Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Jade City by Fonda Lee

33 reviews

laguerrelewis's review

adventurous dark emotional 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

This book has a bit of a slow start, I won’t lie, but the character work and worldbuilding that’s established in the first 100 pages is an investment paid back in full with interest and gratuity—this is a story you feel like you are living in and a world that you could reach out and touch. It was a rollercoaster of highs and lows, twists and turns, and I can’t wait to see these characters and this setting in the next installment!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Sexual content, Blood, Death, Dementia, Drug use, Gun violence, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Stalking, Violence, Addiction, Kidnapping, and Murder

Minor: Child abuse, Racism, and Death of parent

sarah984's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

"She felt, strangely, that it all made sense in a perfect and terrible way. It only confirmed in her mind that the will of the gods was a conspiracy of many things; people laid the tracks of their fate yet were helpless at the same time. They’d all played their part in this—them and their enemies."

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.

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Content Warnings

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

doodeedoda's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Death, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual content, Grief, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, Death of parent, Medical content, Blood, and Dementia

Minor: Addiction, Alcohol, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, and Infidelity

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Alcohol, Vomit, Racism, Misogyny, Sexism, Kidnapping, Self harm, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Medical content, Dementia, Torture, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Child abuse, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Ableism, Suicide, Infidelity, Homophobia, Rape, and Colonisation

jijelly's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Murder, War, Addiction, and Violence

Moderate: Body horror, Kidnapping, and Cursing

Minor: Gaslighting, Kidnapping, and Gore

kinomatica's review

adventurous 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: Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Gun violence, Dementia, Medical trauma, Murder, Car accident, Classism, Grief, Chronic illness, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Self harm, Death of parent, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Violence

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, Self harm, Abandonment, Abortion, Kidnapping, Outing, Body horror, Bullying, Colonisation, and Cultural appropriation

Minor: Alcohol

zoeelizabethk'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
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I went into Jade City with tempered expectations because of all the hype around this book, but I'm so glad to say that I loved it! I'm discovering that I love family saga dynamics in my books, and it was so well done in this book. I really appreciated the focus on family and loyalty, and it made for really interesting characters and choices. I loved that no character felt too predictable, they felt very real with well developed arcs and motivations. I thought the worldbuilding was really well done, and I loved the magic; although I kept forgetting this was "modern" until I read about TV and skyscrapers. Jade City definitely is adult and gritty, but it doesn't feel hopeless or like it's glorifying violence, it's just the environment of this clan family. I also really appreciated that the stakes felt high. I don't want to say much here, but partway through the book you realize that anything could happen and that really paid off when it came to the ending of the book. I don't normally binge series, but I found myself pausing my current kindle read so I could listen AND read to Jade City, and I'm really wanting to pick up Jade War like right now. 

Some possible cons for some people: 
- if you are highly character driven, you might not always have quite enough connection with the characters. Not to say that the characters are bad or poorly written at all, but the main characters are not necessarily the most lovable. 
- Jade City is somewhat slow paced. It never bothered me and I thought it had a good balance of action, but the book doesn't quite ramp up until maybe halfway through.
- there's a decent bit of "telling" in terms of worldbuilding. And there are sometimes flashback-type sequences to flesh out world or character development. It did not bother me and didn't feel excessive, but I know some people really hate this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Drug use, Cursing, Death, Gore, Violence, and War

Moderate: Blood, Grief, Gun violence, Racism, and Suicide

Minor: Infidelity and Kidnapping

winters's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense fast-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: Death and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Drug use, Grief, Murder, and Sexual content

Minor: Death of parent, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and Suicide

caseythereader's review

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

3.0

 - Do you love stories like The Godfather or Succession but wish they included magic? JADE CITY is the book for you! Warring clans with intricate hierarchies and long histories vie for territory as the younger generation jockeys for power. Plus, excellent fight scenes.
- As much as I enjoyed this story, I can't talk about it without discussing the anti-fat bias woven through it, which really dragged everything down for me. Most minor characters weren't given physical descriptions unless they were fat. Then, every time they were mentioned, so was their fatness, and it never had any bearing on what was happening in that scene. Poor Chancellor Son was forever pursing his "thick lips," drumming his "sausage fingers" or heaving himself up on his "heavy elbows." Recruits who clearly weren't going to make it into the ranks of the clans were "clever, but pudgy," or "doughy and insipid." These fat characters were all shown as being lazy or incompetent in one way or another, often described as having once been formidable warriors who now ate and drank too much. If a character was described as being hardworking, loyal, etc., their size usually wasn't mentioned.
- This is not me telling you to cancel this book and this author - I just want to point out how pervasive these stereotypes are, and how often we don't even notice them in our stories (especially in fantasy, where the protagonists are usually thin and able bodied.) Read the book if the story sounds good to you, but go in aware of this aspect of it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Dementia, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Rape

alouette's review

dark emotional tense fast-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

ouch! what a rollercoaster. i had a hard time getting into at first, confused by the rush of new terms and places in a city i obviously wasn't familiar with, but as the book went on the jade city, and by extension the entire intricate world that the book is set in, became easier to understand. seriously, once i got into it the worldbuilding was so immersive that i felt loath to leave. it was just so descriptive, allowing me to visualize every scene. the characters became easier to understand as well. they all have their flaws and intricacies, which could be equal parts frustrating and lovable- just like any real person.

the shock and anger i felt at lan-jen's death was quite visceral because of that.

also, i can't forget to mention that the action sequences were thrilling, keeping the book fast-paced, and the descriptions of the magic system were breathtaking. though i'll definitely need a break before diving into book 2, i'm excited to see where this high fantasy goes next. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Medical content, Murder, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, and Misogyny