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pri_lakshmi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: War, Drug abuse, Drug use, Cursing, Grief, Death, Violence, Blood, and Gore
Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Sexism, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Medical trauma, Dementia, Stalking, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Bullying, Xenophobia, Colonisation, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Homophobia, Rape, Racism, and Racial slurs
lejones1785's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.25
Graphic: Violence and War
Moderate: Violence, War, Addiction, Blood, Murder, Bullying, Drug use, Gaslighting, Grief, and Death
widowrites's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Blood and Bullying
Moderate: Misogyny, Body horror, Addiction, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Death, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Dementia
olympia98's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Dementia, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Colonisation, Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Bullying, Car accident, Confinement, Cultural appropriation, Blood, Deadnaming, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Body shaming, Drug use, Hate crime, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Classism, Death of parent, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, Violence, and War
vnderseelie's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
The characters are really interesting and actually carry a lot of the story, since their flaws and decisions let the events progress and escalate further, which makes them feel alive and well merged with the world Fonda Lee built. Nevertheless, a lot of the actions that the characters took did not make a lot of sense in specific situations or were needlessly cruel, even given the topics the book deals with. Especially the grandfather gave the impression that he just appeared to talk the others down. Additionally, I really disagreed with some scenes and the behavior in them, which made it hard for me to continue the book sometimes.
Some scenes felt a bit too long or they were repeated in almost the same way too often, which made them repetitive to read and it seemed to just add to the page count of the book, without providing a real impact on anything.
All in all the idea of Jade City was really interesting to me, but I think the actual translation into the story was lacking in my opinion.
Graphic: Bullying, Addiction, Child abuse, War, Violence, Sexism, Domestic abuse, Murder, Drug use, Abandonment, Alcohol, Blood, Racism, Gun violence, Drug abuse, Cursing, and Death
lonelylooper's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Graphic: Blood, Torture, Violence, Physical abuse, Bullying, Addiction, Grief, Murder, Death, Gore, Gun violence, War, Drug use, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, and Racism
Moderate: Mental illness
Minor: Sexual assault, Suicide, Misogyny, and Homophobia
rnbhargava's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Xenophobia, Classism, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Addiction, Bullying, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Misogyny, Stalking, Violence, Trafficking, War, Sexual content, Suicide, Gun violence, Murder, Racism, Blood, Confinement, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Mental illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Kidnapping, Self harm, and Death
Moderate: Alcohol, Sexism, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Animal cruelty, Ableism, and Gaslighting
This is the first part of a fantasy tinged saga about a crime family. All the violence and tropes of mafia stories are present here. Certain things are also essentially superpowers. That said, it’s also very gritty with hard hitting violence. There’s mental illness, there’s drug addiction, there’s deteriorating health of the elderly old leader. There’s suggestions that one character is a sex offender and pervert. There’s essentially ableism surrounding certain figures born to Jade user families but can’t use Jade abilities, ableism suggestions. There’s vilification and racism toward certain outside nations albeit because they’re also colonizing forces. Also, certain characters’ relationships with foreign nationals are heavily talked about with racist suggestion. The connection between drug addiction and potential suicide is a major theme in the story because it’s framed within the context of jade ability performance enhancement drug usage. There’s a lot of heavy themes to suggest while reading through this mafia family novel.sup3r_xn0va_maya's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I wish I had read a review that said "this Godfather-esqe story", because then I would have been prepared for how politically based boring it was. This was 612 pages of politics, I read it all and the question still remains, "why should I care?". I don't know which side to root for because I just simply didn't care.
I really enjoyed the magic system and the martial arts/hand to hand combat scenes that were described.
I'm giving this 3 stars out of 5, I didn't really like it very much.
Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Blood, Bullying, Death, Addiction, Body horror, and Gun violence
listette's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I loved how the characters were flawed and made mistakes, horrible ones at times, but you’re still rooting for them and have your heart skipping beat for their success.
Really happy that I don’t need to wait to read the next parts!
Moderate: Death, Grief, War, Violence, and Drug use
Minor: Dementia, Bullying, Gun violence, Sexism, and Sexual violence
sarah984's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
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.
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
Moderate: Alcohol, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Gore, Kidnapping, Animal death, Medical content, Murder, Xenophobia, Addiction, Dementia, and Grief
Minor: War, Bullying, Homophobia, Slavery, Ableism, Chronic illness, Classism, Confinement, Infidelity, Mass/school shootings, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Suicide, and Torture