As always, Vo blows me away with her prose. One thing I love about these novellas is how we enter each story. It starts very much in the middle of Chih’s journey every time and while it’s somewhat jarring for a moment, it also adds a layer of immersiveness I think. As passive observers of events, more passive even than Chih themselves, it feels like we’re another traveler just over Chih’s shoulder who’s observing everything without prior knowledge. As if we’ve barely entered the tavern here a moment before Si-yu and we don’t know anything about what’s going on, but we’re along for the ride anyway. I think it’s also very effective as the setting itself and Chih’s journey is not as important as the actual story to be told, and by not lingering on that by spending time building that setting before the action begins, Vo directs our attention to the story more easily.

I loved the format of this one. Annotation and correction rather than a story being told in a singular line. It highlights the notion present in the other novellas, that stories are often told differently and that’s the point of them. “There are three versions to every story…” and all that. I like that this one presents two very different accounts of the same story, though it’s easy to see how the events line up and are interpreted differently based on culture. The distinct cultures of human versus tiger and the ways those differences influence how events occur. I especially liked the moment where the tigers pointed out that humans had ignored the way real tigers would’ve acted or behaved because they viewed everything through their own lens, leaving off the reality of the other’s existence. There’s something there to be said about biased reporting in our own world.

As usual, the world Vo has created is so lush and lovingly crafted. It’s clear she has created a full history of the world even if we only get bits and pieces each time. Mentions of old cities and dynasties and families are peppered throughout these novels, tied together but still not known to us. I wish I remembered enough of the other novellas I’ve read to try to fit together the pieces I know and paint a larger picture for myself. Regardless, it feels very much like a real, lived-in world, which is not easy to do in my opinion, especially in short novellas like these. I can’t expound enough on how immersive it is.

I also liked this story in itself a lot. I prefer the tigers’ version, especially the end, but the version Chih was told isn’t in any way bad. What I loved best, maybe, were those contrasts, in fact. But the ending of the tigers’ version appealed to me because it really followed through on the notion of desiring, owning, and consuming. This was introduced very subtly when we first see Sinh Loan knelt over Bao-so and reiterated with the book of poetry, so to end it in that way was such a beautiful conclusion to that through line. It also perfectly encapsulates that aspect of tiger culture and how distinct it is from human culture.

The only thing missing in this book was Almost Brilliant. Though Si-yu was a great addition for some levity.

Thus far, Vo’s novels all represent animals of the Chinese zodiac. I don’t know what’s next from her, and I’m very excited to find out, but I do hope she intends to write for each animal in the cycle.

I LOVED this entry in the Singing Hills cycle, particularly for its execution of the story-within-a-story framework and how dryly humorous it feels. Vo's reflection on how stories are told - and by whom - is conveyed through a tense encounter between our loveably nerdy cleric and three sister tigers they've encountered during a northern journey into the mountains. A quick and exciting read that had me laughing throughout. 

I can appreciate it but it didn’t hold up to the first book for me. I’m not really a fan of fable-esque stories, and this one is very much that. I like that it brings up the topic of who’s writing history and if they’re really depicting it as it happened, I would’ve liked if it leaned a bit more into that. It was very meh for me overall.

I’m also a bit curious about the ‘romance’ in the book, because to me it felt very typical of fable-esque love stories that are actually pretty toxic from a modern pov, so I wasn’t thinking of it as a romance we were supposed to root for exactly but it seems like some other reviewers felt differently.. because the romance was very toxic both from the human’s and tiger’s povs (stalking, not helping unless they get something out of it, being generally aggressive, etc.).