cbr17bingo – Black (4th BINGO, I think)
I am once again impressed at how much Nghi Vo can fit into a novella. She conveys so much about the world of the Singing Hills Cycle in so few pages. In this one sentence alone, for example, we get humor, history, and religion: “Not long after Dieu skirted the Battle of Kirshan—where General Peirong was killed by a raging bull that went on to become the king of Kirshan—she came around a bend in the road to find a small shrine to the goddess Xanh-hui.” It’s almost a throwaway line, but it shows both how serious and how absurd life can be.
Like The Empress of Salt and Fortune, this novella also uses a framing device. While traveling, Cleric Chih and their guide Si-yu are cornered by hungry tigers who can become human. As much as the tigers want to eat Chih and Si-yu, they are willing to be appeased, at least temporarily, by a story about the scholar Dieu and her tiger lover. Chih tells the story as they know it, with interruptions and corrections from the tigers. The danger the tigers pose is never far removed during these interruptions.
Vo’s humor is understated but so lovely when it peeks through. And because Chih’s job is to collect and relate stories, they can be an emotionally distant character at times. I appreciate it when we get closer to them, which on multiple occasions is combined with that humor:
“Why are we talking to tigers?” asked Si-yu.
“Because they are talking to us,” Chih said, stifling a somewhat hysterical giggle. “They can talk, and now they’ve seen that we can. That’s—that means that they’ll treat us like people.”
“But there’s still a chance that they’re going to eat us.”
“Oh yes. Some people are just more . . . edible than others if you are a tiger.”
I really enjoyed my short time with this book and will definitely continue with this series. They’re quick but well-written reads.