Kate's Reviews > The Brides of High Hill

DID SOMEBODY SAY GOTHIC HORROR

I can't believe Nghi Vo included a gothic horror novella in The Singing Hills Cycle. My life is finally complete.

All kidding aside, I absolutely adored The Brides of High Hill. It starts off like a retelling of Bluebeard (which I already loved it for from the very beginning of the book, because Bluebeard retellings are one of my absolute favorite things). Pham Nhung, a young bride, is on her way to the estate of Doi Cao to get married. At first you think that the old lord of Doi Cao is a villain, with multiple vanished wives in his past and a mad son who he keeps drugged and locked away. But Nghi Vo's genius is in that the usual and expected is neatly circumvented, the twists so brilliantly revealed in a way that makes you realize she's been dropping hints all along and that you should've seen it coming.

“The world starts with a story. So do dynasties and eras and wars. So does love, and so does revenge. Everything starts with a story.”

My other reviews from The Singing Hills Cycle
Book 1: The Empress of Salt and Fortune
Book 2: When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain
Book 3: Into the Riverlands
Book 4: Mammoths at the Gates