A Mouthful of Dust is the sixth novella in The Singing Hills Cycle by Nghi Vo.
Finished on: 3.2.2026
[Here are my reviews of the other novellas in the cycle.]

Plot:
Baolin is known for its pork dish, and for a great famine that struck the town not too long ago. There are still remnants of that famine everywhere and Cleric Chih and their companion Almost Brilliant come there to gather stories, as usual. But just after their arrival, Chih is invited tot he magistrate’s home, and left with little choice but to accept the invitation. The famine is both taboo and everywhere at the magistrate’s home, leaving Chih in a difficult position. Especially since there is something else lurking there.

A Moutful of Dust continues one of my favorite series with Vo‘s – by now expected – beautiful prose and keen eye for details. But I have to admit that I connected a little less with this novella than with the ones that came before it.

I very much like Chih and Almost Brilliant, so I am always glad to spend time with them. And the novella certainly kept me guessing as to where the story was headed. Plus, there is a cat, which is always nice.

But unfortunately I have to include a „but“ here: But the parts I liked most about the story where the stories within it, and not so much the story it was telling overall. That’s not because the story was bad, not at all. I also don’t mind that things started to turn a little more horror in the last couple of books.

In the books that came before it, Vo thinks a lot about storytelling. In fact, all of the novellas in the series so far look at a different aspect of storytelling, of recording, of histriography. Just by virtue of Chih’s profession, that aspect isn’t completely missing here, either, but it really isn’t all that important (or if it is, I missed it, and I’m not that bad of a reader usually). In fact, I am not really sure what theme, exactly, Vo is exploring here. It is something along the lines of „it is okay to do whatever you have to to survive“, maybe. In any case, I thought it was an utter pity that the novella isn’t as strong as the rest of the series regarding this aspect.

But it is strong in many other ways, and still a great read. What I am lamenting here is just really commenting on the icing on an otherwise really fantastic cake. The characters are great, the setting is interesting, and above all, the prose is just sharp and good. In short: I am really happy that another novella is due out this year, and I will be happy to keep reading the series for a long time yet.

Summarizing: really good.