This series of novellas by Nghi Vo is among my favorite ongoing series, following a nonbinary monk named Chih and their talking bird factotum. Chih’s order is dedicated to collecting stories from all over their world, which is great news for us readers — as Chih dips into and out of different places and cultures, we get a series of exciting episodes. In one, Chih visits a village terrorized by talking, scheming tigers, while in another they are imprisoned in a mad king’s compound. That’s not even mentioning the mammoths or the talking birds who live long lives and remember everything they hear.