Reviews

La Cité de jade by Fonda Lee

starsinmyeyes's review against another edition

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4.0

1. this book would not have taken me this long to read if jane fonda had not made that dumbass tweet about inclusion of female characters that put such a bad taste in my mouth it put me on a week and a half long hiatus from reading

2. WHEN WILL THE SUFFERING OF THIS POOR FAMILY ENDDDDDD

3. if youre a fan of leigh bardugo youll love this personally though it took me until i was about a third of the way in to the book to really start getting into it and when i was halfway in I COULDNT PUT IT DOWNNN such complex worldbuilding and storytelling GOD

4. i fear reading the next books in this series soooo bad like i fear everyone will suffer even more than they already have…

rating: 4.5/5

ryanboros's review against another edition

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4.0

I'm not a big fan of gangster in American culture. Without going too far into it, its weird to idolize gangsters for honor and code when they terrorize communities with crime. Having said that, I enjoyed Jade City. I wasn't a huge fan of Hilo since he fit that kind prototypical brutal thug mob guy. The other characters were really compelling. Lan, Shae, Anden, Wen were all interesting and well developed. The world of the Green Bones was really cool and felt real. Its one of those little details, but I was amazed that Fonda had her own models of cars and one could kind of visualize how they looked. I can't recall another story that had its own fantasy automobiles. I liked the jade powers, the martial arts, the mythology. It was different and enjoyable. Looking forward to the next book.

howlsmovinglibrary's review against another edition

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5.0

 it's funny to finish reading and have your review be: Brennan Lee Mulligan would love this book. 

ambernm88's review against another edition

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3.0

3.5

evierae's review against another edition

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5.0

Even better the second time

nerdboi's review against another edition

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Dnf’d after 200 pages.
Not going to rate it because i’m sure its a great book but gangster low fantasy just isn’t for me

spiderhands's review against another edition

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4.0

(I listened to the audiobook so sorry if I misspell any characters)

This was fantastic. The world-building felt so expansive and precise at the same time - I knew exactly how society worked, how jade influenced things, and how ordinary people lived. It felt so lived in, from the food to the mythology to the social hierarchy.
The characters were richly developed and compelling - I'm obsessed with Shae and Anden specifically - and I was genuinely gobsmacked by the decision to [REDACTED] halfway through. I never expected it would go there, and it floored me, as well as massively shifting the stakes for our characters.

Some of the beats were a little predictable, but it more than made up for it with incredible fight scenes and really powerful relationships between characters. I'm excited to move onto the next one!

gabieee's review against another edition

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5.0

I am obsessed

mtcash's review against another edition

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fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

slwmtiondaylite's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0