When the tiger came down the mountain

First Title Value for Searching:

Personal Author:

Vo, Nghi

Edition:

First edition.

Physical Description:

125 pages ; 21 cm.

Series:

Singing hills cycle ; 2

General Note:

"A Tom Doherty Associates book."

Genre:

Fantasy fiction.

Summary:

"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 Ho Thi Thao and her scholar lover--a woman of courage, intelligence, and beauty--and discover how truth can survive becoming history"--back cover.

Subject Term:

Tiger -- Fiction.

Shapeshifting -- Fiction.

Adventure stories

Interpersonal relations -- Fiction.

Imaginary places -- Fiction.

Lesbians -- Fiction.

Sexual minorities -- Fiction.

Publication Info:

New York : Tordotcom, 2020.

Subject:

Tiger -- Fiction.

Shapeshifting -- Fiction.

Adventure stories

Interpersonal relations -- Fiction.

Imaginary places -- Fiction.

Lesbians -- Fiction.

Sexual minorities -- Fiction.

Fantasy fiction.

Leo tigris

Panthera tigris

Tigers

Metamorphosis -- Folklore

Metamorphosis (in religion, folk-lore, etc.)

Shape-shifting

Therianthropy

Adventure and adventurers -- Fiction

Adventure and adventurers -- Juvenile fiction

Adventure fiction

Adventure novels

Human relations

Interpersonal relationships

Personal relations

Relations, Interpersonal

Relationships, Interpersonal

Social behavior

Cities, Imaginary

Fictitious places

Imaginary cities

Imaginary islands

Islands, Imaginary

Places, Imaginary

Female gay people

Female homosexuals

Gay females

Gay women

Gayelles

Gay people, Female

Homosexuals, Female

Lesbian people

Lesbian women

Sapphists

Women, Gay

Women homosexuals

Gender minorities

GLBT people

GLBTQ people

LGBT people

LGBTQ people

Non-heterosexual people

Non-heterosexuals

Sexual dissidents

SAILS ISBN:

9781250786135

Available:

Library	Shelf Number	Shelf Location	Status
Searching... Fiske Public Library	SCF VO	SCIENCE FICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Foxboro - Boyden Library	SF VO	SCIENCE FICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Mansfield Public Library	FIC VO	FICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Swansea Public Library	PBK VO, N	PAPERBACK	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Westport Free Public Library	SF VO	SCIENCE FICTION	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

From Locus and Ignyte finalist, Crawford Award winner, and bestselling author Nghi Vo comes the second installment in a Hugo Award-winning series

"A stunning gem of a novella that explores the complexity and layers of storytelling and celebrates the wonder of queer love. I could read about Chih recording tales forever."--Samantha Shannon, New York Times bestselling author of The Priory of the Orange Tree

"Nghi Vo is one of the most original writers we have today."--Taylor Jenkins Reid on Siren Queen

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 When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain , a mesmerizing, lush standalone follow-up to The Empress of Salt and Fortune .

The Hugo Award-winning Singing Hills Cycle

The Empress of Salt and Fortune
When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain
Into the Riverlands
Mammoths at the Gates
The Brides of High Hill

The novellas of The Singing Hills Cycle are linked by the cleric Chih, but may be read in any order, with each story serving as an entry point.

Reviews (3)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Vo follows The Empress of Salt and Fortune with another dazzling, standalone novella featuring Cleric Chih as they explore the northern region of Anh. A quick trip to a local way station is derailed by a trio of tigers who corner Chih and their guide, Si-yu, in a barn. When the tigers, who speak with human voices, learn that Chih is an accomplished story archivist, they demand to hear the human version of a legend shared among their kind before eating the travelers. At their request, Chih tells the story of Scholar Dieu, a woman dedicated to her studies, who comes upon the tiger Ho Thi Thao. Though the tigers frequently interrupt Chih to counter the human narrative with their own version of events, it is clear Dieu and Ho Thi Thao are intricately linked in both human and tiger history. Vo elegantly threads the legend through the frame story, and Chih's personal history is equally, if not more, fascinating than the legend of Ho Thi Thao. Readers who missed Vo's debut will have no trouble following the second leg of Chih's travels, and those returning will be pleased to sink into another lush, sophisticated story of queer love and survival. Agent: Diana Fox, Fox Literary. (Dec.)

Booklist Review

Vo's sequel to The Empress of Salt and Fortune (2020) continues the adventures of the story-collecting cleric Chih, who is this time travelling their way north with a soldier and her mammoth mount. On their way through the pass, they are stopped by three shapeshifting tiger sisters, and they only narrowly escape being eaten when Chih mentions the story of Ho Thi Thao, a tigress who found a human wife, Scholar Dien. Chih now must tell the story of their marriage while the sisters correct her version, which becomes a balancing act between keeping them interested and not provoking their carnivorous ire because of the story's inaccuracies. Similar to Vo's previous novella, the bulk of the narrative is made up of stories told to and by the protagonist, in this case two competing versions of the same legendary romance. While less concerned with geopolitics and history than the previous volume, this new entry should please Vo's fans as well as anyone interested in fantasy worlds with a non-western influence similar to the work of Neon Yang, Zen Cho, or Paul Krueger.

Library Journal Review

As a Singing Hills cleric, Chih has been traveling and gathering stories in the Northern Province, now heading up a pass with Si-yu, one of the mammoth corp. As a snowstorm picks up they arrive at a way station where they are attacked by three hungry tigers, one who can change form into a woman as a tiger queen. Now facing off against these incredible beasts, Chih is able to delay their deaths with the promise of a story of Ho Thi Thao, a famous tiger, and Dieu, her scholar and lover. As Chih unravels the story as they know it, they begin to learn that truth and history are influenced by the perspective of those who tell it. This compelling plot is fast-paced, while the writing creates an intimate story that is filled with beautiful prose and lush worldbuilding. VERDICT This stand-alone follow-up to The Empress of Salt and Fortune is as sensuous and lyrical as Vo's debut. Readers may miss Chih's companion, Almost Brilliant, but the mammoth Piluk and tiger queen Ho Sinh Loan are enchanting additions.--Kristi Chadwick, Massachusetts Lib. Syst., Northampton