”Into the Riverlands” by Nghi Vo

Into the Riverlands by Nghi Vo

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This was lovely. Just lovely. Understated, calm and quiet, and has that something that leaves me wonderfully content.

“Sometimes you get told about it,” they said thoughtfully. “Maybe you get told about it two or three times, and you just don’t know what you’re hearing.”

As always in this series, this is a story about stories, about how legends are made and how life turns into them, and what gets left by the wayside.

“I’ll remember that I was terrified, Chih thought. I’ll remember what it was like to see a battle between people who don’t fight like people, who are what legends come from.”

I loved the first novella in this loosely connected series about a traveling cleric who collects stories of the land, and was not moved much by the second, but this one made up for what the previous one lacked. It didn’t overdose on folksy poetic language, it kept the mystic undertones somehow grounded, and seemed more like a calm adventure (no, it’s not an oxymoron, I swear) than a take on a fairytale (fairytale retellings for me tend to be more miss than hit, but a road adventure with a legend undertone is apparently just fine).

“The world is built on who carries what and for who,” Chih said, settling the weight more comfortably on their shoulders. “It’s not a bad world where we carry presents for people who feed us.”

I can’t let my review become longer than this short novella, so let’s just sum up: it’s lovely and I’m glad I’ve read it. No, it’s not my favorite Hugo’s contender (that would be Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Ogres) but it’s very good and it left me content, which is wonderful as far as I’m concerned.

4.5 stars, rounding up.

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