REVIEW
An e-arc of the book has been provided by the publisher, Tordotcom, in exchange for an honest review.
Shocking as it may – at least for myself, I was actually surprised to have enjoyed this book. It might be that I was not in the right head space when I read the first book of the series, or it might be that it just wasn’t for me, but that book and I didn’t connect one bit.
In all honesty, I had an inkling of fear that I would not like this story. Moments within the story felt clattered and the initial exchanges in the conversation, which were a powerful fundamental aspect of the “story within a story” theme, are not particularly engaging. However, and it is an intriguing thing how, the book picked up its pace in both the adventure and interactions of the characters that I cannot seem to put the book down.
“What my story is, cleric, is mine. You have the rest, and you’ll tell the rest. Be happy with that. My story’s mine and you don’t get to have it.”
Reading the story was, weirdly, hypnotic—as each of the characters come together and begin to unravel moments that divulges who each of the them are. Despite not being the focus of the story, I was looking for more from the actions that laced the book. Given that they were already there, it would’ve been better if they allowed more room for the scenes to provide the narrative an explosive moment from these pieces of the story.
The way this book unravels toward the end is also extremely engrossing. You crave for more of the history as you piece together the events that’s happening and it was just a pleasant feeling to finally know the connections within the story. As the puzzle eventually falls into place, everything becomes more wonderfully exciting.
“They tried their best to be kind, but they were also patient. Singing Hills knew tat the truth showed up in its own time, often late and sometimes entirely unlooked for.”
Nghi Vo proves herself a fantastic writer with her consistency of magical and poetic prose. Each part of her story lulls you into her whimsical world. It wasn’t all beautiful, though, the gloomy undertone of the book compliments well with the colorful world she made. I love the way this story was told and how effective it was in giving you a sense of connect towards its characters.
