Reviews with content warning for Blood - When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain

This is the 3rd book I read from this series, and just like the others it focuses on stories and how a story changes depending on who tells it. It's really cool how all three books explore this theme in their own way and use different strategies / settings, it makes the books all feel fresh. And I just really love the "story within a story" elementin this series.
It's also really fun to explore a bit more about the world and the backstory of the monk with each book. With the monk travelling to different regions in each book, it feels a bit like a fun travel memoir.
Apart from the monk, the other characters were also really fun. I enjoyed the dynamics between the tiger sisters and how they argued among themselves

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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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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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