The fourth book in Vo's Singing Hills series is enlivened by some mammoths. I love idea of big galumphing hairy elephants but sadly the mammoths here are a major plot point rather than major characters.
Cleric Chih has returned home to their monastery, only to find the place is under threat of siege. Their mentor is dead, which sad enough, but that death has meant the arrival of some angry relatives of the former senior monk. The granddaughters have arrived with soldiers an military mammoths to demand the body of their estranged grandfather. So begins a crisis amid a time of grief.
Like the other books in this series, the event revolve around stories but more focused on one person and the absence they have left. It gives an odd impression of a lot going on but also being a relatively simple story (although one that involves some unusual magical transformation).
I'm a bit up and down with this series. Each book is lovingly written but they each have a kind of mood to them (varying between books) and if I'm not inline with it, it isn't as engaging. Misleading to call them "cosy" — they aren't necessarily relaxing, escapist or cathartic and "meditative" isn't right either as it implies nothing happens but people talking (which is not the case).
So, this one didn't grab me particularly but I think it is very much a story that plays very differently depending on your headspace.
No comments:
Post a Comment