illegible_scribble
1/31/2021
Although this is set in the same world as The Empress of Salt and Fortune, it is not a sequel, and features different characters.
A traveling scholar-researcher who collects and records stories hires a member of the corps of mammoth-riding warriors to transport them through the mountain pass and keep them safe from the resident bandits. As they travel, they gradually get to know each other - and then they are set upon by three tigers who can shapeshift into human form and speak human language. And then the storyteller, much like Scheherazade, must tell the tigers stories of their famous tiger ancestors to keep them occupied and appeased, instead of eating the humans.
The stories are rich and lovely, and though I did not think this one reached the level of the first in this series, it is well worth the read.