A Mouthful of Dust
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Our view
“A Mouthful of Dust” takes “The Singing Hills Cycle” into darker, more unsettling territory than before. Here Nghi Vo’s cleric Chih, travelling with the hoopoe Almost Brilliant, comes to Baolin chasing legends of a famine and ends up trapped in a sinister magistrate’s mansion, where the powerful have much to hide. As the sixth of seven books, it rewards readers who already know Chih.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
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. The Singing Hills Cycle has been shortlisted for the Lambda Literary Award, the Locus Award, and the Ignyte Award, and has won the Crawford Award and the Hugo Award. The novellas are standalone stories linked by the Cleric Chih, and may be read in any order.
Reading order · The Singing Hills Cycle
Full order & progress →- The Empress of Salt and FortuneStart here
8.08.0 / 10 - When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain
8.28.2 / 10 - Into the Riverlands
8.08.0 / 10 - Mammoths at the Gates
–Not ranked yet - The Brides of High HillThe Brides of High Hill–Not ranked yet
- A Mouthful of DustThis book
8.08.0 / 10 - A Long and Speaking Silence
–Not ranked yet
Where the score comes from
The sources average 8.2 across 33 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 18% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Rankings average of 7.8. That is how 8.0 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hardcover | 8.2 | 33 | 100% |
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.