paperback, 176 pages
English language
Published Dec. 7, 2020 by Tor.com.
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 this mesmerizing, lush standalone follow-up to The Empress of Salt and Fortune.
I absolutely adore these books. I did miss Almost Brilliant, but the way that stories are told and challenged and retold is gorgeous...
And wonderful gentle humour 8-)
4 stars: loved this book, would recommend
Very different from the first novella I read. It's very folktale-themed, with a fairly short and straightforward framing story encompassing two conflicting stories being told. Much less plot-driven, some musings on what a story is and what it means for a story to be true. I like how the worldbuilding hints at a much larger world without spelling it out. Like the other one, set in a vaguely East/Southeast Asian setting in much the way some other fantasy stories are often set in a vaguely Europe inspired world.
I didn’t like this one as much as the other two in the series I’ve read. While I liked the inclusion of mammoths and one of its riders and could appreciate the classic yet tense framing for Chih’s storytelling, the story being told is ultimately kind of disturbing if you take it seriously. I’m also still unsure how I feel about shape-shifting tigers.
Storytelling layers and drama packed so neatly, but this didn't have the depth of the first one for me.
I enjoyed this one a bit more than Empress of Salt and Fortune, I think because the tension between the tellers and the listeners adds a hint of excitement that I was missing in the first one
I wasn’t quite sure how Nghi Vo would continue after her Empress of Salt and Fortune – after all, her main character Chih, the recording monk, is hardly fit to carry sustained narratives. I needn’t have worried: this never tries to burden them with that task.
Instead, we are treated (and what a treat it is) to another take on the magic of storytelling and the nature of truth. If Empress was all about the true story lying hidden, this is about how the truth of stories is negotiable. Formally consistent with, and sharing the same rich world building as its predecessor, this second instalment is as enjoyable as the first, a wonderful feat of complex storytelling happening without any of the usual fanfare.
