When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain

The Singing Hills Cycle #2

by Nghi Vo, Cindy Kay (Narrator)

The cleric Chih finds themself and their companions at the mercy of a band of fierce tigers who ache with hunger. To stay alive until the mammoths can save them, Chih must unwind the intricate, layered story of the tiger and her scholar lover — a woman of courage, intelligence and beauty — and discover how truth can survive becoming history.

Nghi Vo returns to the empire of Ahn and The Singing Hills Cycle in this mesmerizing, lush standalone follow-up to The Empress of Salt and Fortune.

"Dangerous, subtle, unexpected and familiar, angry and ferocious and hopeful. . . . The Empress of Salt and Fortune is a remarkable accomplishment of storytelling."—NPR

Genres: Fantasy, Novella, Fiction, Audiobook, LGBT, Queer, Adult

3 pages, Audiobook

First published December 8, 2020

About the author

Nghi Vo is the author of the acclaimed novellas The Empress of Salt and Fortune and When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain. Born in Illinois, she now lives on the shores of Lake Michigan. She believes in the ritual of lipstick, the power of stories, and the right to change your mind. The Chosen and the Beautiful is her debut novel.

Reviews

[chai (thelibrairie on tiktok) ♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hello, can I interest you in:

- a non-binary cleric with little sense of self-preservation and the misfortune of being tragically curious
- a girl, a mammoth, and a lance
- scholar/apex predator slow-burn sapphic courtship (and they were wives!)
- the inherent homoeroticism of reading poetry out loud
- queer love — how cruel, how unbearably and profoundly tender
- the power of stories: stories that slip like sand held in a curled palm, uncontainable; stories like treasures from sunken ships the waves left behind, returning; stories that rise from the dust and whirl defiantly into the wind, refusing to die; stories sharp enough to cut ourselves on, and others that bring us back from the brink.

I love this novella so fiercely. Nghi Vo truly has a voice unlike any other, and I already yearn for more.

[Melanie (meltotheany) · Rating 5 out of 5]

➵ The Empress of Salt and Fortune ★★★★★

“When you love a thing too much, it is a special kind of pain to show it to others and to see that it is lacking.”

oh, this was a complete and utter masterpiece. 128 pages of power and perfection. not only a love letter to love, but a love letter to stories being told through generations and the power of stories being audibly passed down. and how those stories get distorted over time when others write them down, sometimes trying to make them fit in boxes they never belonged in.

and if you all are looking for sapphic yearning, and angst, and one liners that you will physically feel in your heart and soul, i recommend this story with everything. truly unforgettable, and the layers and depth to it all is so expertly done. nghi vo is actually out of her mind for these novellas, and i am blown away way passed the point of coherent words. but i can't wait to see what stories our cleric experiences next!

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[emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

sometimes, clichés exist for a reason.

"it's not you, it's me," for example.

when i first read this, i listened to it as an audiobook on a bad brain day (which is my cutesy term for a mental health emergency). it didn't hit the same as the first one and i was all, my bad, y'all. that one's on me. i probably just didn't do it justice.

so here i am, rereading it an unprecedented 2 months after my first read, and i'm ready to say i'm not taking the fall on this one.

this is a very fun story, but to me, it lacked the complexity, poeticism, and thematic richness of the first one.

onto the next!

bottom line: maybe clichés don't exist for a reason.

3.5

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rereading updates

this meeting of the nghi vo fan club begins now

take 2!!!

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reading books by asian authors for aapi month!

book 1: kim jiyoung, born 1982
book 2: siren queen
book 3: the heart principle
book 4: n.p.
book 5: the hole
book 6: set on you
book 7: disorientation
book 8: parade
book 9: if i had your face
book 10: joan is okay
book 11: strange weather in tokyo
book 12: sarong party girls
book 13: the wind-up bird chronicle
book 14: portrait of a thief
book 15: sophie go's lonely hearts club
book 16: chemistry
book 17: heaven
book 18: the atlas six
book 19: the remains of the day
book 20: is everyone hanging out without me? and other concerns
book 21: why not me?
book 22: when the tiger came down the mountain

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currently-reading updates

this meeting of the nghi vo fan club begins now

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tbr review

i need to read this with great swiftness

[aly ☆彡 (on vacation) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Have you ever felt like a fish out of the sea? Because that kind of explains me right now with the three unprecedented stars review defying all the love this book had been receiving.

When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain follows the Cleric Chih on another of their journeys of both danger and survival, as this time they travel through the northern region of Anh. After being ambushed by three shape-shifting tigers, Chih and Si-Yu, their mammoth-riding guard, are left with nothing but a story to stave off these courteous but hungry predators.

I noted that Vo's writing is too ornamented and the floweriest language I have ever encountered, but as the series went on, I came to realize that it simply takes time to get accustomed to Vo's particular writing style. Vo occasionally withholds details and how, by the conclusion, certain pieces will come together in unexpected ways. The second book came across as being more cohesive, and we discover how those who tell stories change them to represent their view of history. It was such a nice story with a propitious resolution and engaging nuances.

This book explores gender-non-conforming love in a heartbreakingly beautiful way. This time around, Vo's worldbuilding is lush and complex as well, taking us to an entirely different aspect of Chih's world. I enjoyed the concept of relaying an old tale from two, occasionally opposing views. It creates to ponder what is true and what is fiction to the point of being inconsequential.

Now, why is this still a three stars read for me? I simply do not resonate much with the story as I hope it would like everyone else. The frame story was too brief and came to a sudden halt. I like the new characters that are introduced, but I still didn't feel a strong connection to any of them, making me wish we had gotten to know them better. What Vo left behind was the repetitiveness of the telling information, which only worked to remove the story's sense of traversing.

Undeniably, Vo's novels are in their league, so I'm sure I'll pick up more of her writing in the future, but I also know it won't rank among my favorite reads. The fact that I didn't end up appreciating Vo's writing as much as I had hoped the first time while still wanting to read more of it is perplexing. Overall, it is a short read, but nothing to race to consume.

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hey everyone, this is my 250th book review on Goodreads!!!



I didn't even realize that until after the review was posted. While purely unintentional, I'm glad this book was on one of the landmark numbers.

There is a line in this book that spoke to me in a way that I've never been able to put into words before. In the scene a scholar reads a line from her favorite book, hoping that the reading can pay a tiger to let her have access to proceed (read the story to understand that, I'll not explain it here). After reading we receive the following line: "They were Dieu's favorite lines, and she was almost afraid to look up to see how the tiger took them. When you love a thing too much, it is a special kind of pain to show it to others and to see that it is lacking." That's wonderful, it gets across my own concerns as I start my review... will others see in this what I did?

When I read the author's previous book, The Empress of Salt and Fortune, I said the following in my review "This is without a doubt my favorite read of 2020, and while I know there is still over a month for that to change, I find it extraordinarily unlikely. This is as close to perfection as a read can get for me. A rare 5/5 stars" I was proven wrong. It was not my favorite, that honor goes to it's companion book (I hesitate to call it a sequel, as though one main character returns, it is very much a stand-alone as well). When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain is not only my favorite book I've read this year, it could be one of my top ten I've ever read. It's short (as one expects from Tor.com's novella), but it does not use a single unneeded word, and therefore does not need any added.

The plot this time follows Cleric Chih who has gotten into a rather dangerous situation along with their guide. This time three tigers have chased them into a barn where they must hope that someone will come to save them in the morning. In order to pass the night, and keep the tigers from attacking, they tell the story of Ho Thi Thao, a tiger who fell in love with a woman and tried to woo her. As they tell this tale though, the tigers begin to correct them, as they too know this story, but their version is often quite different.

As with the previous book, a main theme of these books is how we tell stories. In the first one it was about the details left out of history. This time it is about the nature of narrative, and how it can change from culture to culture. As Chih tells the story, the tigers will frequently interrupt and retell the same portion in a very different way. While the stories are essentially the same in terms of plot, we are shown how different cultures could highlight different aspects of the tale or rework something they find unacceptable to be more tolerable (a non-spoiler example would be that humans would not necessarily want a higher tiger kill count unless the people had done horrible deeds in the past, whereas in the tiger version it would be boring if the tiger didn't eat a person or two to show their "heroic" nature).

As with the previous book, Chih's section offers some great world building, but the heart of the book is the story being told. The narratives (both variations of it) are frequently amusing and both have their own level of heartwarming elements. Some of the best scenes are when characters comment on the other's version of the tale, and a human finds merit in the tiger's version and vice versa. It makes you wonder, if the story is true, which version has the more accurate elements and if the truth is somewhere in-between. In the end though, does it matter? It's about narrating to your audience, and understanding from a story teller perspective, what the group you're speaking to is fascinated by.

I truly hope Vo continues writing this series. I hope there are many more tales for the clerics of Singing Hills to collect. If there was ever a book tailor made for me as a reader it would be this. While I highly recommend both books (I remind you that the first one did receive five stars, and I'm not one who just hands them out frequently), this one is simply stunning. The prose is beautiful, the stories are the perfect blend of fairy tale and reality, the world presented stunning... there is simply nothing I am not impressed with. I said the other book was "as close to perfection as a read can get," well, this one isn't close. To me this was the perfect read... and those were words I never thought I would type. A perfect 5/5 and my highest possible recommendation.

[Nataliya · Rating 3 out of 5]

“They were Dieu’s favorite lines, and she was almost afraid to look up to see how the tiger took them. When you love a thing too much, it is a special kind of pain to show it to others and to see that it is lacking.”

Well, those lines are speaking to me right now. Because you see, I’m a bit torn. This was objectively a well-written book, no doubt, but unlike its predecessor The Empress of Salt and Fortune this one just did not resonate with me that much and left me a bit indifferent while still appreciating good quality work, written so crisply and beautifully — and yet not speaking to me in the way I was hoping to. I seem to be one of the few of my GR friends who preferred the first novella to this one, actually.

It’s only loosely related to the previous novella in this not-quite series. The only commonality is cleric Chih, traveling (by mammoth!!!) to collect stories and legends. This time they end up trapped by tigers (who can shapeshift into a human form) and Scheherazade-style must entertain those tigers with a story of a legendary love between a scholar and a tiger, with periodic corrections from tigers themselves ( “There is an addition for your books, cleric. Make a note of it so that they will find it after we eat you.” ) The alternative to this storytelling is becoming a tiger snack, obviously.

“Some people are just more… edible than others if you are a tiger.”

It’s again a story about stories, about how they are told and what that shows us about us and our nature and cultures — and those who are “others”. Perspective matters indeed, and those interludes with about disagreements in the way the story is told and “fixing” the story to suit a different viewpoint were quite interesting. The stories are not really about history but rather about how we - whichever “we” it is - see ourselves and others and how we want to be remembered. And truth is arbitrary, depending on which viewpoint is filtered through. And that intricate worldbuilding yet again manages to deftly balance rich and economical at the same time.

“She killed, for she was angry, and she did not eat what she killed, for she was heartsick.”

But - of course there’s a “but”. I am not sure exactly why this story did not connect with me on anything but purely intellectual level. Maybe it’s because the first novella in the series had a bit more painful realism to it while this one was a bit more magically surreal fairytale. Maybe it’s because I really did not care about shapeshifting tigers. Maybe it’s because the folktale narrative style tends to mostly leave me a bit cold, and I really preferred a bit more of political fantasy of the first novel and a bit less folksy whimsy of this one. And I kept wanting our characters to abandon the story that was told and go into the fascinating world surrounding them — who cares about tiger folklore, gimme mammoth herders now! Also, I prefer characters that I care for (like In-yo and Rabbit of the previous novella), and although cleric Chih has some potential, and Si-yu seems interesting, the spotlight is on the story told, and those characters for me mattered little. This was the case of framing story being more interesting and emotionally impactful than the story framed.

Full 4 stars for lovely writing, but 3 for personal enjoyment. Strong 3.5 stars overall.
—————

My review of Nghi Vo’s The Empress of Salt and Fortune: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[carol. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Once upon a time Nghi Vo wrote a series of novellas about Cleric Chih, who collects stories as part of their life’s work. In this particular story, Chih and their escort, Scout Si-yu and the mammoth Piluk, are caught out at a way-station by a trio of hungry female tigers.

While the first book, The Empress of Salt and Fortune, is told in a story-within-a-story format, and the third, Into the Riverlands, is a series of tales about a hero interspersed with real-life adventures, this book explores the idea of alternate versions of stories. Chih has one version of a popular story about the fierce tiger Ho Thi Thao and the scholar Dieu; the tigers have another all together.

It mostly works, and if it doesn’t, it is because I have some ambivalence about the relationship in all the versions and the ferocity in general. It might also be because above all, I am a character reader, and I like it best when my characters aren’t terribly simplistic, as they are in both versions of the stories–as they usually are in legends. Still, I like the interplay between the tigers, Chih and Si-yu, the hints of the culture behind the mammoth riders and the eventual resolution.

I’ll note that for me, there’s always a challenge of dual storylines losing momentum. I think it could have been eased more with less focus on the threats and more transitional language. Still, I appreciate what Vo has done–especially in not going for the easy ending–and how they’ve made me think about story-telling in this series.

[Zala · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Now bring out the man so that my sisters and I might eat him.”
Si-yu growled, and Chih swallowed hard before speaking up. It was a small chance, but then, so was their chance of getting through this without something going terribly wrong.
“Begging your pardon, Your Majesty, but our laws do not allow this,” they tried.

[First read, January 2021] This was the perfect novella. I always appreciate a good story within a story setup, and this one was fantastic; not a single word was wasted, and not a single one left to be desired.

[Reread, October 2023] Enjoyed it just as much as the first time, but it was a very different and less spooky experience not listening to the audiobook at night as I did on my first read.

[Emma☀️ · Rating 5 out of 5]

When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain was a delightful, beautiful read. The prose was enchanting and I hung onto Vo’s every word until the very last page. Suffice to say, I loved this very much.

The novella follows Cleric Chih on another one of their adventures to document more stories. They, along with their companions, Si-yu and Piluk stumble across a band of hungry tigers. To ensure their safety, a night of storytelling commences.

As with The Empress of Salt and Fortune, storytelling was the focal point of the novella. This time, the story explored how different interpretations can help shape stories to fit someone’s history and narrative. Both Chih’s and the tigers’ versions of Scholar Dieu and Ho Thi Thao differentiated a lot from each other and highlighted how the truth can vary from culture to culture.

I was a bit sad that Almost Brilliant was absent in this novella, but fret not, Si-yu and her sweet mammoth Piluk made excellent traveling companions for Chih. Both were sassy and a joy to read about. I hope to see more of them in any future installments.

I hope Nghi Vo keeps writing more The Singing Hills novellas because I can’t get enough of the beautiful prose and imagery. Overall, I highly recommend!

Thank you to Tor Books and Netgalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Charlotte Kersten]

“When you love a thing too much, it is a special kind of pain to show it to others and see that it is lacking.”

So What’s It About?

The cleric Chih finds themself and their companions at the mercy of a band of fierce tigers who ache with hunger. To stay alive until the mammoths can save them, Chih must unwind the intricate, layered story of the tiger and her scholar lover—a woman of courage, intelligence, and beauty—and discover how truth can survive becoming history.

What I Thought

I absolutely adored The Empress of Salt and Fortune when I read it just a bit ago, so I made a point of reading its sequel novella as soon as possible afterwards. I’m so glad to say that When the Tiger Came Down The Mountain is wonderful just like its predecessor. As with the first novella it’s all about story-telling -in this case how the same story can be twisted in different ways based on the perspective of the teller.

The humans telling the story of the tiger and her wife are apt to simplify Ho Thi Thao’s story and make it about Dieu, while the tigers tell the story through the lens of a tiger’s way of seeing the world. At one point, for instance, Chih describes a city by talking about all of its people and architecture and culture, but then when the tiger retells this part of the story she describes the city as a place of “cages by the sea.” Similarly, the tigers hate that Chih’s ending sees Dieu sweep in to save the day by rescuing Ho Thi Thao from her cage, and fix the story by giving Ho Thi Thao a resolution that remains true to the tiger’s ways and gives her more agency.

It’s also just beautifully-written and thoroughly charming and hilarious:

“I have no more food,” she said “I had intended to stop at the village of Nei after the river crossing.”
‘That’s not very interesting to me,” the tiger said, and Scholar Dieu resisted the urge to pick up a river stone and pitch it as hard as she could at the tiger’s round face.

I loved the tigers’ way of seeing the world, I liked the new characters and, as a final note, the mammoths were absolutely amazing and adorable. I really hope there are more of these novellas to come in the future because I love them so, so much.

[EveStar91 · Rating 3 out of 5]

They were Dieu’s favorite lines, and she was almost afraid to look up to see how the tiger took them. When you love a thing too much, it is a special kind of pain to show it to others and to see that it is lacking.

Cleric Chih comes across an opportunity to compare the story of the great love shared between the tiger queen and a scholar in When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain, with the version that's passed down among tigers... at great risk to their health if the recorded version displeases the three tigers they discuss the story with. The second novella in the Singing Hills series, this book is subtler than the first, and looks at how stories can change depending on who's doing the telling, as well as what aspects are most important to them.

The narrative tension in this book is secondhand, present in Chih's interaction with the tigers and the implied stalemate between them and the mammoths on Chih's side, but not much in the actual story. The subtle and not so subtle changes in the two versions of the story were well written, which I enjoyed, and the focus was on exploring these differences and cultures rather than fully developing the characters, which I wish was done. The writing and the world-building were beautiful however, as in the first book. On the whole, recommended for anyone who liked the first book or is looking for a short read to try Nghi Vo's writing.

🌟🌟🌟1/4🌟
[3/4 star for the premise and the whole book; Half a star for the characters; Half a star for the world-building; 3/4 star for the stories and themes; 3/4 star for the writing - 3 1/4 star in total.]

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy how this series is stories within stories and about oral history and who writes that history and the mythology and yeah it’s a good series. These books have enough content to be novels.

[Aliette · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful story about tales, truth, who gets to remember and what gets remembered--and also the f/f scholar/tiger romance of my heart.

[K.J. Charles]

A rather lovely short featuring the cleric Chih, on a storygathering mission without their talking bird this time, plus mammoth-riders and weretigers. It's a layered tale where we get Chih telling a story to the tigers which they then correct, within the frame of the tigers planning to eat them once the story is over.

Charming and involving, though a much smaller scale story to book 1, but tbh it was about all my brain could cope with (I am virtually unable to read fiction atm). Lovely writing. I really like this world, I hope we get more.

[Althea ☾ · Rating 4 out of 5]

“When you love a thing too much, it is a special kind of pain to show it to others and to see that it is lacking.”

[2nd read] Nghi Vo's distinctive writing really makes it so easy to get lost in the story. The amount of depth that is put into these short stories astounds me. It felt like I watched a scene from a movie.

I don't want to give too much away but this takes place in the same world as TEOSAF and it's when these two people find themselves in the mercy of these tigers in a snowwy forest, to be vague. The prose isn't exactly lyrical but the overall vibe does give it that feeling. Reading the actual words and listening the audiobook were both very different experiences and I do recommend both/either one.

[1st read] such charming characters and stories that talk about the wonders of storytelling?? we love those.

↣ If you’re into short stories that pack a lot of themes and culture into it, you will fall in love with this series. Nghi Vo has such a unique voice and I could listen to the narrator of these audiobooks talk for hours. ↢

— 4.0 —
⇢ content warnings// Animal death, Cannibalism, Cheating (minor), Death (on-page), Drug use, Gore, Manipulation, Murder, Sexual content, Violence
⇢ representation: Vietnamese cast and setting (coded), Non-binary main character, WLW main and side characters

[Trish · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second story in the Singing Hills cycle is a standalone tale about the cleric Chih who travels around the kingdom of Anh to record the Singing Hills history of myths and lore. Along the way, they and their companions meet three laughing tigers.
As the tigers are very hungry, Chih needs to get creative in order to keep themselves as well as their companions alive long enough for help to arrive.
Thus begins a Sheherazade-like story with stories within the stories.

There once was a tiger with her scholar lover ... the version Chih knows is quite different from the "true" (corrected) version of Mistress Tiger, but both are colourful and intricate and full of rich Asian imagery. The writing style is that of traditional folk tales which appealed greatly to me.
It's emotional, witty, suspenseful and full of beautiful prose.

I once again loved the worldbuilding of the hills and the creatures populating the region we found ourselves in. I especially loved the lesson on how history can become myth and how different people will experience events differently. A great lesson on storytelling and mythology / history. And yes, the story of the tiger and her scholar lover was lovely.

[Mara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I liked this one even more than the first installment! I'm in love with Chih - can't wait to see their next adventure

[may ➹ · Rating 4 out of 5]

love the sapphic love story and love the exploration of how stories are (incorrectly) passed down and how those inaccuracies are reflective of people’s biases

[Starlah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I never thought that I would fall in love with a romance between a tiger and a scholar ... but here we are!

In this second book, we once again follow Chih on their adventures. This time, Chih is the one telling a story as they and their companions run into a band of fierce tigers who ache with hunger. And to stay alive until the mammoths can save them, Chih lays out this intricate, layered story of a tiger and her scholar lover.

As with the first book, the writing is incredible, it's atmospheric, it's whimsical and just all-around stunning. The way Nghi Vo is able to create such an intricate world and complex characters in so few pages is truly amazing.

I loved that we got a lot more of Chih in this book and got to know them more. Their curiosity, their impulsivity. I adore them! We also got animal companions. Piluk the mammoth is awesome. The sapphic yearning throughout this was everything. I absolutely adore these novels and highly recommend them! I cannot wait for the next installment.

[Tatiana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Almost as good as the first one. A love story of a scholar and a tiger, told from two perspectives. Intricate and layered, set in a fully realized, lived in fantasy world. More please.

[Maëlys · Rating 5 out of 5]

☆ 5 / 5 ☆

The Empress of Salt and Fortune (The Singing Hills #1): 4 / 5
Into the Riverlands (The Singing Hills #3): 3.5 / 5
Mammoths at the Gates (The Singing Hills #4): 5 / 5
The Brides of High Hill (The Singing Hills #5): 4 / 5

“I am yours, and so I will be your light and laughter. I am yours, so open your eyes to look at me, and open your mouth so that I may kiss it. I am yours, I am yours, and nevermore will I leave.”

I was very impressed and really enjoyed The Empress of Salt and Fortune but this sequel to it made me fall in love with Nghi Vo’s storytelling even harder.

We’re once again following the cleric Chih on their journey, this time without Almost Brilliant, as they’re looking for a path to cross the mountain. Si-Yu and her mammoth offer to help but they wind up being attacked by tigers that would like to make them their dinner. Chih ends up buying them time by narrating the story of the tiger Ho Thi Thao and her human lover, Dieu.

“Some people say that he was only ever a story and that his bones are words and his eyes are laughter, but no. He was real, he was hungry, and now his skin stretches over me like the sky when I sleep.”

The set-up to get to the oral story portion of the book took a little more time here but it also made it so both timelines wound up fleshed out and compelling. Ho Thi Thao’s story is still at the forefront but having Chih and their guide in danger gives it more tension.

The dynamic between Chih, Si-Yu, and the tigers was honestly so interesting and entertaining too. We have this looming threat of the tigers eating our cleric and guide but there’s some moments of levity and just funny banter.

“I will share every meal that I ever have with you, I will let you eat first from every dish and drink first from every cup.”

Different versions of Dieu’s and Ho Thi Thao’s tale exist and seeing the contrast between the humans retelling of it compared to the tigers emphasised their cultural differences and brought an added layer of world-building.

As for their story itself.. it was so beautiful. Dieu and Ho Thi Thao’s relationship follows a very unique path involving bartering, misunderstandings and betrayal. But they’re given the space and time to yearn and hunger and love.

“My eyes are open for always, my mouth is empty for always, and always will my soul reach for yours.”

Throughout this story Dieu recites poetry from a specific book and it is so full of heartbreak and grief. This is a constant thread carefully weaved into this book that adds another dimension of heartache and seeing these two characters recite these verses to each other did things to my heart.

This series of novellas has truly been a revelation for me this year and I can’t wait to read more by Nghi Vo. I’ll definitely be thinking about this one for a long time!

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[Samantha Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved The Empress of Salt and Fortune to an indescribable degree, and I thought this one couldn't possibly surpass it, but I ended up liking it just as much. A real gem of a novella that explores the complexity and layers of storytelling and the wonder of queer love. I could read about Chih recording stories for ever.

[Elle (ellexamines on TT & Substack) · Rating 5 out of 5]

“If you let me feed you now, I will go home with you to the mountains, and yours will be the only story I speak at night.”

This is a love story.

Cleric Chih, keeper of memories, finds themself in the northern Kihir Pass speaking to tiger Ho Sinh Loan, who claims herself as ruler of the Ogai region. There, Chih must tell the story of tiger Ho Thi Thao and the scholar she loved, and be corrected by the tiger and her younger sisters.

It's a novella about stories, how we pass them down and which narratives we decide to believe. It is about who is believed, and what appeals in love, and what can be loved. But it is also a story about love and desire. There are two specific lines I can't stop feeling myself drawn to, can't stop remembering, about the nature of love:
➽“She was almost afraid to look up to see how the tiger took them. When you love a thing too much, it is a special kind of pain to show it to others and see that it is lacking.”
➽“It came to Ho Ti Thao that perhaps she wanted to learn how else the scholar was beautiful, and even in what ways the scholar might be ugly, which could also be fascinating and beloved.”

It's a type of love built on seeing, built on showing of self, ugly and wonderful. As Ho Ti Thao sees the scholar clearly in the fox-house, as the scholar sees right past the tiger's defenses, as they each see the other caged, as they each tear at the bars. Always, in every version of the story, they must learn to see each other.

Nghi Vo is a genius.

Singing Hills Lore Note:
Long ago, Ahnfi was the greatest city in the world—last remaining bastion of the Ku dynasty. Ahn was just one of sixteen warring states declaring itself heirs to the doomed Ku dynasty, maybe 200 years ago. Si-yu has had family in the corps since “Mei-an’s day”, which Chih points out is during the Xun dynasty, potentially “some two hundred years ago” before the Anh system. The southern defenses failed fifty to sixty years ago (both dates are given, so presumably it was a long invasion) when the northern mammoths stormed the mountain passes. After that, “Anh had forced the north into their reckoning.” It’s confusing to me whether Anh won or beat back someone else. (We'll return next book to see if I got any of this right.)

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[Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

New silkpunk! While I really enjoyed the first of the Singing Hills Cycle books, I liked this one better.

Why? I just did, okay! lol

Seriously, it's all about the Tiger and the Scholar. The novella was written as a story within a story, but it focuses on the true kick of the core story. Beautifully written, evocative, and emotional, it first appears to be the "dangerous man tamed by the meek woman" trope, but it retains that real subtlety that tells a very different story for those willing to listen. :)

Very enjoyable.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had completely forgotten I had pre-ordered this book and was therefore absolutley delighted when it arrived.
I cannot stress enough how much i adore this series! The writing is fantastic and really draws you in to the story, I loved Nghi Vo's previous book and was thrilled that this was just as good.

[Ricarda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Still my favorite book in the series. I love my lesbian tigers.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 stars!! looooooved this and cant wait to read this whole series in the future!

[charlotte, · Rating 5 out of 5]

And so you came to my house on the soft pads of a midwinter kitten, the whisper of your black tresses sweeping your heels, and so you came to my heart just as quietly.

On my blog.

Rep: Vietnamese-coded characters and setting, nonbinary mc, wlw mcs and side character

CWs: gore

Galley provided by publisher

The best news I ever got was that The Empress of Salt and Fortune was getting a sequel. That book was probably in my top books read in 2019 list (I’m not going to admit to how long that list would have been), so obviously I was going to want (urgently) to read it. And, in all honesty, I think this might have been better than book one.

We’re back following Chih, but later on their journey, as they cross mountains with their guide (and her mammoth). But they come across a band of tigers, who want to eat them, and the only thing that might hold them off is Chih telling the story of Dieu (a human) and Ho Thi Thao (a tiger).

As with the first novella, the story within a story format is what makes the book so engaging. Not much happens in the present, as might be expected in a novella, but the framing, that Chih is telling a story to listeners (who are correcting them as they go along) allows for it to be a lot more expansive. While we are wondering whether Chih and Si-yu will escape the tigers alive, we are also experiencing Dieu and Ho Thi Thao falling in love. And the juxtaposition of the humans’ version of the story and the tigers’ version makes it even better.

Not to mention the tigers themselves, although they want to eat our main characters, are so fun. The way they bicker among themselves is truly a sibling thing and I loved it so much. Almost as much as I loved the romance between Dieu and Ho Thi Thao. I mean. Reciting poetry to one another? Beautiful.

I read this novella in one sitting, not wanting to put it down for even a second. It was over all too soon, in my opinion, and now all I want to know is how best to bribe Nghi Vo into making this an ongoing series of Chih’s adventures.

[Bethany (Beautifully Bookish Bethany) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

Just call me a Nghi Vo fangirl at this point. I don't ever have a bad time reading one of her books. Her prose is lovely, she casually centers queer characters, and her stories just work for me. This novella continues to follow cleric Chih on their journey to record stories for the historical record. This time they encounter a band of shape-shifting tigers and must tell stories to survive long enough to be rescued. The main tale is a love story between a human woman and a tigress. The tigers are quick to interrupt when details are wrong, which makes for an entertaining back and forth that explores how stories are told and retold, thereby being shaped by different communities.

[Fadwa]

These stories are so weird but work so well. You just embrace their weirdness. This one is all about tigers who talk, have a human form and are set on eating the cleric, said cleric delays meal time by telling them the story of one of their tiger ancestors: a sapphic tiger who fell in love with a human, and I was absolutely entranced by it all.