Jade City
Ratings519
Average rating4.1
Asian Godfather Mafia story with fantasy elements. Spectacular, thrilling read and a great start to a trilogy of books!
4.5 - it's clear Fonda Lee is an exceptional writer, and a genius at world building as well. I most likely will be continuing the series but good lord that took me so so so long to read. Super dense.
Jade City was the story I didn't exactly know I was looking for. Crime fantasy? Hell yeah, sign me up. The story took a few different turns I wasn't expecting, and I came out liking most of them on the other end. There's a lot of players in the story that could make it a little too cluttered, but Lee found a way to make every part of this story perfectly digestible. I didn't love the ending but as a whole Jade City did more than enough to make me excited to pick up Jade War.
Look, I read this like 5 books ago, in a mad dash rush to the end of the year, and I finished it New Years Eve. So it's been 10 days and yet, my hype for this series is still fresh like newly caught salmon at a fish market.
I fully expected to love the Green Bone Saga and I completely devoured this book. Jade City follows four siblings that are leaders in a crime family in the city of Janloon, where the magical substance Jade allows a select portion of the population enhanced capabilities. People commonly compare it to the Godfather, for obvious reasons. But for me.....it was like The Wire, my favorite show of all time. Only instead of being armed with the power of economics courses, Stringer Bell is armed with the power of Jade.
I could see some people thinking the book takes awhile to set up the dynamics of the book, but I was enthused from the get-go. I love these characters, and even the one I don't love, I understand. Lee writes such great sibling relationships, which is something that many people do not prioritize or do well in fantasy.
The magic is cool, and the world seems set to expand by the end of the book. The fight scenes are incredible, but this book is not a non-stop action book. It is primarily a political book, as rivalling crime families seek to avoid a war that has been brewing between them.
I give Jade City a 9.5/10 and I am super hyped to continue on with Jade War!
El padrino en un entorno de ciencia ficcion.
Es un buen libro, pero creo que no estaba demasiado de humor para algo asi. Me ha gustado la construccion del mundo y como lo mezcla bien con avanzar la trama y escenas de accion.
Los personajes son interesantes aunque podrian haber pulido mas a los antagonistas.
Las relaciones estan bien conseguidas, creo que hay poco de malo en el libro.
Eso si, es una historia que requiere acabar la trilogia.
Crouching Tiger Hidden Godfather
What an exciting start to a Jade saga. This book is quite dense, there is a lot of information to take in but it keeps you hooked till the end with some expected, and some unexpected twists. There are no good or bad people both sides are quite human with all shades.
My only confusion is about the era it's set in. Sometimes it feels like the early twentieth century and sometimes like totally modern. Sometimes it feels like a fantasy world, sometimes it feels like a realistic one.
A great book which will definitely appeal to people who enjoy political intrigue in their books and a magic system that borders on sci-fi.
The book has a lovely set of characters which I alternately hated and loved but was never indifferent to.
More than anything, this book offers an amazing family dynamic and an opportunity to ponder your own values and perception of right and wrong.
The reason why I took away a star is the waaaaaay too detailed sex scenes. I didn't need to know whose fingers went exactly where, the amount of saliva utilised or the level of penetration that occurred. If that's to your taste, have at it. To me it felt voyeuristic and altogether cringy.
Justo lo que necesitaba leer . La trama es muy interesante, a pesar de ser muy introductorio. El desarrollo de personajes está brutal, es lo mejor del libro, conecté fácil con los protagonistas, es bien armonico todo. El sistema mágico está interesante, poco explicado, pero entretenido.
La secuela tiene toda la cara que va a ser una locura .
reminded me a lot of sword of kaigen in its character driven fantasy and drama. It treated its characters realistically and made sure that the story happened as a result of the characters rather than to the characters which i think is an important distinction for this genre. I think it wasn't as good as sword of kaigen because a lot of character motivations/emotions/rituals were told rather than shown (ie. we are told that stealing jade is scummy asf rather than shown it through a story action) but i liked it a lot!
I couldn't put this book down. When not reading I was constantly thinking about the characters. I thoroughly enjoyed the world Fonda Lee has created and I am excited for it to expand in the next book.
The best fantasy book I've read in a long time. Truly blown away by how good this was.
Long ago the natives known as Green Bones defended their island nation of Kekon from foreign occupation. They were imbued with the magical properties of the local jade which granted warriors incredible capabilities across six disciplines known as strength, steel, perception, lightness, deflection, and channelling. But brandishing these skills demands a delicate balance requiring intense training. More jade means greater power, but too much can destroy minds and bodies.
In war the families fought side by side but in peace the city of Janloon is controlled by the No Peak Clan and the Mountain Clan. War heroes become profiteering mobsters holding down their territories against each other. It's a Far East Mob Novel as we focus on the incoming generation of Kaul's taking the reins of the city and pushing up against the ruthlessly ambitious Ayt Madashi.
And while the first book manages to do a lot of world building, introducing us to the strict clan hierarchies of Pillar, Weather Man, Horn, Luckbringers and Fists and a sprawling tapestry of characters it never lags. Lots of turns, fights and drama that sets the stage so you can see how it will evolve over subsequent books in the trilogy. Engrossing and fun.
“She felt, strangely, that it all made sense in a perfect and terrible way. It only confirmed in her mind that the will of the gods was a conspiracy of many things; people laid the tracks of their fate yet were helpless at the same time. They'd all played their part in this—them and their enemies.”
This book really just blew me away. It's a family saga, and a gangster novel, and a story about a formerly isolated nation forced to confront the wider world and figure out how to live alongside it. The world (especially the advantages and drawbacks of jade magic and how that is integrated) is fascinating, and all of the characters feel like real people. This book is long but not a single word feels wasted - everything that comes up even once matters.
A fun romp that hits a few of my weak spots (warring mafia families, urban fantasy, fully realised female characters) and thus I steamed through and promptly bought the sequel. It's exactly what it says on the tin; plus well-written and engaging. My one niggle is that there's a few places where the book raises plot threads and characters that never really get followed up with (I haven't finished the trilogy yet, so perhaps they arise later, but I suspect they won't).
The central characters are ruthlessly violent, and there's not much morality on display, so this won't be to everyone's tastes.
For more of my reviews, check out my blog.
Jade City has been recommended to me a million times over by a bunch of different people. Friends, people who follow my reviews, and my husband all have suggested I give Jade City a read. Most people (husband not included) have raved and raved about this book, saying it's one of the best books they've ever read, that it's one of their favorites, that its extremely unique and well written, etc, etc. You get the picture.
Jade City did not live up to the hype for me. Don't get me wrong – I enjoyed it! It was still fun to read, and at no point did I consider DNFing it. It just wasn't as good as everyone says it is. The writing was just okay for me, especially in the first half of the book. Until one HUGE PLOT POINT happens, it's kind of almost boring. But after that middle point, things take off rather rapidly.
Jade City is a mob book – there's two gangster Clans on the island of Kekon who basically control the island. The No Peak clan (the ‘good' guys) and the Mountain clan. These two clans have heightened abilities because they wear Jade – think extra strength, can make their skin super tough, can jump further, etc. The entire book reminded me so so much of the HBO show, Warrior. Anyway the main plot of the novel is that the two clans are fighting for control over the island, and over the supply of jade. This book is VIOLENT. Extremely so – people die very, very frequently, some on page and some off.
The characters don't have a huge amount of development throughout the novel. At no point do you really get a feel for any of them – no deep dives, no ‘seeing inside their mind' sort of thing. There's at least two explicit sex scenes, but they're so clinically written that the scenes had no romance at all in them. I wish Fonda Lee had taken the time to dive into the characters a little more.
I'll keep reading this series, because I'm interested to see where it ends up, but so far The Green Bone Saga is just okay in my eyes.
A triad style mafiosa in an urban fantasy setting. This is the clever context that Fonda Lee sets up her Green Bone Saga. We are introduced to a world where the population of a small island nation possess the ability to use jade to power magical abilities. The trade in this jade is controlled through the gangs that effectively rule the island. This is all destabilized when a gang war breaks out...
Whilst it feels wrong empathizing with gang lord characters, Fonda Lee has managed to make them incredibly sympathetic. The relationships within the gang are wonderfully realized helping to make these antihero type characters incredibly engaging.
The world built is an intriguing one - the magic system is well realized, the historical background is believable and well built. A highly impressive start to a series that I look forward to continuing!
I really enjoyed the political intrigue, strategy and character development of this book. Multi-POV stories tend to be my favorites, especially when they put you in the heads of antagonists. The ending of this book was fantastic and I'm excited to continue the series. Fans who like the maneuvering of ASOIAF will enjoy this.