Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Ciudad de Jade by Fonda Lee

49 reviews

marippe's review against another edition

4.5

"Family was duty. Blood was destiny. And jade was the key to it all."

The world building in this was fun, I felt like I could really imagine the world that's so dedicated to jade! It does feel a little slow to start with but it transitions to action very nicely. 

The range of characters is nice, they all felt different and you can understand why each character thinks the way they do. It can be hard to track all the characters so having a list in front of you is a good idea lmao. I like there was a lean into the emotions of war but I wish I felt more connected/emotional. I did like it though, it was a nice start.
I particularly like Bero's thought process

when he "killed" Lan and received no recognition for it.

I've heard it just gets better in the next few books so I'm excited to contnue!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Death of parent, War, Violence, Sexual content, and Murder

olympia98's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

4.0

Ottimo inizio.

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Content Warnings

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

loudmouthbooklover's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

5.0

The book was rich with description and world building. The characters had so many layers and the plot was wonderful

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Self harm, Torture, Classism, Death of parent, Drug use, War, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Murder, and Toxic friendship

anni_swanilda's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Dementia, Grief, Murder, Cursing, Death, Toxic relationship, Gore, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Xenophobia, Drug use, War, and Gun violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Death of parent, Mental illness, Sexism, Sexual content, Confinement, and Addiction

Minor: Racism

h4ppycupcake's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Torture, Death, Death of parent, Blood, Body horror, Dementia, Drug use, Murder, Addiction, Gore, and Violence

planreadrepeat's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious reflective 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

Jade City starts off a little slow. We meet the Kauls and the city of Kekon. A special form of Jade is used that gives trained users enhanced abilities. And untrained users sickness. Two clans control the city. 

This is a character study. If you are looking for descriptive battle scenes and clear resolutions, this may not be the book for you. Political intrigue, characters agonizing over their decisions, betrayal, and to the victors go the spoils is a driving force in this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Death

Minor: Grief, Death of parent, Misogyny, and Drug use

jasannalise's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

i can respect the hustle - this book was well written, deeply thought out and had strong, intriguing, original elements. i was expecting it to live up to the poppy war (which was my mistake) and felt as though there was an element absent that maintained an impersonal distance between me and the characters. the length of this novel is noticeable but felt very rewarding to finish it. would  recommend still, and look forward to continuing the series!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, and War

Moderate: Dementia, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Gore

Minor: Alcohol, Death of parent, Cursing, Suicide, and Torture

noisivweneht's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

This book… holy shit… had me in tears at the end. The way it ended was frustrating not in a bad way just like I just wanted peace for the family. Can’t wait to get into the the next two books. 

Looking forward to the character development in the next two books. Hopeful at least because if specifically one person doesn’t change that will be the death of them. 


I really want to give it 5 stars and maybe I will but I will update that once I get off the high of the book.  I just finished it and I usually think books are better immediately after finishing them than they tend to be. That being said, this book genuinely is so well written and emotional. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I don’t think there was a moment where I felt it was dragged on or that I wished for it to be over. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Pedophilia, War, Child death, Death of parent, Murder, Gore, Dementia, Drug use, Grief, Drug abuse, Ableism, and Violence

lunep's review against another edition

dark 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, Alcohol, Murder, Violence, Medical content, Sexual content, Blood, Cursing, Sexual violence, Gun violence, Body horror, Drug use, War, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Self harm

Moderate: Pedophilia, Vomit, Mental illness, Misogyny, Drug abuse, Kidnapping, Addiction, and Animal cruelty

Minor: Infidelity, Suicide, Pregnancy, Pandemic/Epidemic, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Colonisation, Dementia, Child abuse, and Racism

rnbhargava's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

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.