I am endlessly fascinated by Nghi Vo’s storytelling and firmly believe her Singing Hills Cycle series is one of the best fantasy series out there. I’ve been a bit behind on this series and have needed to read Mammoths at the Gates (#4 in The Singing Hills Cycle) for months now. Since Mammoths was recently announced as a finalist for both the Nebula and Hugo Awards, I knew I needed to finally pick it up.

Amazon / Goodreads

Synopsis:

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. . .

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.

Review:

Mammoths at the Gates is both a study in sorrow and an investigation into the many roles people play in one lifetime. Are people who they are at the end of their life? Or are they who they show throughout their lives? Are they all those things at once? Mammoths at the Gates is complex, beautiful, and remarkably inspired.

Cleric Chih returns to the Singing Hills Abbey to find things very different. Two actual mammoths stand at the gates of the abbey. More than that, Chih is met with the death of a beloved mentor and the unwelcome demands of the cleric’s granddaughters. Cleric Chih and the other clerics, along with Almost Brilliant, Myriad Virtures, and Cleverness Himself, must find a way to protect the abbey and respect their former mentor at the same time.

One thing I love about this series is that each novella can serve as an entry point to the series. Mammoths feels like an especially great starting point for those wanting to step into Vo’s world, as it centers on the clerics and their bird-like companions at their home. So many great characters appear in this entry, making it feel like a big hug, even if the story is deep and full of sorrow.

I listened to Mammoth at the Gates by audiobook, which I highly recommend. The audiobook is superbly narrated and came in around three hours. Because I tend to listen to audiobooks at 1.5x speed, I was able to listen to the entirety of this novella while running errands one day. It made for an extremely lovely day of errands.

Final Thoughts:

Vo’s writing is impeccable, lyrical, and brilliant. One review cannot possibly do this series justice. I am so excited to read more by Vo and thrilled there’s more to come in this series.

Rating: 5+ Stars. A new favorite novella of mine.