When I say read this book, what I really mean is inhaled in one sitting. It’s a rapidly moving novella, the first in The Singing Hills Cycle, and so wastes no time dropping you right into the world. The cleric Chih, an archivist, is told the tale of a recently deceased empress by the empress’s favorite handmaiden.

I cannot convey how incredible this story, or this author, is. Nghi Vo is a master of showing instead of telling, and she does it in a way that leaves you considering both what she said and what she intentionally left out of the narrative.

You’re left with a story of feminine rage that simmers, a taste of revenge which grows complex and final as it waits to be served. Magical realism and the LGBTQ+ are truly just cherries on top. I wish I could read this for the first time again.

https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/eb6b58f1-9e08-4c1d-ba76-3707fbeb9fee