Apologies for the delay but I did review this book in this video: January 2021 Reading Wrap Up
https://youtu.be/CzJhRT1NgmI

This is book 2 of the series. I highly recommend Nghi Vo's novellas, which pack huge amounts of worldbuilding, culture, and character notes into such slender books. I also love the centering queer characters and stories. Focusing on storytelling and who gets to tell history, this book is also suspenseful, romantic, and beautifully written.

'When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain (The Singing Cycle 2)' by Nghi Vo is a book set in the world of 'The Empress of Salt and Fortune.'

Cleric Chih is on a journey with a guide and a large mammoth. When they stop at a waystation for the night, they are set upon by hungry tigers. Chih starts a dialogue that becomes a night of storytelling, but will it be enough to escape fate?

I have thoroughly enjoyed both books I've read in this series. There is a mood and element of surprise to each that is like an intricately wrapped gift.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me a free copy of this advanced copy of the book to read and review.

This is really two stories for the price of one. In the tradition of Scheherazade and 1001 Nights, our narrator, the cleric Chih, tells a story to keep themself and their traveling companion from being dinner when tigers come to call. The narrative switches between the two stories, with the tigers interrupting to correct the story when Chih tells it wrong, and threatening continuously to eat them if they get the story wrong enough times. The atmosphere is tense and contains a sense of dread for what might happen to Chih and their guide, will their story be enough to keep them alive?

#WhentheTigerCameDowntheMountain #NetGalley

DNF at 21%. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the first instalment, but I enjoyed the writing enough to continue reading this series of novellas. Unfortunately, I found this one quite boring...

This was a beautifully written story and a wonderful sequel to the first book. I’m excited to read more from this author.

The power of stories, this book is sheer brilliance. A non-binary character, who travels around the world, collecting and living stories and folklores. A stunning sequel

Wonderful sequel to Empress of Salt and Fortune. The cleric Chih still forms the instigator for the telling of this tale, but this time it is a an exploration of storytelling itself and how stories change depending on who is telling them. Once again there is a beautiful queer love story woven in and the plot is driven by tension and narrative acuity rather than conflict. This was simply stunning.

Even though it was a novella, it was very well written! The world-building was fantastic! Thus, it was awesome to revisit The Empress of Salt and Fortune world!

I really enjoyed Empress of Salt and Fortune, so I was already expecting good things in this companion. It exceeded my expectations, and I enjoyed it even more than the first book. This book is deliciously queer, suspenseful, and a thoughtful exploration the complexities of historiography and oral storytelling traditions. The visceral imagery of the book was captivating and unsettling.

When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain was such a delight to read. Interesting characters with an interesting storytelling technique shifting between a story being told within the story, but the same time has a plot within the original story. I really enjoyed how the tiger's always was like "no, this is wrong", and we got to see how the same story is being told differently depending of who you are.

I'm very intrigued to pick up the first book in this novella series and then continue to pick them up. They are perfect for those who want to read some fantasy stories, but don't want to pick up those big bricks of books.

Nghi Vo is one of the up and coming authors I've kept my eye on for a while, and this novella did not disappoint.

In this second book of Nghi Vo’s The Singing Hills Cycle, Cleric Chih continues their journey to collect stories. Chih’s travels have taken them to the cold north of the Anh Empire. Seeking safe passage through the Kihir Pass, they enlist the aid of mammoth scout Si-yu and her partner, the mammoth Piluk. On the way, however, they find themselves at the mercy of three tiger sisters, who desire to eat them. To buy time for rescue, Chih narrates the story of the tiger Ho Thi Thao and Dieu, her scholar lover. But every story has two sides. As Chih recounts the version they heard growing up, the tigers interject with their own version of the tale.

Once again, Nghi Vo immerses readers in a fully realized world within the short time. She does this with subtle ease through casual references to details from history, allusions to fictional characters, and tantalizing descriptions of food, all of which suggests the presence of a larger world. I love how she gives us just enough to make us curious without feeling the need to explain herself. These places, people, and cultural elements simply exist.

In the time since the first book, Almost Brilliant has laid a clutch of eggs and is absent, for she must sit on them. While no one can replace the tongue-in-cheek neixin, we have, in her place, Si-yu to offer commentary and ask questions as a third-party audience to the story being told. Si-yu is strong, opinionated, personable. She’s rough around the edges, but fiercely protective and loyal. I especially liked her relationship with Piluk.

Like book 1, When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain invites the reader to question how stories are told. In The Empress of Salt and Fortune, the handmaiden Rabbit is a biased narrator who has spent her life protecting Empress In-yo’s secrets. When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain presents two versions of events: the version that humans tell, and the version that the tigers tell. Both people groups have motivation to present their people in a better light. As a result, while both stories maintain the core elements of Ho Thi Thao and Dieu’s story, certain details are changed, leading to contradictions.

This leads to the question of who has the right telling of the story? The humans or the tigers? Or perhaps both versions have been distorted over time in the telling, and neither have the full truth. As the heroines of the story are long gone, we can only make our best guess—or follow Cleric Chih’s example and lay the two side-by-side to let future readers judge the truth for themselves.

In a way, When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain is also a story of manners. While tigers and other supernatural creatures are depicted as terrifying beings who wouldn’t hesitate to devour humans, some are shown to abide by rules. If treated as people, they will reciprocate in kind, though they may reserve the right to slay the guest that displeases them.

When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain is a wonderful addition to The Singing Hills Cycle. I look forward to the next book in this novella series and, honestly, to anything else that Nghi Vo puts out!

The main character in this book is Chih, a monk who wanders collecting stories to contribute to the archives of their monastery, Singing Hills. Chih usually has a hoopoe bird companion, Almost Brilliant, but Almost Brilliant is sitting with their clutch of eggs right now so Chih is solo. This would absolutely be a dream job for me- spend my time looking for stories with an intelligent animal companion? Sign me up!

There's also a good bit of adventure involved. In this particular instance, Chih is being escorted up a difficult mountain pass by scouts who ride mammoths ( I would ride a mammoth!). They are cornered, along with one scout and a small mammoth, by a trio of tigers. The only hope is for Chih and their companions to hold out until morning when reinforcements might possibly arrive. Since Chih has only stories to defend themselves with, they begin the story they know of a young scholar and the tiger that becomes fascinated with her, tracking her throughout the country. In this world, tigers can talk if they choose to, and Chih has been polite enough that they do, because the tigers have their own version of this story and unsurprisingly it does not match what Chih has learned. I love reconciling different versions of stories and history, and if not for the danger of being eaten this would be a great way to spend the night.

This story is a clever meditation on who tells which version of history and why. There are also magical talking tigers, mammoths, and cleverness, and I've got to say that I am truly impressed with this author. She's rising to the top of my favorite authors list faster than a striking tiger.

I enjoyed this novella. I liked it so much I bought a physical copy. I'm looking forward to reading her first full-length novel.

Once again beautifully written in a way that left me wanting more, Nghi Vo has crafted a world in the two novellas set in this universe that just flow so beautifully

I didn’t fully finished this book but got to about 80 percent. Frankly I was a bit dissapointed given I liked the first one so much. It felt like a mid series book that dragged without purpose

Vo’s novella is the second story featuring scholar-cleric Chih, who collects stories from far off places in order for them to be recorded for the archives at Singing Hills. In Chih’s first story (The Empress of Salt and Fortune), they and their recorder bird, Almost Brilliant, had an adventure; now Almost Brilliant is tending a clutch of eggs, leaving Chich to journey on their own. Luckily, Chich has guide Si-yu, a mammoth corps scout, to lead them through the mountains.

Unluckily, there are three tigers hunting in the mountains, and a lone mammoth and a few humans seem like a tasty meal. Si-yu and her mammoth, Piluk, reach safety, and Chih calls an uneasy truce with the tigers: Chih knows the tale of Ho Thi Thao’s marriage, and they ask the tigers to correct it for Singing Hills. The tigers refuse to tell their version—the true version—but they’re willing to let Chih tell the version they know, and correct the cleric when they get things wrong.

And so Chih tells the story of Ho Thi Thao and her human wife, Scholar Dieu—all the while, during the tale, keeping the hungry tigers from eating the humans. Chih weaves elements of ghosts—and the tigers add fox spirits, correcting the story; Chih gives a version in which human Dieu has most of the agency, and the tigers correct the tale to make Ho Thi Thao the hero. The story always feels very tightly organic to the Singing Hills cycle: the mammoths are a particularly delightful element of the setting, and the talking tigers, who can take the form of humans, feel a true part of the setting once readers (and Si-yu) become accustomed to the idea of conversing with them. In fact, Si-yu often takes the side of the tigers, preferring the details they give the story to Chih’s version.

But while the world is very much its own, the story is very reminiscent of the traditional tale of Scheherezade, who staved off death with her stories night after night. While When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain feels very much a new story, it also feels familiar, the way that being tucked in with a familiar bedtime story might, especially for readers accustomed to bedtime stories with the threat of being eaten by tigers.

This was the second novella of Nghi Vo's that I've read, and while I know many loved Empress of Salt, this has become my favourite. Folklore, mythology, and storytelling are some of my favourite themes and styles.

Following the cleric Chih into the mountains, a trio of tigers ambushes the group where they quickly settle into a stalemate. Here begins a tale of the tiger Ho Thi Thao and her human bride. Chih and the tigers trade the story back and forth, correcting each other to the "true" history of the tale. And I loved this; "no no no, you're all wrong, it was like This". It's a fairly staple art of storytelling, but one I really enjoy.

Vo's writing continues to impress me; like Empress of Salt, the characters have such strong personalities, the story is very vibrant. With this, I think Vo has cemented their works as something to be on the lookout for.