loppear reviewed Into the Riverlands by Nghi Vo
charming
4 stars
Continuing to walk and collect stories, more lovely weaving of perspectives in this one.
Hardcover, 112 pages
Published Oct. 24, 2022 by Tordotcom.
Wandering cleric Chih of the Singing Hills travels to the riverlands to record tales of the notorious near-immortal martial artists who haunt the region. On the road to Betony Docks, they fall in with a pair of young women far from home, and an older couple who are more than they seem. As Chih runs headlong into an ancient feud, they find themselves far more entangled in the history of the riverlands than they ever expected to be.
Accompanied by Almost Brilliant, a talking bird with an indelible memory, Chih confronts old legends and new dangers alike as they learn that every story—beautiful, ugly, kind, or cruel—bears more than one face.
Continuing to walk and collect stories, more lovely weaving of perspectives in this one.
This is the second book I've read from the series and it's amazingly different from the first, rather quiet one. There's a lot of martial arts action! I liked how Chih (and by extension we) first heard the stories of various martial arts legends and then found themself in one. It was also interesting to see how those stories change during their retelling although that was only a small aspect of the book. Recommended. #2024reads