Thank you Macmillan-Tor/Forge for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

After reading and loving Empress of Salt and Fortune earlier this year, I couldn’t wait to pick this one up! When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain is a beautifully written, compelling, and mythic queer tale. This novella was utterly absorbing. I picked it up and couldn’t put it down; I got wrapped up in the world and story that Nghi Vo created. This story is a fantasy epic wrapped up in a novella. Vo is a fantastic storyteller. This is a queer love story about saving each other, abandoning family expectations, and being with the person you love. This story features a story within a story as we follow Chih on their journey when they find a band of tigers who want to eat them. The only way for Chih to survive is to tell the tigers the story of Dieu and Ho Thi Thao, about a tiger and a human. 

 I read this novella in one sitting, and it was a joy to sucked into this beautiful story. Nghi Vo is a master storyteller, and I hope there are more novellas to come in this series! Everyone needs to read The Singing Hills Cycle!