REVIEW: A Mouthful of Dust (The Singing Hills Cycle Book 6) by Nghi Vo
Hunger makes monsters in this dark new tale in Nghi Vo’s Hugo Award-winning Singing Hills Cycle.
Wandering Cleric Chih of Singing Hills and their hoopoe companion Almost Brilliant come to the river town of Baolin chasing stories of a legendary famine. Amid tales of dishes served to royalty and desserts made of dust, they discover the secrets of what happens when hunger stalks the land and what the powerful will do to hide their crimes.
Trapped in the mansion of a sinister magistrate, Chih and Almost Brilliant must learn what happened in Baolin when the famine came to call, and they must do so quickly…because the things in the shadows are only growing hungrier.
The novellas are standalone stories linked by the Cleric Chih, and may be read in any order.
CW/TW – The story deals with a past famine and what people did to survive it. Think the worst and you’ll be correct. Many of the quotes are about this.
Where there was hunger, there was desperation, and eventually, the belly cried louder than the children, or the elderly, or the dead.
Dear Nghi Vo,
I finished reading this novella and immediately went and ate something. The slow, seeping imagery of hunger and what people will do to survive the worst of it is powerful and yeah, I needed to eat just because I could.
“I am sorry for what brought you here, and I will do my best to see you on.”
Cleric Chih and Almost Brilliant are back at work again. On the road to Baolin to record details of that city’s famous pork dish as well as details of when the famine demon stayed there for three years, Almost Brilliant finds bones. Cleric Chih says a prayer over them and then wraps the bones to take with them to be buried properly. Arriving in Baolin, they discover that the pork dish is as wonderful as they’ve heard it to be and that the Magistrate and his wife have very specific stories to tell them. Stories that Cleric Chih realizes from the start aren’t all true. But the bones have another story to tell.
“We were told about this place and the demon that stopped here. The time to be nervous about this was before you accepted the assignment back in Jintao.”
I love seeing Chih and Almost Brilliant again. Almost Brilliant is as superior and opinionated as ever while Chih is once again focused on what the Singing Hills Clerics do, which is recording stories. This may make Chih see a little “along for the ride” in the story but remember, clerics are supposed to record stories, not be in them. After a wonderful lunch, they begin by listening to what the chef tells them. It’s not pretty but the chef’s mother survived due to her wits and her courage in the face of the famine demon.
I will be careful, I will be clever, and I will tell the abbey all about this when I get back there.
When Chih is “requested” to arrive at the magistrate’s house, they know it’s not optional but they’re used to being in places where people might not be happy to have them about and hearing things that people don’t want them to hear. Soon however the atmosphere begins to darken and the servants and wife of the magistrate show signs that this isn’t normal. Meanwhile Chih hears more stories which are getting worse by the tale. Just because they’re basically a prisoner, there’s no need not to continue gathering stories because every story is valuable.
When Madame Liu tells Cleric Chih that the household has been strictly vegetarian since the famine as a sacrifice to bring back the crops and water, Chih knows it’s probably not the truth. And all too soon, some reality creeps in before the shocking truth starts to be revealed.
“I want to know how she tasted to you,” they said carefully.
For a long moment, Madame Liu was quiet, and Chih thought of her on the doorstep of the kitchen, listening to the sizzle of the hot pan.
“She tasted like smoke and fat and salt. She tasted like getting to live a little longer, and so she was delicious.”
And there it is. Chih knows that in most famine cities, this happens. They know of many records at the monastery that say so. Still the atmosphere gets more brooding and the magistrate is obviously desperate about something. The story he tells them is grim and Chih imagines surviving not one but two famines.
Chih sneaked a glance at Madame Liu. The magistrate’s wife was as still as a pond full of venomous carp, as perfectly composed as a painting of a murder.
When the truth finally emerges and revenge is achieved, it’s worse than Cleric Chih imagined. And now Cleric Chih has become part of the story which as much as this is discouraged by the monastery, does happen. Then a famine victim tells them the last horrors seen and heard which finish out the reason for everything Chih has learned.
“I was only thinking that hunger leaves scars. Here, at Shengzhi . . .”
“You should be lucky enough to scar. Dead things don’t.”
This is a disturbing little novella and I’ve deliberately chosen quotes that make this clear. It’s beautifully written, evocative, and really creepy. But then the events are ghastly and have been played out countless times through countless famines. In this case, famine isn’t just the weather or war but an actual demon who must be appeased. For much of the story, Cleric Chih does their mandate which in this case involves listening to past trauma and then fights off the nervous feelings the place gives them, before witnessing the horrific resolution. This story which they collect will also contain a bit of them. I love these novellas and as another person says, I don’t want them to end. A-
~Jayne
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