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athryn's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Another fine novella in this little series. I enjoy that they are all stand alone and episodic and can basically be read in any order. I really enjoyed the collection of stories (that's really one overarching story) in this, and enjoyed the different characters.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Murder, and Death
overbooked207's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
4.0
π Into the Riverlands by Nghi Vo Book Review π
5th book of January 2023 and 5th of the year:
This was the third installment in the beautifully written, queernormative The Singing Hills Cycle series by Nghi Vo. Like the two books before it, this focused on storytelling, learning about other cultures and people, and why those things are so important, and I love the fact that they highlight those things. It had great, diverse, and badass characters, and the fight scenes were also very good. The audiobooks are all beautifully narrated, and I recommend the whole series! TWs for animal death, cursing, death, gore, injury/injury description, mention of rape and forced prostitution toward the beginning, murder, and violenceππ§π³οΈβππ
5th book of January 2023 and 5th of the year:
This was the third installment in the beautifully written, queernormative The Singing Hills Cycle series by Nghi Vo. Like the two books before it, this focused on storytelling, learning about other cultures and people, and why those things are so important, and I love the fact that they highlight those things. It had great, diverse, and badass characters, and the fight scenes were also very good. The audiobooks are all beautifully narrated, and I recommend the whole series! TWs for animal death, cursing, death, gore, injury/injury description, mention of rape and forced prostitution toward the beginning, murder, and violenceππ§π³οΈβππ
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Murder, Cursing, Death, Violence, Rape, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail
ofbooksandechos's review
adventurous
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
scrubsandbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Third book in the The Singing Hills Cycle series... this was as entertaining as the previous two books though I still personally loved those two more. Cleric Chih ends up on another journey joined by newer companions, and they hear more stories of the riverlands. Because of the page number, these books have tended to be more fast-paced but I felt like this one could have afforded to be a bit longer. The ending was a little too abrupt, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Violence
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail
jaan's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.75
I love it when stories are about people meeting legends and then the legends are also people, and also when stories are themselves about stories and storytelling!! I would have given this five stars, but there was some very contemporary language that felt like it came out of nowhere, which broke the immersion (e.g., Sang calling Wei Jintai βsisβ and Lao Bingyi addressing Chih and the girls as βkidsβ), but these are teeny-tiny gripes. I am a massive, massive fan of the Singing Hills cycle and I hope Nghi Vo has many stories still to tell.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gore and Injury/Injury detail
lucystolethesky's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Violence
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Violence
Minor: Animal death
sarah984's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
This story was so fun - the stories were interesting and the theme of never being able to fully know another person and these little gifts of learning special things about them was really well executed. This one took a while to get going for me but the way it wrapped up was perfect.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death
Minor: Animal death, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Violence, War, and Murder
puttingwingsonwords's review
adventurous
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
mandkips's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Violence and War
Minor: Injury/Injury detail
ezwolf's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Apparently this was the month for starting books by authors who wrote other books I had intended on reading first, but haven't and loving them!
I've wanted to read The Chosen and the Beautiful for months and haven't had the chance, but the cover of this one was so intriguing combined with the author I couldn't pass it up. I started this knowing I would probably be a little confused since, even though it says you can read them out of order, I still thought there would be pieces I would be missing. But even if I was, I didn't feel like I was. The story is short enough that even if it was a stand-alone I would be eager to hear more and find out more about all of our characters.
The way you're reading a story that's essentially about stories and how they're told and passed along and kept throughout history was fun and led to a sort of twist I didn't really see coming even though it's right in front of you (and Chih). Chih and Almost Beautiful are a wonderful couple to have as the narrator, but I loved all of the characters that were along for the road trip. I would gladly read a book about any of them. I fully plan on reading the rest of The Singing Hills Cycle books and I highly recommend this series!
Thank you to NetGalley for making this available in exchange for an honest review!
I've wanted to read The Chosen and the Beautiful for months and haven't had the chance, but the cover of this one was so intriguing combined with the author I couldn't pass it up. I started this knowing I would probably be a little confused since, even though it says you can read them out of order, I still thought there would be pieces I would be missing. But even if I was, I didn't feel like I was. The story is short enough that even if it was a stand-alone I would be eager to hear more and find out more about all of our characters.
The way you're reading a story that's essentially about stories and how they're told and passed along and kept throughout history was fun and led to a sort of twist I didn't really see coming even though it's right in front of you (and Chih). Chih and Almost Beautiful are a wonderful couple to have as the narrator, but I loved all of the characters that were along for the road trip. I would gladly read a book about any of them. I fully plan on reading the rest of The Singing Hills Cycle books and I highly recommend this series!
Thank you to NetGalley for making this available in exchange for an honest review!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Blood, Body horror, and Death
Minor: Injury/Injury detail
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