Mammoths at the Gate (Singing Hills Cycle #4) by Nghi Vo

The Empress of Salt and Fortune (Singing Hills Cycle #1)
When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain (Singing Hills Cycle #2) 

Into the Riverlands (Singing Hills Cycle #3)

Mammoths at the Gate is the fourth novella in the Singing Hills Cycle by Nghi Vo. 

Chih, our wandering cleric, is returning to the Singing Hills abbey for the first time in several years and when they get there, there are two mammoths at the gate, preventing them from entering. When they finally make their way into the abbey, they learn that their mentor has died, a childhood friend is acting as Divine, and everything's a bit off. 

I tried to listen to this as an audiobook and it didn't land for me, but when I sat down to read it (all 120 pages), it flew by in very little time at all. I love how Vo somehow writes riveting books in which very little happens. She's a true literary marvel at cozy fantasy. 

In this one, we learn more of Chih's backstory and we see more of their personality than we have in previous novellas. We also learn more about the Singing Hills abbey and its place and power in this world. I have nothing but good things to say about this series and I think if you want a little bit of fantasy without real violence, this series is a great place to start.

5/5 stars

Line of note:

In that moment, they were and weren't the cleric Chih had grown up with. This was someone new, and something in Chih ached, because growing up, growing older, was always a kind of loss, even if what was gained repaid it all and then some. (page 78)

Growing older is better than not growing older, right?

Thing I looked up:

griffonage (page 50) - careless handwriting; a crude or illegible scrawl