Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Jade City by Fonda Lee

48 reviews

daydream_e's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.75

Amazing characters who are deeply flawed and yet so easy to care about. Excellent portrayal of civil war and the complexities of post-colonial development, as well as international politics - I’m  considering recommending this to my undergraduate comparative politics students as an enjoyable way to consider how natural resources, colonial history, corruption and crime, and international politics interact. Particularly given the author has no academic history/polisci background, it’s incredibly impressive that she was able to create a fictional world with such realistic politics, and it speaks to what must be an incredible grasp of colonial and post-colonial Asian history. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Addiction, Violence, Drug use, Murder, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Gun violence

Moderate: War, Suicide attempt, Chronic illness, Xenophobia, Racism, Colonisation, Sexism, Misogyny, Mental illness, Dementia, Death of parent, Suicide, and Gore

Minor: Homophobia

Racism, xenophobia, war, and colonization are within the context of a fictional country with obvious real world analogues, but not one-to-one with real life events. Mental illness and drug use/addiction are also within the context of a fictional drug. Violence and injury is often very explicit - think hard R rated action movie - but not dwelled on excessively. Grief is a major theme throughout the book for many characters BIG SPOILER:

including the death of a POV character

tacoshark's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

I’m still deciding how I feel about this, I think. There were aspects I liked a lot - the world-building is very strong and the plot was well-constructed and relatively well-paced. Mostly I just didn’t really fall in love with any of the characters, so it made it a bit hard for me to really connect to and care much about any of the action. (The character I found the most interesting, uh, didn’t last long.) The ending set up a potentially intriguing next part, but I’m not all that sure I need or want to spend more time in this world. Urban fantasy is not really my thing, and this was sort of urban/gangland fantasy, which I think is maybe even more not my thing. I might return to this eventually but it certainly won’t be right away. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, War, Death, and Violence

xoconnellevx's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

If you're thinking of reading this book: do it!

The characters and the world felt alive right from the very beginning. Fonda is incredible at crafting characters that feel as though they are living and breathing. 

Athough time was taken to get the major plot points moving, it still didn't feel tiresome to read; the vast majority of chapters felt neccessary.

I had so much fun reading and I understood every character motivation fully; even of I didn't agree with it.

Definitely will be finishing the series and I'm excited to see what's to come!

<Spoilers Below>





My only major critique, I would have loved to spend more time fleshing out Lan as a character, seeing as he death didn't seem to impact me as much as it did shock me. I felt pity for the Shae/Hilo/Andy losing Lan but not for losing Lan as a character. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Mental illness, Body horror, Blood, Death, and Violence

Minor: Death of parent

sup3r_xn0va_maya's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• 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 wanted to like this book way more than I did and I just didn't. 
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. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Blood, Bullying, Death, Addiction, Body horror, and Gun violence

heather667's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Kidnapping, Body horror, Ableism, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, War, Addiction, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Drug use, Sexism, Death of parent, Dementia, Sexual assault, Gore, Grief, Misogyny, Self harm, and Violence

Moderate: Fatphobia, Murder, and Body shaming

Minor: Homophobia

bubbly_lara's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This was phenomenal! After starting it last year in summer and just not getting into the story, I picked this up again this year and good thing I did. This is very intriguing story about the island of Kekon, where Jade has been used by the Green Bones, an elite warrior people, to enhance their skills in ordee to protect the people from foreign rule. Two main clans emerged from a previous war and split the island between them. As tensions rise once more between the clans, we get to know the main players and uncover their plans and political intrigues. I'm super excited to continue the series see how everything unfolds. One last info: this is very adult in themes and plot.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Gore, Addiction, Blood, Body horror, Classism, Colonisation, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, War, Cursing, Murder, Emotional abuse, and Sexual content

Moderate: Child abuse, Kidnapping, Dementia, Fire/Fire injury, and Drug abuse

Minor: Rape, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, and Infidelity

risaleel's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death of parent, Murder, Blood, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Gun violence, Violence, and War

Moderate: Gore, Alcoholism, Body horror, Classism, Dementia, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, and Terminal illness

Minor: Cursing and Mental illness

jenna_smuszkiewicz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I did like the book. I just didn't love it as much as I thought I would. I don't know why. I liked the characters. I thought they were all interesting and I feel for them. I find the worldbuilding to be really cool. I will definitely be reading the next book. I didn't connect as emotionally as I thought I would. 

But, this is still a fun book with a lot of action, some political intrigue, interesting world-building, and cool characters. The biggest twist was definitely

Lan's death. I thought he had plot armor. 

That changed the trajectory of the book big time and I thought that was a great move for Lee to do. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Violence, and War

Moderate: Blood

Minor: Homophobia

ellenelly's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

4.5

honestly, the best fantasy book i have read in a long while. (probably will be one of the best fantasy trilogies i've ever read)

at first i was a little scared to start a new fantasy series but i am so glad i got through the fear and started it! i was instantly hooked. it’s an asian inspired urban fantasy, so of course, i was going to enjoy the book. 

the magic system is so unique, and the world building is phenomenal! it didn’t feel info-dumpy at all, and the lore was so interesting to read about. learning about kekon, its culture, and its people felt so natural; all the information was so easily digestible. the characters were fleshed out so well and i found myself loving them so easily (except, you know,,, for the select few - but that’s understandable, iykyk).i love the dynamic of the kaul siblings and just hilo in general (also lan,,, ily <3333). no matter how minor the character, fonda lee finds a way for you to just kNOW the character; that’s how well she writes everyone. and don’t get me started on the prose; oh the prose!!! wonderfully written; the writing grips you when it wants to, makes you feel things, and connects you to the story in ways you cannot even imagine a book can do. 

gangs, war, drugs, family, honor , a pinch of romance (if you blink, you’ll miss it - but its still endearing), great characters, great plot, great world building, well written, well paced, likE WHAT MORE CAN YOU WANT FROM A FANTASTIC BOOK 

ok i’m going to read the next books now, bye 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Death, War, Drug use, Murder, and Violence

Minor: Dementia and Death of parent

jessiereads98's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

5.0

An absolute masterpiece. Fonda Lee has crafted amazing characters in an incredible world. Truly the world building here is masterful. She weaves the narratives of characters together flawlessly, revealing important details or moments at the exact right time. The action scenes grab you and pull you to the edge of your seat. I can not wait to read the rest of this trilogy. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Violence

Moderate: Dementia, Addiction, Drug use, and Gore

Minor: Physical abuse, Ableism, Kidnapping, Medical content, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Cursing, Gun violence, Alcohol, Grief, Racism, Sexism, War, Animal death, Child abuse, Death of parent, Drug abuse, and Panic attacks/disorders