Rules:
Breana: I'm currently listening to Taylor Swift's latest album, Midnights. One of my favorite songs is Maroon.
Andrea: This week I'm listening to Flashdance What a Feeling by the late Irene Cara. RIP
What are you listening to this week?
Monday, November 28, 2022
Friday, November 25, 2022
When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain by Nghi Vo
Series: The Singing Hills Cycle #2
Author: Nghi Vo
Source/Format: Tor.com eBook Club; eBook
More Details: Fantasy
Publisher/Publication Date: Tor.com; December 8, 2020
Goodreads Barnes & Noble
Synopsis from Goodreads...
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 enjoyed The Empress of Salt and Fortune so much, and I was eager to dive into its sequel, When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain. I also already had a copy of it, because it was a Tor.com eBook Club title a while ago, so there was basically no delay between when I finished the first and started the next.
When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain was just as engrossing and excellent as its predecessor. I really enjoy what Nghi Vo does with an embedded narrative, though the dynamics were shifted by the stark change in setting and the noticeable absence of Almost Brilliant. (I missed the neixin’s witty remarks!) But I didn’t mind it. The story was interesting not only because Chih doing most of the storytelling, but also for the addition of new characters, mammoths, and how great the story within the story was.
The tigers, in particular were fascinating. They were true to their nature and sufficiently terrifying in something of an antagonistic role—but also they were the catalyst that propelled the story in the direction it ultimately took. I genuinely enjoyed how Vo characterized them.
Overall, When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain was the perfect weekend read, and I look forward to eventually reading the third book in the series.
Wednesday, November 23, 2022
The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo
Series: The Singing Hills Cycle #1
Author: Nghi Vo
Source/Format: Tor.com eBook club; eBook
More Details: Fantasy
Publisher/Publication Date: Tor.com; May 24, 2020
Goodreads Barnes & Noble
Synopsis from Goodreads...
A young royal from the far north is sent south for a political marriage in an empire reminiscent of imperial China. Her brothers are dead, her armies and their war mammoths long defeated and caged behind their borders. Alone and sometimes reviled, she must choose her allies carefully. Rabbit, a handmaiden, sold by her parents to the palace for the lack of five baskets of dye, befriends the emperor's lonely new wife and gets more than she bargained for. At once feminist high fantasy and an indictment of monarchy, this evocative debut follows the rise of the empress In-yo, who has few resources and fewer friends. She's a northern daughter in a mage-made summer exile, but she will bend history to her will and bring down her enemies, piece by piece.
I finally caved and read The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo. It’s been sitting on my tablet since I got it when it was one of Tor.com’s eBook club titles. And one night, I read the first sentence and was hooked.
The Empress of Salt and Fortune was an engrossing tale about how the life of a girl from humble beginnings got tangled with that of an empress. It recounted their time in exile and everything that entails. It was a beautiful story. And the majority of it is an embedded narrative, with a character (Rabbit) telling another character (Chih, a cleric, and Almost Brilliant, a neixin) their story.
This is one of my favorite storytelling conventions, and when it’s done well it can have an excellent effect. Each part of the story within the story in The Empress of Salt and Fortune was contained in respective chapters. I really enjoyed the format because of how much space it gave the present characters to interact, while also correlating their conversations—and the clues within the setting—to the history being imparted by Rabbit. The characters were, after all, what helped make the story so interesting. Chih and Almost Brilliant were favorites from the start, and Rabbit’s voice easily stole half the stage. All three propelled the story forward.
The point of The Empress of Salt and Fortune can be summed up by one of its earlier passages:
“Accuracy above all things. You will never remember the great if you do not remember the small.”—page 11.
And what a marvelous story it was!
Monday, November 21, 2022
Music Monday (222): Tove Lo, Ramsey Lewis
Rules:
Breana: Tove Lo has an extensive backlist of music, and I have too many favorite songs to count. I wanted to mention another track from Dirt Femme. It's called Suburbia, and I've had it on repeat.
Adri: I've been trying to branch away from my playlist some more. So, today I'm listening to Tequila Mockingbird by Ramsey Lewis.
What are you listening to this week?
Friday, November 18, 2022
The Friday 56 (226) & Book Beginnings: When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain by Nghi Vo
The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice where every Friday you pick a book and turn to page 56 or 56%, and select a sentence or a few, as long as it's not a spoiler. For the full rules, visit the the page HERE
Book Beginnings is a weekly meme hosted by Rose City Reader that asks you to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you're reading.
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
Beginning: "The tavern was little more than a waxed canvas tent, tilted towards the south by the wind that rushed headlong down the mountain."
56: "Ahnfi was the child of Pan'er, which sunk beneath the waves, and the latter-day daughter of that great city lacked all the parent's grace and beauty."
Comments: I had such a great experience with The Empress of Salt and Fortune that I couldn't wait to start its sequel, When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain. This was another great installment in this series, and I loved it as much as the first. My 56 comes from page 54 instead, because every sentence was a major spoiler. What are you reading this week?
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