Mammoths at the Gates (The Singing Hills Cycle, 4)
The Crawford and Hugo Award-Winning Series
Finalist for the Nebula Award for Best Novella; shortlisted for the Lambda Literary Award, the Locus Award, the Ignyte Award, the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction; One of Book Riot's Best Fantasy Debuts of All Time; A Milwaukee Journal Best of 2023 Pick; A Recommended Reading List Pick for Locus; A Powell's Best of 2023 Pick
"Both tear-jerking and gut-punching. . . . Entirely accessible on its own, it is an excellent place to start if you haven’t read any of Vo’s novellas yet."—The Washington Post
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. . .
"A remarkable accomplishment of storytelling."—NPR on The Empress of Salt and Fortune
"Nghi Vo is one of the most original writers we have today."—Taylor Jenkins Reid on Siren Queen
The Hugo Award-winning Singing Hills Cycle
The Empress of Salt and Fortune
When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain
Into the Riverlands
Mammoths at the Gates
The Brides of High Hill
The novellas of The Singing Hills Cycle are linked by the cleric Chih, but may be read in any order, with each story serving as an entrypoint.
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Community Reviews
Because growing up, growing older was always a kind of loss - even if what was gained repaid it all and then some.
After being away for years cleric Chih has finally returned home, to the Singing Hills Abbey. However, their return is more bittersweet than expected: their mentor, cleric Thien, has died. While Chih would like nothing more than to mourn, and fulfill the rituals to honor the teacher, not everyone is willing to let that happen. Cleric Thien's granddaughters have come from the north to reclaim their body, and they've brought backup in the form of royal mammoths. Add to that a commotion involving cleric Thien's neixin companion, and you have yourself quite the crisis.
My favorite so far in the series! I loved this deeper look into Singing Hills and the internal workings of the order. Quite the interesting glimpse into the belief system of the clerics and the traditions that bind them together. It was also a very sweet meditation on grief and mourning that packed a punch for a book that is only 120 pages long. I'm also very interested in what we learned about neixins, I did have many questions about such particular birds and this book answered some of them.
Chih felt like a more fleshed out character in this one, not as removed as they've been so far and with more experience under their belt. Ru was a needed counterpoint and foil to Chih, I wouldn't mind seeing them again in this series. The only thing that keeps this book from being a 5 stars is the ending. I was soooo confused by it, like what do you mean the dead cleric and the alive bird fused into one person/body/entity?? The siege and the attempted invasion were also swept too quickly under the rug and felt silly.
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