A Mouthful of Dust by Nghi Vo

TL;DR: This is an autoread series for me.
Source: NetGalley – Thank you to the publisher!!

Plot: Chih comes to visit a village to learn about a famine and learns much more.
Characters: I love them. I don’t know what to tell you after six books but I love them.
Setting: As always the setting is painted in a beautiful way with Nghi Vo’s simple and effective style.
Fantasy: Demons, ghosts, and the most fantastical food you’ve ever read about.

Summary:

Wandering Cleric Chih of Singing Hills and their hoopoe companion Almost Brilliant come to the river town of Baolin chasing stories of a legendary famine. Amid tales of dishes served to royalty and desserts made of dust, they discover the secrets of what happens when hunger stalks the land and what the powerful will do to hide their crimes.

Trapped in the mansion of a sinister magistrate, Chih and Almost Brilliant must learn what happened in Baolin when the famine came to call, and they must do so quickly… because the things in the shadows are only growing hungrier.

Thoughts:

We’re six books into the Singing Hills Cycle and we’ve been through some rough times and some violent times. Now we’re back to some simple travel times and I love it SO much. This book felt like a return to the start for Chih and not in a bad way. I loved seeing Chih doing a simple hunt into history and stumbling on a mystery and drama along the way.

The small village that they visit starts with giving us descriptions of some of the most wonderful sounding food, and that’s from someone who doesn’t eat pork. The food descriptions continue (think Ghibli style here but in prose) with different dishes but we see that reflected against descriptions of famine and the horrible things people had to eat during a famine.

The mystery and the drama of the famine ended up making me uncomfortable, sad, and broke my heart. And in the end I was so happy Chih was there to record and bring peace to this story. I’ve read so many of these and put so much love and time into them that they feel real in my mind and that’s how you know it’s well done. All the stars, I love it.