Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Jade Legacy

...bruh. this book makes me scream, cry, shout, and whoop - truly the whole human experience encapsulated - but that climax def makes me fall to my knees in target.

like its predecessors, jade legacy drips w/ swagger and filled w/ violence, strategem and emotional impact, feeling both intimate and epic w/ the focus on the kauls against the backdrop of greater outside forces. as always, lee pulls no-holds-barred in this book, cunningly plotting the story while also handling and balancing more story threads, characters, and settings than ever, where things can change dramatically w/ just a sentence (a masterful example of show-not-tell, rly). it's big in scope and ever more complex as many existing characters grow and new ones develop.

it's always an extreme experience being w/ the kauls; there are great triumphs but also terrible, heartbreaking losses (**** U WERE SO CLOSEEEE BARELY 30 PGS LEFT DAMMIT). we see them here w/ changing relationship dynamics, truth-searching, and growing into their own identities. reading this book, i feel aged right along them, filled w/ nostalgia, regret, and cautious optimism still.

the previously mentioned balancing act, however, is also my one main issue w/ the novel: the frequent timeskips can be confusing and sometimes seem unnecessary, and the existence of so many characters and story threads means many of them arent fully explored, w/ a few seemingly abandoned or forgotten halfway through. certain events/actions, for example, couldve happened in the same month or yr as the previous chapter, but somehow it just has to be like 2 or 4 yrs later, which i dont understand why.

the time gaps, while it might be necessary, also mean that there are - obviously - gaps in the story, but readers arent filled in on what happen during the interim yrs, and there def isnt enough time and space for lee to explain either even if she wanted to since it occurs so often; so now we're left w/ 2 chapters that happen like 5 yrs apart but it seems like not much has changed at all. moreover, some characters - like cam for example - initially expected to be more prominent over time are relegated to the background and their relations to the kauls arent mentioned much at all.

even so, it's undeniable that this is a tightly plotted gangster family saga brimming w/ tension, high stakes, violence, cunning, and emotional impact. it's been a rollercoaster of a (figuratively 25-yr) trip w/ the kauls, and the green bone saga is def one of the best series ive ever read.

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horizonous's review against another edition

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Just plain boring with a lot of time jumps of various lengths (if you're lucky it's only months but sometimes it's years) and moments of "in the time since this and that happened" without showing how it happened. I don't care who lives or dies or which Clan will win in the end (if any, because for at least 500 pages of this series I've been rooting for Bero), so.. yeah..

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laguerrelewis's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Each installment in the Green Bone saga is longer than the last, swelling out of necessity to contain the growing scope of these stories. One should rightfully expect something truly epic when seeing that Jade Legacy boasts a 713 page count. Fonda Lee expertly weaves a finale that leaves you feeling as though you’ve weathered decades with the Kauls and the No Peak clan, injecting nostalgia and hope into this grand sendoff to the trilogy.

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maira_h's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I feel like I have a lot to say about this book, about this series as a whole. In the end, I'm just speechless. I am profoundly impressed by this series. There's a difference between loving and being impressed by a piece of literature. Most of the time, it's always love for me. For this series, however, it's both.

I can't remember the last I cried so hard– with snot and tissues and everything– while reading a book. I can't remember the last time I stayed up late to finish reading. Not gonna lie, this book and its characters will stay with me for a long, long time.

The plot and its execution was close to perfection. Every action had its consequences. Everything was deliberate. Not to mention, the world building was honestly incredible. To be able to create a universe that is similar to our urban world with its different countries and politics is impressive, honestly. The author's intelligence in business and politics shone bright throughout the book, in my opinion. And I want to watch her action scenes on a television screen someday. I don't know if an adaptation can do this series justice, though.

One thing I would have wanted is probably a much longer epilogue of some sort. I wanted more time with the characters, especially Niko and Jaya. To be honest, since the first page, it already felt like the beginning of the end. So, me asking to add more to this 700++ pages book is honestly pushing it. 😂

I honestly would love to discuss this book with someone. To just talk about the characters and their individual developments, mostly. Because the characters made this series. If we didn't have them, if we had an unmemorable cast of characters with just the plot and the politics, it would be extremely dull.

Probably the best ending to a series I've read in a long, long time.

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