“Sometimes, you cannot survive and still be who you were.”

Bit conflicted on how I feel about this one.

In some ways, I enjoyed it more than the previous installment. I appreciated getting to see the Singing Hills and to witness Chih reckoning the home they once knew with what it has become. The feeling of relief turning to grief is something I think was handled really well here.

In other ways though? This was the weakest installment. It almost felt like entire portions of the story were cut out (which makes sense with the length). I wish that more time would have been given to the conflicted feelings and the focus on grief and the odd space you're left in when someone that hurt you dies and you're forced to carry on without resolution.

I also found the attempts at humor pulled me out of the story. A lot. I saw someone else saying they thought this was hilarious, so maybe it's just personal preference but the humor did not work for me at all.

Overall, I did enjoy this - just not as much as I wanted to. When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain easily remains my favorite and I hope that the rest of the series will capture what I loved about that installment.