This is the second novella I have read by Nghi Vo after The Empress of Salt and Fortune. It’s another tale of the cleric Chih’s travels. They are riding to a waystation with their guide when ambushed by tigers. Then the tigers start talking. Like the first novella it’s very prettily written. Tor has been publishing some really excellent novellas and this is another hit in their catalog.

What a phenomenal follow-up to The Empress of Salt and Fortune!

Much like its predecessor, When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain is told half in frame, half out—and it is nothing short of brilliant. Chih is, as always, a wonderful main character who provides a strong anchor point to the folklore-esque events going on around them. I also love how this novella dives into ideas of history vs. myth, and how stories change depending on the teller. The framed story of Hi Thi Thao (a tiger!) and the Scholar Dieu was both tense and romantic, and it takes an expert writer to manage that!

Overall, the prose was beautiful and compelling as ever, exactly what I've come to expect from this author. Nghi Vo is easily one of my favorite storytellers right now, and I can't wait to read what she writes next.

What a lush, beautiful story!
When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain is the next standalone novella set in The Singing Hills Cycle. I haven't read The Empress of Salt and Fortune yet but after this, be sure that I'll be picking it up as soon as possible.
When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain is mainly written in a story within a story format, which I wasn't expecting, but loved nevertheless. What I loved most, apart from the amazing setting, and cute (yes, I do mean cute) magical creatures is how different sexualities are normalised. We have a non-binary MC, f-f relationships and bodies of all shape and size described in a very body positive way. We need more of this in all our books especially when most glorify bodies of a certain type.
It's a short book, and very fast-paced and so I went through this in a few hours. Definitely recommended!

A absolutely fantastic and magical story! The plot is about a cleric who becomes stranded in a mountain by three tigers who will allow them to live until they finish recounting a history they wish to correct. The magical element of the story is amazing and I was absolutely engrossed in the history that the cleric was recounting. A beautiful and almost lyrical element to the story. I was so engrossed and I would honestly recommend this for anyone who enjoys folktales, fairytales, and anything magical. The storytelling was magnificent and I just can’t get over this book!

*Thank you Netgalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review

A poetic fairy tale within a fairytale wondrously told through mountains, mammoths and malevolent tigers.

Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
This book was beautiful. I should have expected it though, I’m always awed by Vo’s work. I thought it was funny and the words were almost lyrical at times, and the characters, as always, were fascinating beyond belief. My only wish is that it was longer. I didn’t love this one QUITE as much as I loved Empress of Salt and Fortune, but I did love it quite a bit. The tigers especially were very interesting to me, and I loved hearing their side of the story vs Chih’s. Over all, I’m excited to read more stories in this universe, and as always, I can only wish for them to be longer.

I guess you know a story is good when, after finishing it, you're left with a vague, restless discontent with anything that isn't that story.

The second novella in the Singing Hills Cycle, When The Tiger Came Down From The Mountain is beautiful and funny and (like the first one) surprisingly immersive for a story within a story. Just perfect in every way.

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. Until they, along with their companions, Si-yu and Piluk stumble across a band of 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 but highlighted how the truth varies 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!

Vo has a phenomenal talent for bringing context and power to oral history keeping and its value. Like even though this narrative format is printed the emphasis is "a story passed down can alter history". It emphasises the power of who gets to share that story and that privilege alters narrative language, representation, structure and even how love is shaped and reimagined by those who project context. In this case the view of the same story in the lens of tigers versus humans. But it's so relevant because the tigers get to share their story with Chih. And Chih shares what he knows based on what has been taught. Such a way to comment on how narratives have been altered by the voices hailed and honored versus the voices that are not. Colonialization and white supremacy has swallowed and altered history and fed and projected narratives. So this story is just such a fantastic analysis of this in my mind. It has that decolonial element I love to see, to participate with. I love how Vo opened the story in this way. To recapture a story. And in it honoring to the power of oral story keeping. I dunno imma fan. I stan for life. All this in a quick moving, suspenseful, compacted love story that places story and sharing stories as an impactful and pivotal part of human and creature interaction. Loved it.

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.

I'm not usually a fan of novellas, but I'm enjoying the shorter connected stories and hope the author continues in this word.
The job of the cleric is interesting and I enjoy the world building as constructed through different people's stories as they travel. In this story, the talking, shapeshifting tigers was a bit more fantasy than I usually prefer, but the story was short and interesting.

The Empress of Salt and Fortune is still one of my favorite books of the year, so I had high hopes for this novella and I was not let down. Despite its size, this little novella packs a punch, feeling more like a full length novel by the end. I loved the further dive into the world and the way we got to know the main character a bit more. Nghi Vo will never not amaze me with her writing.

This is a follow-up to The Empress of Salt and Fortune, following the cleric Chih on another journey to discover and record stories. I'm a little sad that the book doesn't contain Almost Brilliant, but in every other way I liked it even more than the first book. I think that despite giving the first book a pretty high rating, it didn't wholly stick with me; this one, I think, will. Perhaps it's partly the sense that Chih is not only learning the story, is not just a vessel for the reader to experience it, but is in a story themselves with a beginning and an ending and tension in the middle. That sense was missing from the first book, for me, for all that it was cleverly done.

It's not that this one was more surprising for me -- I mentioned with the first book that I knew where we were going before we got there -- but that the frame story kind of supported it better, I suppose. The predictability in both cases is a good thing; it's like seeing the end result of a puzzle, and then all the intermediate stages as you work towards it; that doesn't "spoil" getting to the end!

I'm definitely on board for more of Chih and their travels.

I have no words for how much I love this book. Nghi Vo weaves a beautiful and fully realized world in so short a space. I could read endless tales of Chih’s travels. As a bookseller, The Empress of Salt and Fortune is one of my very favorite books to hand sell - I cannot wait to put this into fellow book lover’s hands. This book was a treat to devour and I will certainly read it again and again.

I really enjoyed The Empress of Salt and Fortune, and this follow-up novella did not disappoint. If anything, I think I liked it even better! The novella is largely about storytelling, and the different perspectives from which a single story can be told. It's really amazing to me how much world-building Nghi Vo can pack into such a short format, and how tight her theming is!

This novella has quickly become my favourite for the year. I went in expecting a good tale, but also a rushed one - so I was pleasantly surprised that it read like a full novel within itself, rather than a short story. I'm also not usually a fan of the 'story within a story' tool, but was again surprised at how much I enjoyed this one - I found myself rushing through my chores at the end of the day just so I could pick up this book again. My only negative is that I had a rather terrifying dream about being chased by 3 tigers while I was half-way through the story, but all that means was that it was so good that it ingrained itself into my brain enough to be dreamt about! I'll be on the look-out for other works by this author, for certain.

When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain, much like Nghi Vo's first novella, continues the story of the cleric Chih, who finds themselves and their companions trapped by a group of shapeshifting tigers whose history, they discover, is more nuanced than Chih had known. Taking place over the course of Chih's telling of the tiger's story and the tigers's corrections to their history, When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain is an entertaining and emotional novella about the stories we carry within us and the way in which history can get twisted away from the truth. A solid recommendation for anyone looking for a quick and evocative read about the importance of storytelling and truth.

Empress of Salt and Fortune was my favourite book of the year so far, what made When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain one of my most anticipated reads. It did not let me down for a second and has become my newest comfort read.
I finished it in one sitting during my work break, and I'm already thinking about re-reading it.
We follow Cleric Chih in another one of his travels, this time without Almost Brilliant (I missed him), where they encounter a group of tigers. And so, a night of storytelling ensues.
Although longer, it felt quite shorter than Empress of Salt and Fortune. Compelling, magical and fastpaced. We learn how stories are shaped by those who tell them to reflect their version of history. It was such a sweet tale with a refreshing ending and thought-provoking narrative.
I can only hope that we get more of Cleric Chih and Almost Brilliant.

Charming novella that details the scholar Chih spending a night of storytelling and terror when she is waylaid by extremely talkative tigers on her way somewhere else. Rich with detail and layers of narrative both spoken and unspoken. I could happily read a million of these.