Mammoths at the Gates (The Singing Hills Cycle, 4)($17.19Value)

Description

The Crawford and Hugo Award-Winning Series Finalist for the Nebula Award for Best Novella; s hortlisted 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. Shortlisted for the 2024 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction | 2024 World Fantasy Award Finalist | 2024 Hugo Award Finalist Hugo Award-winning Series | Crawford Award-winning Series | Locus Award-finalist Series | Ignyte Award-nominated Series "This fourth entry in the “Singing Hills Cycle” series, after Into the Riverlands , is every bit as beautiful and thought-provoking as its predecessors. Highly recommended for fans of the previous books in the series and for anyone who loves their fantasy colored with myth, legend, and bittersweet truth."― Library Journal , starred view "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 "Hugo Award winner Vo’s lovely standalone fourth Singing Hills Cycle fantasy is the most personal adventure yet for travelling Cleric Chih. . . . This timeless story of grief and growth is sure to resonate."― Publishers Weekly “[T]he novella is short but meaty, with rich language and small details and stories that flesh it out into feeling much longer than it is. It’s a quick, satisfying read.”― Booklist "With its themes of friendship, loyalty, continuity, and loss, [ Mammoths at the Gates's ] main strengths derive from an appealing cast of characters, some of whom, like Chih, have grown more complex over the four volumes of the series. . . . Adds considerable emotional resonance to an already impressive series."― Locus "This moving novella handles different methods of grieving with care and love. Not everyone is remembered the same by the living, and it is a beautiful reminder of how loved ones live on through memory and story."―Powell's, Best of 2023 "This brief fable explores love, grief, guilt, atonement, memory and transformation. In spite of the deep wounds various characters carry and the serious nature of the themes, this is a gentle tale. . . . I enjoyed it―I think you will too."― FantasyLiterature "An exceptional fantasy novella."― Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Praise for the Singing Hills Cycle "A delicious bonbon of a novella about stories and their unreliable narrators, who wink at their listeners (or readers), fully expecting us to catch on."― The Wall Street Journal "Dangerous, subtle, unexpected and familiar, angry and ferocious and hopeful. . . . A remarkable accomplishment of storytelling."―NPR "Spellbinding. . . . Vo expertly weaves myths and histories of this fantastical land throughout, while also offering readers a deeper understanding of Chih themself, a character who may have been left as a framing device in lesser hands. The result is a pitch-perfect series installment."― Publishers Weekly , (starred review) "Rides the knife edge between telling a story and being in the middle of it and explores how tales become legends. . . . Highly recommended for . . . anyone who likes high