a difference in how humans and animals are treated when it comes to honoring loved ones. While the humans were fighting over who should keep Cleric Thein’s body, the nexins were fighting to have a place within the ceremony. Cleric Thein died, but no one thought to check on his traveling partner, Myriad Virtues, who was taking it the hardest.

One thing I love about this series is how connected the books are. You can read any book in any order and still get a powerful story while not impeding on the past or present. I did catch a character mentioned from the previous book, Into the Riverlands, in one of the Cleric’s stories. Will this upset fans or change how we view standalone series? I don’t think so. But you never know what you might find in the next travels.

I like the way Vo wrote about the boundaries of friendship. Cleric Chih and Ru grew up together and were very close. But when it came to leaving the nest, and one couldn’t, the rift started to form. Now that Cleric Chih is seen as worldly after traveling, coming home to a friend who stayed behind can seem arrogant, even if that’s not really true. These feelings show up in their conversations and affect their relationship. Cleric Chih challenges Ru’s authority on a personal level, while Ru interprets it as disrespect toward someone who stayed in the trenches. It's an interesting dynamic to see, and even more interesting to see how it’ll get resolved.

One thing I think I’m never going to fully grasp is the usage of They/Them pronouns in writing. It’s been years since it started making its way into literature, and I still can’t separate whether we’re talking about a group of people or one person. Because I was dealing with Cleric Chih by themselves in the previous stories, I never had to figure out who they were referring to. But because this story takes place back home, where there are other Clerics in tow, it got a little confusing who everyone was referring to. That is my only “negative” feedback for this volume.

Overall, I rated this book 3-stars. I didn’t get the usual attraction I feel with this one because it felt more personal in its topics. We’ve been traveling with Cleric Chih for some time now, and to come home to a death and the politics behind it took me out of the storytelling. Vo explains her reasons and inspirations in the author’s note, but for me, this book didn’t quite match the style of the traveling Cleric I’ve come to expect.

Mammoths at the Gates is available now!

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