Welcome to Litsy!

What a delight! A story within a story, a story about stories, featuring Chih, a nonbinary story collecting cleric; weretigers; a mammoth upon which Chih rides up a mountain; sapphic love and poetry. Great #audiobook narration by Cindy Kay!

This is probably my favorite story of the three I've read so far! Idk why but I was captivated by this one. We get to hear a story from two POVs, one the "wrong" one and the other the "correct" one, which I thought was an interesting concept. Also, I'm all for nonhuman lovers and a bit of deadlines in romance ? #nonbinary #sapphic

This afternoon I tucked myself onto the couch between Penny and Geo for another one-sitting Nghi Vo reread. WHEN THE TIGER CAME DOWN THE MOUNTAIN is such a good story about how stories WORK, and how they change depending on who‘s telling them.

I read the audiobook of The Empress of Salt and Fortune a few years ago, and it didn‘t grab me enough to continue the series. But then @Tea_and_Starstuff recommended the series for our IRL book group, so I revisited the first one and continued on. I‘m glad I gave the series a second chance. This one was fascinating, expanding the world introduced in the first book, and establishing cleric Chih in their role as both story-gatherer & storyteller. ⤵️

Cottage read #4

Don‘t know why I bought this when I didn‘t like the previous one but whatever. It‘s a novella and I thought it would be a quick read (it was).

It‘s from a series where a cleric is collecting stories from various parts of a fictional land and writing them down to preserve them. Some animals can talk, and the tigers in this story can take a human form.

I found it boring and didn‘t understand the references. I won‘t read the next.

I am really loving these short stories! I love the way the world gets woven as it becomes relevant to the story at hand. Every character feels like they have a depth to them, even if we only see them for a fraction of the time. It's such a well painted world, too. Excellent stuff!

(Love the covers, too, it's such vibrant art, they're on my to-buy list, for sure)

Loved it

4.5/5

I love these novellas. I thought the framing of having the human version of the story and then the tiger's giving their version of the story was wonderful.

I think this the last of the Singing Hills Series available for me to read at a moment, and that makes me sad. The cleric listening to and telling stories is a useful framing device and I wonder if there is an over arching plot for the cleric?

As cleric, Chih and their guide are journeying through the mountains, they are stopped by 3 tigers. As distraction, Chih tells the tigers a story of a tigress and her scholar, human, wife. The tigers frequently stopping and correcting the story. Showing how the victor and those on their side are the ones who get to tell the story, who wins, who was betrayed, human or tiger depending on who‘s telling the story.

Short read of queer folktale. It was a good book club book since it was fast but held a lot of topics for discussion.

Sneaky scholar!

Apparently tigers are the theme for upcoming reads...🐅🐯

Happy #wonderouswednesday everyone @Eggs ! It has been a while since I played 😍

1. 5⭐️ reads this year includes The Sentence, Overground Railroad, the Ballad of Perilous Graves, and the tagged novella with such delightful world building and discussion of the intersection of myth, history, and memory.

2. Enjoy this pic of my sansevieria - I was so surprised when it bloomed!

I hope all are having a good week 🏖

A storytelling battle between a cleric and a trio of tigers. How delightful, delicious, and fun. I love it when this oral tradition is honored and Vo did it very craftily. A wonderful fantasy with mammoth riders. #PopSugar

Next book by the author the empress of salt and fortune! I hope it is just as good. I plan to cat-fish and read tonight 😀

#SavvySettings Mountain
From my TBR
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs

Another quick fantasy novella. This one I might have liked even more than the first one. I really enjoyed this story/tale and I love tigers. 🐅

#pop22 - tiger on cover or title

Lush, dangerous, and fantastically queer, this novella in Nghi Vo‘s Singing Hills Cycle sees the journeying cleric Chih playing Scheherazade to a trio of tigers intent on killing and eating them once the story is told—and they‘re finished making their own edits of course. The story within the story gave me so many Angela Carter/Bloody Chamber vibes. The world building is excellent as always and I look forward to more of Chih‘s adventures!

I thought this #audiobook was thoroughly entertaining. I may have liked it better than the previous book, despite the absence of the bird character. It's only 2 hours ish. I got a lot of #audiostitching done without really noticing the time flying by.

A really wonderful story within a story about a storytelling monk and a mammoth rider trapped by a trio of tigers. The monk tells a famous story of a tiger and her lover to buy them time but the tiger knows the real version of the story and wants to make sure the monk does too. Thoroughly entertaining novella that has me convinced to read the other stories in this world.

An arresting novella about a cleric who has to play Scheherazade to three very hungry tigers.🔸#augustreads2021

I‘ve really been enjoying this series of novellas so far. They feel warm and cozy, while still managing to to evoke a sense of sweeping, epic drama. It‘s the feeling you might have while sitting around a campfire and having someone tell you an incredible tale or two. Lovely!

🎧 Enjoyed the prose. Tiger suspense added to the story. I missed the talking bird but found the mammoth rider to be a fun addition.

Storytelling is again central to this book.

Different interpretations of the same material/history can mold stories to form different narratives. Chih‘s & the tigers‘ versions differed enough to emphasize how the truth is in the eye of the beholder and can vary from community/culture to community/culture. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Hey all, I know the Tor.com ebook club has been on hiatus, but they are back. First book is tagged. Get yours now. #freebook

https://ebookclub.tor.com

Tor‘s Book of the Month is Nghi Vo‘s When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain!

Download a free mobi or ePub copy before 11:59 PM ET, May 28th 2021.

Available only in the US and Canada.

https://ebookclub.tor.com #TorBookClub

Got s free download from #tor.com
Never heard of author. I like getting free books from authors I didn‘t know about.

April stats!

I didn‘t find any new-to-me 5-star reads last month, but the tagged book was a standout 4.5er. Of my many rereads, my faves were WITCHMARK by C.L. Polk and select volumes of Yoshiki Nakamura‘s SKIP BEAT!.

This is a story about people and tigers. It‘s also a story about who owns stories, and how they look from different angles, and the ways disparate groups might modify them to suit an agenda.

It‘s simple. It‘s complex. It‘s brilliant. 4.5 stars.

Easter isn‘t a religiously important holiday for me, but I sure do like getting discount creme eggs the day after.

The folklorist from The Empress of Salt and Fortune finds themself waylaid by tigers -- and must tell a story to keep the tigers' interest in order to postpone becoming their dinner.

It's very different to TEOSAF, but just as perfect. Looking forward to more from author Vo.

Also, that cover by Alissa Winans is just brilliant.

Great fantasy novella about the power of poetry and storytelling, cultural sensitivity, and queer love. Oh, and man-eating tigers, too 🐅

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

☺️🖤

⭐⭐⭐⭐.5

What another absolutely exceptional story! I thoroughly enjoyed following Chih (a non-binary cleric) on this journey filled with a sapphic slow-burn love story, mammoths, and a tiger queen.

While I enjoyed this book, it didn't hit me in the feels nearly as much as the first one. I'll still 100% continue picking anything and everything up by this author. The writing is fantastic, and I cannot wait to see what Nghi Vo writes next!

Fun storytelling. A story teller/story collector's tale telling is critiqued by tigers.

#fantasy