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Summary
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.
Author Notes
Nghi Vo is the author of the novels Siren Queen and The Chosen and the Beautiful, as well as the acclaimed novellas of the Singing Hills Cycle, which began with The Empress of Salt and Fortune. The series entries have been finalists for the Nebula Award, the Locus Award, and the Lambda Literary Award, and have won the Crawford Award, the Ignyte Award, and the Hugo Award. 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.
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