The Brides of High Hill (The Singing Hills Cycle, 5)
Nghi Vo's Hugo Award-winning Singing Hills Cycle returns with a standalone gothic mystery that unfolds in the empire of Ahn.
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"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 Cleric Chih accompanies a beautiful young bride to her wedding to the aging ruler of a crumbling estate situated at the crossroads of dead empires. The bride's party is welcomed with elaborate courtesies and extravagant banquets, but between the frightened servants and the cryptic warnings of the lord's mad son, they quickly realize that something is haunting the shadowed halls.
As Chih and the bride-to-be explore empty rooms and desolate courtyards, they are drawn into the mystery of what became of Lord Guo's previous wives and the dark history of Doi Cao itself. But as the wedding night draws to its close, Chih will learn at their peril that not all monsters are to be found in the shadows; some monsters hide in plain sight.
The Singing Hills Cycle has been shortlisted for the Lambda Literary Award, the Locus Award, and the Ignyte Award, and has won the Crawford Award and the Hugo Award.
The novellas are standalone stories linked by the Cleric Chih, and may be read in any order.
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
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Community Reviews
The world starts with a story. So do dynasties and eras and wars. So does love, and so does revenge. Everything starts with a story.
We find Chih accompanying a young naive bride to her new home in a dark and foreboding estate. The groom is old, the servants secretive, the food and entertainment lavish and luxurious. Only the groom's mad son seems to be willing to warn Chih and the bride of grounds' dark history and the ghosts that await them. As the marriage gets closer and closer Chih and their odd new companions discover dreadful secrets, but will that be enough to save them?
This was an interesting addition to the series. A lot spookier than the previous books, which I did enjoy, yet I wasn't feeling it. The beginning dragged quite a bit with the set up feeling like it went on for pages and pages. There were some characterization decisions that puzzled me and even felt out of character, specifically Chih. However, I was back on board once we hit the last third and the big reveal. This changed a lot of my opinions about certain authorial choices. Of course Chih was acting out of character, they were under a spell! Obviously the bride was nonchalant, it was all part of her master plan. I retroactively liked her character after finding out she was a fox, now her naivete was deceit. I was still entertained, that's what matters to me.
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