Week 16 Reviews: The Empress of Salt and Fortune, When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain

From Goodreads:

With the heart of an Atwood tale and the visuals of a classic Asian period drama, Nghi Vo's The Empress of Salt and Fortune is a tightly and lushly written narrative about empire, storytelling, and the anger of women.

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.

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.

My Review:
These were such great reads! I listened to them on audiobook, and I couldn't put them down! I loved being in these world, being told these stories! The idea of a cleric going around, collecting stories, is such a great idea! 

First off, I have to say, I really enjoyed reading about Chih collecting these stories. The first one, they finds bits and pieces of the past, and the lady that's telling them the story, tells them the bit associated with the item found. And then the second, Chih is telling the human version of the story, while the tigers interject with their version. It was just great storytelling!

The first story is the hidden secrets of In-yo, who had a pretty hard life. Between being the forced bride, and how after she had the heir, was made unable to have any other children, and sent away in exile. And telling the story is her maid, Rabbit, and I loved the relationship that they had, and oh, it's a bittersweet, but amazing, story!

The second, was telling the story of scholar Dieu and tiger Ho Thi Thao, and the journey that they end up going on together. I loved both versions, more the tiger version than the human version, but the ending of the tiger one, I don't know how Dieu got there, and there's nothing about the test that she'd traveled that far to attend, so I like how that bit was told in the human story. 

Loved reading these two, and I'm excited to see where the series goes from here! 

Author: Nghi Vo
Series: The Singing Hills Cycle #1, 2
Read:  April 20th, 20th, 2022
Source: Library
Reason Why: Sounded really great, and they're Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2022 Books! and The Empress of Salt and Fortune is a DAC Book!
Publisher: Tantor Audio
Published: March 24th 2020, December 8th 2020

The Empress of Salt and Fortune:

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars

When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars