Since fleeing catastrophe in a southern land, the demon Vitrine came to love the port city of Azril, becoming its invisible guardian and
gardener. Under her influence, it rose to be a shining jewel in the land, home to wonders and scholars and music... until the angels came
from the east, bearing fire and the righteous word of their master. They do not explain themselves, do not heed a mere demon pleading for
mercy, and in the devastation that follows Vitrine can only watch helplessly - watch, and fling a sliver of her cursed self into one of
their own. Corrupted, the angel can no longer return to the heavens, but neither does Vitrine desire his company as she mourns her city. As
years, decades, and generations of mortals pass, the two are bound in an uneasy coexistence. Between them lie the ruins of Azril, the
memories the demon holds in the book within the glass cabinet of her heart, and a future neither can anticipate.
Review
I've been enjoying Vo's Singing Hills novellas (which have a tangential relationship to this story), so I figured I'd try some other
works by the author. (That, and the audiobook fit into a gap in listening time to make work tolerable; yes, sometimes I select for time -
so sue me, my job can be rather mind-numbing.) I'm sometimes a little leery of books with demons and angels, as they can traipse close to
religious fiction and I'm not a huge fan of real-world religions. This tale, however, subverts several expectations. Vitrine is the one
who loves the world and sees the humanity of the city, embracing its darkness and its light, coaxing it toward greatness as a bonsai
gardener shapes their trees. Then the angels arrive with divine orders to level the city and destroy everyone in it. Why? They do not
explain; it is not their duty or inclination to explain, to consider, let alone to care, but simply to act, destroying good along with
bad if that is what they're charged to do. The rest is as much an examination of trauma and grief as it is about the growing bond between
the mourning demon and the now-earthbound angel... an angel who does not understand why a demon grew so attached to the city, who has
never had to spend time in the mortal world, who may never have even had an original thought that was not dictated by his divine master
before encountering Vitrine; he does not even have a name, nor does the demon ever give him one. The demon tries to rebuild the city,
the angel often more an obstacle than an asset, but still struggles to process her centuries-deep grief and impotent rage over the
needless devastation. There are some very clear metaphors to be found in the ruins of Azril and the efforts of the immortals to process
the terrible thing that happened and the seemingly-impossible task of moving forward in a world that insists on turning after everything
worth living for has been destroyed. It nearly earned an extra half-star, as it has some beautiful and poignant moments, but at some
point it starts meandering, and the conclusion is so exceptionally surreal that I couldn't quite work out how I felt about it as an
endcap.
The cleric Chih and their hoopoe companion Almost Brilliant travel the length and breadth of the land, gathering stories and cataloguing facts
in all manner of places for the abbey of Singing Hills. Their latest travels have taken them to the shores of Lake Scarlet and the abandoned house
of Thriving Fortune, once the home of an exiled wife of the emperor. Here, an old and still-loyal servant, Rabbit, tells Chih the story that
official histories chose not to record. It begins with a daughter of a conquered people sent to be the bride of an arrogant southern emperor, and
ends with both victory and heartbreak.
Review
I'd previously read and enjoyed another Singing Hills novella, When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain, without realizing it was
technically the second title, so I was eager to read (or listen to, this being another audiobook) the first installment. These are truly standalone
stories, each with a strong emotional core, in this case hatred and vengeance and loyalty and the many contradictory ways love can pull a heart.
Rabbit's servant's-eye-view of the imperial palace and the exiled empress reveals a young woman plunged into a cold and insular world among her
people's enemies, yet who manages to hold true to her self and her greater purpose. Rabbit herself has a story, inevitably entwined with the great
woman's, and choices that lead to much pain, though she has long made peace with them. As in the other novella, Chih is largely there as witness
and recorder, but has their own personality and contribution to make. Vo creates an intriguing and complex world. I'm looking forward to more of
its stories.
Wandering cleric Chih has traveled far and wide, gathering tales and histories from local sources, but this trip may be their last. While
traveling with a mammoth rider, they become trapped at a deserted outpost by three hungry tiger sisters. If the cleric and their guide can
last until dawn, help may arrive, but until then Chih must distract the trio. They tell the tigers a story of the long-ago relationship
between a mighty tigress and a young woman scholar... but the tigers, too, know the tale, and insist on correcting it.
Review
Another freebie download from Tor's ebook-of-the-month club, I didn't realize that this was technically part of a series when I started it;
it works fine as a standalone, but that would explain why I felt like there was much more to the world and characters than I was seeing here.
The novella is set in an imaginative, Asian-inspired world of shapeshifting beasts and mischievous spirits and domesticated mammoths and more
wonders and dangers. Though it's largely a story within a story, the plight of Chih and their guide (and the mammoth, who, though nonspeaking,
is a character in its own right) is more than just a frame, with rising tension as the patience of the three tigers wears thin when confronted
with human ignorance and their ever-empty stomachs. As for the tale of the tigress and the scholar, it demonstrates how stories diverge,
different people telling different versions that skew it in their own favor. Ever the cleric, Chih dutifully records the corrections supplied
by the tigers, even knowing that it may be the last thing they ever write if the tigers run out of patience before the dawn. I'll have to
track down the first story in the series, as I'm definitely interested in exploring this world further.
Singing Hills cleric Chih's travels have taken them to many lands, but few are as wild and rough as the riverlands. With their talking
hoopoe companion Almost Brilliant, they have come seeking stories and histories... and, again, find themselves caught up in a story of
their own, when they fall in with some interesting companions on a journey to Betony Docks through bandit country.
Review
Another great, fast-reading entry in the Singing Hills series, which can be read in any order but which do slowly fill out the wider
world of Chih and Almost Brilliant. As in previous installments, the cleric starts out with every intention of being a passive observer
(if not always the most virtuous of their order), gathering tales directly from the source and refraining from passing judgement. Also as
in previous installments, the stories they record have a way of pulling them in, entwined with adventures in the here-and-now. In this
case, Chih finds themselves in the company of an older riverlands couple who seem strangely familiar with the region's history and
pathways and tales, as well as two younger companions who might be destined for their own stories someday. Along the way, the cleric
gathers more stories and must consider the common conceit that tends to place extra value on beautiful maidens and ignores or vilifies
the ordinary or less attractive ones, as if physical beauty conveys inherent virtue and interest. In the riverlands in particular, it
would be wise to pay attention to the stories one hears, as they seem particularly prone to coming to life around a traveler in
unexpected ways, for all that stories have a way of obscuring and twisting whatever truths they might be based on. The
story wends a bit at the start, but soon is off and running, and the Singing Hills world continues to grow in fascinating ways, full of
interesting characters and intriguing cultures and stories and legends galore.
After three years wandering the land and collecting numerous stories (while finding themselves pulled into more than one tale along the way),
Cleric Chih finally returns to Singing Hills Abbey. They're looking forward to some rest, catching up with old friends while entering the
stories from their travels into the abbey's extensive archives, and seeing their talking hoopoe companion Almost Brilliant and her hatchling.
But what they find instead is something very, very wrong. The abbey is nearly deserted, and a contingent of soldiers stands outside the gates,
along with two royal war mammoths. Worse, Chih learns that their beloved mentor, elderly Cleric Thien, has passed away... and that, it seems,
is why the soldiers and their very irate leaders are there. Before joining the abbey, Thien was a prominent member of the powerful Coh clan of
Northern Bell Pass. Now, Thien's relatives demand the body be returned, to be buried in the family graveyard as the man and husband and father
they were before taking vows - and even though Singing Hills is supposed to be sacrosanct, the fact that they brought war mammoths means they
appear willing to use force if necessary to get what they feel they deserve.
Review
This is a welcome new entry in the interesting world of Singing Hills and the sometimes-too-eventful life of adventurous Cleric Chih. Though
it, like the other novellas, can technically stand alone, it feels more connected to the previous stories, following up on Almost Brilliant's
"maternity" leave to raise an egg and mentioning prior excursions. Also like the previous installments, there are definite themes being
explored. In this case, matter of grief, identity, and transformations are dealt with, particularly how one person invariably becomes another
and another onward throughout their lives. It also shares themes with other Singing Hills stories, particularly about stories, who owns them,
and how retellings and biases often turn tales into something quite other than the truths that inspire them. Which story is the truth of Thien:
the man who was an influential advocate and head of a prominent clan, the inspiring abbey cleric who helped raised new generations of story
collectors, or both, or neither? Now that they have passed, stories are all that are left to the world of them, and the decision of whose take
precedence could destroy everything. Cleric Chih, naturally, becomes part of the struggle that Thien's death has precipitated, balancing their
own grief and the griefs of those who knew them both before and during the elder's time at the abbey. Thien's hoopoe companion, Myriad Virtues,
is almost literally crippled by her grief, to a degree even the abbey's other hoopoes find disturbing; Vo delves a little more into the talking
birds with this storyline, the living memory keepers of the clerics and Singing Hills, who are people but also not human. In the absence of
most of the clerics (called away to another urgent project), Chih's childhood friend is temporary leader of those who remained behind... and,
like everyone else (like Chih themself), they have changed over the years, and moreso with the mantle of even temporary power. Chih's
well-intentioned efforts to defuse the growing conflict may only make things worse for everyone, and fracture relationships that have lasted
for years. The resolution is a slight stretch, though it fits the world of Singing Hills and the characters (especially if one has followed
along through the previous novellas, and understands the magical nature of the setting), involving some necessary sacrifice and loss, as well
as moments of wonder and beauty. I'm still enjoying the world and the characters, and look forward to more visits to Singing Hills Abbey and
its world.
Cleric Chih continues their travels about the land in search of stories to record for the archives of Singing Hills. After a chance meeting on
the road, they are asked to accompany young Pham Nhung and her parents on the way to an arranged marriage with the wealthy lord of Doi Cau. The
man is much older than her, but such arranged marriages are not uncommon, and her family needs the wealth the union will bring. But something is
not right in the home of Nhung's intended. The servants are sullen. The lord's son is acting very strange. And nobody seems willing to answer
Chih's questions, especially about what happened to the lord of Doi Cau's previous brides...
Review
Once again, the traveling cleric of Singing Hills finds themself pulled into another story brought to life around them, this time compelled by
their heart as much as their calling: their feelings toward the young bride-to-be are more than friendly, and Nhung does not actively discourage
the attention. This makes Chih a little more protective than they would be of most traveling companions, and a little more prone to sticking
their nose into the matter of the arranged marriage, which was already far from a love match but starts to take on very sinister tones from the
moment they pass through the lord's gates. There is a story here indeed, but not the one the cleric expects - one that may well be the last story
they ever witness. Their talking hoopoe companion Almost Brilliant would be an asset in figuring things out, but the bird has not traveled to the
compound with Chih, an absence they feel keenly, even as they pine for the woman they know they can never really be with. Something about this
entry in the series felt a little bit thin or stretched compared to previous tales, in a way I can't quite identify but with left me a little
less satisfied than I should have been by the end. It's still a decent, if dark, tale, and I still enjoy the characters and the world.
