Jade War
Ratings258
Average rating4.4
"Change is inevitable, Kaul-jen; the only question is whether we control its direction or become victims of a landslide."
After loving Jade City, it was nice to see how the world opened up in this entry. It doesn't suffer from middle book syndrome and if it did at all, it was just for the opening chapters. The most prevelant thing in the Green Bone Saga is love. Whether its being given, taken away, or betrayed. That feeling is magnified here as Fonda Lee shows us multiple perspectives from our friends in No Peak to those outside of the country. The only things that keeps this from being a 5/5 for me is the pacing was a bit odd at times that it threw me off but it was a wonderful ride still.
Avatar: The Legend of Korra meets The Poppy War. There's some exciting about this time period before advanced technology. Add on to that Jade which grants people with certain backgrounds various abilities (think metals from Mistborn).
This is the exact opposite of “middle book syndrome”, it is a brilliant sequel and expands everything laid out so well in Jade City.
My thoughts about the first book still stand after reading the sequel - you should not go into this expecting an expansive high fantasy with the usual cast of creatures. This is an epic clan saga, with a low fantasy magic system in an urban setting.
The strengths of this series are the characters and the storyline of the ongoing clan war. Whilst there is the occasional dry moment, where the reader is simply witnessing a political business meeting (yawn!), they never last long and the plot picks up again.
I had some major shocks in this one, I actually gasped at a couple of them, they came as such a shock which is just a sign of Fonda Lee's great writing.
This is turning out to be an amazing series and I will be moving onto the finale very soon.
TITLE Jade War
AUTHOR Fonda Lee
Genre Fantasy
—
Emotional Impact 8.5
Characters 9.25
Plot 8
Worldbuilding / Magic System 8
Dialogue / Prose 8.25
Official Rating 8.41
Goodreads Rating 4
Date Started 1/22/2024
Date Finished 1/25/2024
NOTES Improvement on the first, love that Fonda Lee expands the scope and we get to explore outside of Janloon but somehow the story cuts even deeper for our main characters
TITLE Jade War
AUTHOR Fonda Lee
Genre Fantasy
—
Emotional Impact 8.5
Characters 9.25
Plot 8
Worldbuilding / Magic System 8
Dialogue / Prose 8.25
Official Rating 8.41
Goodreads Rating 4
Date Started 1/22/2024
Date Finished 1/25/2024
NOTES Improvement on the first, love that Fonda Lee expands the scope and we get to explore outside of Janloon but somehow the story cuts even deeper for our main characters
all those deaths? yeah that was me, fonda lee kept on killing me every three chapters
As we go closer to the ending, it starts setting in that this isn't a celebration of gang shit but an open view on the violence it brings into everyone involved.
I was very unsure of the first book Jade City. But now I'm glad that I bought physical books so I couldn't give up on the trilogy so easily. I really started to appreciate this series where everything is not so simple and all actions do have consequenses.
I needed a bit of time to think about my reason why I liked this book less than I did the first one.
The setting is still full of colour and atmosphere. The action is still fun and well-choreographed. There is still politics.
But the relationships are not fleshed out enough. Sure, the characters are great (mostly, I am looking at you, Anden), their voices are different and unique enough so their individual chapters feel different. Yet somehow we are being told about their connections more than we see them. This story, the history of Kekon is FULL of epic friendships, there are betrayals, there are romances and we see nothing.
Don't get me wrong, we see impactful moments between people, that are either pivotal or the climax of a long-standing thing. But they never have a proper buildup. We are told about Hilo and Wen's love. We are told about Papi having a crush on Shae. We are told about Shae and Wen being allies. And yet, it is always just certain moments. Nothing subtle in scenes where that isn't the main focus. Anden is especially guilty of that; can the boy actually have meaningful scene with someone who isn't either family or his crush?
What we don't get with the relationships, we do with the politics and world-building. I remember being like 11 and first reading Harry Potter 4 and realising the magical world is much bigger than I thought. This had the same moment, to a lesser extent.
We see people dealing with jade and the culture around jade in different countries, both Kekonese and foreign. It's well-defined from the start what we have on Kekon, how gangs work, the moral attitudes around owning jade, using it, how jade warriors handle conflicts both with each other and the jadeless. But what happens with this powerful tool in cultures where it doesn't have a cultural and religious significance?
I think Fonda Lee does this well; she handles times of change excellently.
The pacing can be just a bit jarring, there are timeskips that feel a bit too much like “yeah, I didn't feel like dealing with this”.
It brings up an interesting thought. Somehow I think I am more comfortable with longer urban fantasy series. It should on paper be easier to do build lore when it's based on more familiar things, but this is set in a fictional place. Plus, it has so many complex elements. So I am kind of assuming it would have profited from more books.
Not like I am trying to tell anyone to give themselves the responsibility of writing a gazillion books over the decades, but the pacing would have profited from a different format, maybe more, shorter books.
I still appreciate a lot of this, but this book was weaker, compared to the (surprise) excellence of the first one.
4.75 stars.
Brillant sequel. Does not suffer at all the “middle book syndrome” that some trilogies do.
Continues to build upon the fantastic world. Great character development, and a thrill ride from beginning to end–yet it still pauses enough to breath and let the characters shine through.
Looking forward to the final book!
Definitely no punches pulled from this book. Fonda gets a little more ambitious with this one by not only expanding the world from just an island to an entire world full of continents, she throws in more characters which comes with even more drama!
The Mountain clan have seemingly put a pause on their beef No Peak, but that doesn't mean they're not plotting and making political and economical moves behind the scenes.
I thoroughly enjoyed this sequel but my only issue is with Anden. I very much understand that he his gay from the first book so there was no need to keep bringing it up and instead build on his other qualities. In this book she doubles down on it and every single time he appears in the book it's making references to him being gay or having sex. Like WE KNOW! He likes butt stuff! Now is there any other quality that this guy has that's actually relevant to his character? He seems to be a very powerful character that I am sure will be expanded upon in the next book so fingers crossed
could not stop listening to this book. I was absolutely enthralled from start to finish.
I had hoped that Andy would be a prominent role and was pleasantly surprised when we got a ton of time with him in Port Massey.
I already have Jade Legacy ready to go and will be starting it soon.
This book does a great job of taking what worked from the last book and just applying it to a larger scale, hence the name.
I can not WAIT to see the pay off for all of these domino's that I'm watching Fonda Lee set up in these last two books.
Also Bero has been my favorite since the first scene of book one!
I absolutely loved this book. Fonda Lee is able to pull twists you'd never expect, drop foreshadowing that had be wary to turn the page and write chapters that make it very hard to put this book down and go to bed.
The character work here is excellent, pacing is almost perfect and I am in love with this world. I especially loved the new characters we meet in Espenia. Can't wait for the next book.
Great world-building, character-arc building. Jade's world is getting better with every book.
4.5 de 5
Tremendo viaje que fue este libro, el desarrollo de los personajes estuvo brutal. Los plot Twist, sobre todos los del medio fueron bien adrenalinanicos . El primer libro y este se sienten como uno solo eso sí, dividido en dos partes.
La narrativa es atrapante, la pluma de la autora es brutal.
It's pretty rare to find a sequel - especially part 2 in a trilogy - that's as good as the original, but Jade War surpassed all of my expectations. It's got a broader scope this time: many scenes take place in other countries and the Kauls are contending with foreign militaries, expat communities and trade agreements on top of the clan war situation and general family drama. It was easy to romanticize what was going on in Jade City, but Jade War draws back that curtain a bit to show the darker side. The characters are fantastic and unfortunately all of their terrible decisions are absolutely consistent with what you'd expect them to do. I can't wait to read the third book.
There is something about these books I really love. In some ways they're simple fun, an exciting gangster story with lots of big, dramatic moments. Yet there are complex themes of big societal change happening in real, difficult ways. The characters feel real and flawed. The worldbuilding sometimes feels a bit forced (too many times, just like in the first book, some concept is mentioned and then explained in detail), but often works wonderfully. Very eager to start the final book!
An excellent sequel! The world Fonda Lee built in JC continues to expand, the characters are put through...a lot, and the Green Bone action stays at a high level even as the story delves into new geopolitical depths. This book was a thrill to read, a spellbinding mixture of drama, political intrigue, and action.
I liked this second book more than the first. The world building is amazing and so immersive. The plot is fast-paced and high stakes. I really grew to like Anden and Wen in this book.
son. of. a. bitch.
these words are obviously not enough to describe the rollercoaster of emotions I had to go through whilst reading but dear god. this was so so good, it hurt so good as well. my feelings have been a bit off about shae throughout but by the end i realized that they all have lost something, have sacrificed way more than they should have. its true shae's assumption of hilo being too haughty or always resorting to violence will piss me off but i also understand her as a human who wanted to be her own person. it's true that if she had joined the clan as soon as she came back, Lan could have been alive or better yet, things wouldnt have been so bad. i hate that hilo is so misunderstood, that no one appreciates his love and devotion to the family, to always protect them at what ever cost. but i love them all the same. though hilo is my favorite.
PS. fucking bero wont drop dead would he. like i dont want even ayt madashi to die as much as i want bero to do so
cant wait to see what happens next. but also terrified.
This series is really doing it for me. The character development, political maneuvering, and fantasy elements are all done so well. I'm looking forward to reading Jade Legacy.