Reviews tagging 'Death'

When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain by Nghi Vo

51 reviews

ijustreallyliketrees's review against another edition

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adventurous fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

4.5 stars rounded up to 5. I really liked it, though not as much as The Empress of Salt and Fortune. Probably because it's so short, and I really wanted more.

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librarymouse's review against another edition

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emotional funny mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

God, this books is so good! The world building is vibrant without being overly didactic. The author let's readers learn as the narrator does, which makes the cleric the perfect conduit for the storytelling. The love in the story within a story was nuanced and beautiful. I want to read everything Nghi Vo has written.

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rorikae's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

'When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain' by Nghi Vo is the second installment in the Singing Hills Cycle. Similar to the first novella, it follows cleric Chih on their adventures collecting stories. This time they have to use a story to save their life when they are captured by a band of tigers. To stall for time they retell a story of a tiger and their lover to their tiger captors and in the process, learn the true version of the story that the tigers hold.
This is a great follow-up to the first installment and continues a great novella series that I can't wait to read more of. Vo's prose is evocative and weaves an engaging story. I appreciate that this series slowly unfolds the world through individual stories that are given their own time to shine in their own novellas. The set up of the story, similar to that of One Hundred and One Nights, works incredibly well in novella form and fits perfectly with Chih's work collecting stories. I'm excited to read more in this series and see what stories Chih collects next. 

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maeverose's review against another edition

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3.0

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.).

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ggcd1981's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain de Nghi Vo é o segundo livro da The Singing Hills Cycle Series. Eu gostei deste volume, mesmo que não tanto quanto do primeiro. Nesse livro acompanhamos u clérigue Chih que viaja sozinhe pois Almost Brilliant, seu pássaro companheiro de viagem que conhecemos no primeiro volume, está afastado para criar filhotes. Na obra também são relevantes a personagem Si-yu, uma cavaleira de mamute que é contratada como guia para u clérigue; as três tigresas irmãs que podem se apresentar na forma humana ou animal e ameaçam comer Chih e Si-yu; Ho Thi Thao, a tigre, uma das protagonistas da história contada pelu monge; a acadêmica Dieu, uma humana e também protagonista da história contada por Chih. A atmosfera desse universo é excelente. O cenário é um império reminiscente da China imperial. A escrita de Vo também é belíssima montando um mundo fascinante. O resumo do enredo é: Chih, monge que coleciona histórias enquanto viaja pelo Império Ahn, contrata Si-yu, uma herdeira durona de uma dinastia de cavaleiros de mamute, para levá-lu por uma perigosa passagem na montanha. No meio da passagem, Chih e Si-yu são encurralades por três irmãs tigres. Na esperança de persuadir os tigres a poupar suas vidas ou pelo menos enrolar até os outros cavaleiros de mamute chegarem, Chih se oferece para contar a história da tigresa Ho Thi Thao e da acadêmica Dieu, com o entendimento de que as irmãs corrigirão qualquer imprecisão.
A história que Chih conhece foi transmitida por contadores de histórias humanos, então é claro que centra Dieu e a coloca sob uma luz favorável. Para os humanos, Dieu é a heroína e Ho Thi Thao a vilã. As tigresas veem de forma diferente. Elas corrigem Chih com o lado de Ho Thi Thao da história, deixando claro que Dieu não era uma donzela inocente. Mas mesmo dentro de sua versão, cada tigre vê a verdade de maneira ligeiramente diferente. A intriga da obra é bastante boa e fiquei curiosa por qual a versão correta da história e se as irmãs tigres poupariam a vida de Chih, Si-yu e seu mamute. Nghi Vo brinca com a lógica na narrativa pois existe duas versões da história e não se sabe qual delas ou se ambas são falsas. No geral gostei bastante desse segundo volume, apesar de achar que a história de Ho Thi Thao e Dieu foi menos interessante que a contada por Rabbit no primeiro livro sobre a Imperatriz In-yo. A narrativa da tigresa e da acadêmica é, supostamente um romance, mas não importa a versão de Chih ou das tigresas, não parece haver muita base para o amor entre Ho Thi Thao e Dieu. Independentemente da versão isso pareceu um bully romance, pois Ho Thi Thau foi bastante forçosa em seu interesse em Dieu e sua condição de tigresa dava uma aura de medo as situações, por isso em alguns momentos o consentimento me pareceu dúbio. Essa razão fez meu interesse pela história diminuir um pouco.
Porém dou a When the Tiger Came Down um sólido 4.25 estrelas. 


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nbmki's review against another edition

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dark emotional inspiring fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0


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tianas's review against another edition

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adventurous inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I loved it. This was a wonderful adventure. Can't wait for the next one!

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missindyrose's review

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emotional funny reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0


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takarakei's review against another edition

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adventurous fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5


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thereaderfriend's review

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adventurous medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Sexy little novella lol

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