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dark
emotional
slow-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
“Politics moved slowly and blades moved fast.”
Jade City has some of the best world building I have ever read. It is slow paced, but i really enjoyed it because it made me feel so immersed in the story. I loved both the plot, and the characters. It is primarily character derived and I loved reading about their personalities, relationships, and motives. The writing is spectacular, and descriptive without being too “flowery” in my opinion. If you enjoy books with gangs, family, drama, and political intrigue, I recommend giving this a try! I am excited to continue with this series.
Jade City has some of the best world building I have ever read. It is slow paced, but i really enjoyed it because it made me feel so immersed in the story. I loved both the plot, and the characters. It is primarily character derived and I loved reading about their personalities, relationships, and motives. The writing is spectacular, and descriptive without being too “flowery” in my opinion. If you enjoy books with gangs, family, drama, and political intrigue, I recommend giving this a try! I am excited to continue with this series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Grief
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Self harm, Violence
Moderate: Sexual content
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Questo libro è difficile da valutare.
Il primo terzo del libro è stato lunghissimo da leggere, pieno di personaggi da conoscere, introduzione ad intrighi politici, cosa che mi ha reso difficile appassionarmi alla storia e interessarmi ai vari personaggi. Poi, fortunatamente, con l'avanzare della narrazione, gli eventi si fanno più interessanti e il lettore comincia a poter formare con un rapporto emotivo con i numerosi personaggi presentati prima, cosa che rende la lettura piacevole. Ciò nonostante l'uniche parti veramente coinvolgenti emotivamente sono solo la morte di Lan, anche se risulta un po' inaspettata e questionabile e gli ultimi capitoli del libro.
Inoltre, nelle primissime pagine è presente una di sesso totalmente insensata al fine della trama, in cui viene addirittura coinvolto un personaggio mai incontrato prima, cosa che rende questa scena inutile, fuori luogo e apre luogo a discussione se sia giusto presentare un personaggio in rapporto ad un altro.
Nel complesso l'ho trovato piacevole, ma non eccellente.
Il primo terzo del libro è stato lunghissimo da leggere, pieno di personaggi da conoscere, introduzione ad intrighi politici, cosa che mi ha reso difficile appassionarmi alla storia e interessarmi ai vari personaggi. Poi, fortunatamente, con l'avanzare della narrazione, gli eventi si fanno più interessanti e il lettore comincia a poter formare con un rapporto emotivo con i numerosi personaggi presentati prima, cosa che rende la lettura piacevole. Ciò nonostante l'uniche parti veramente coinvolgenti emotivamente sono solo
Inoltre, nelle primissime pagine è presente una di sesso totalmente insensata al fine della trama, in cui viene addirittura coinvolto un personaggio mai incontrato prima, cosa che rende questa scena inutile, fuori luogo e apre luogo a discussione se sia giusto presentare un personaggio in rapporto ad un altro.
Nel complesso l'ho trovato piacevole, ma non eccellente.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Grief
Moderate: Sexual content
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Drug use, Gore, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Blood, Grief
Moderate: Pedophilia
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This review is spoiler-free. Content warnings for the book are listed at the end.
@ everyone hyping this book up: y’all were right. This book is freaking fantastic, and it singlehandedly renewed my interest in adult fantasy.
Lee built an incredibly complex yet easy to understand world, and it was so easy to get lost in. Even though the pacing in the first half was a bit too slow for my tastes, the second half more than made up for it. Politics and war and family dynamics—I’m here for all of it. I also liked that Hilo and Wen were already together, and aside from their relationship, there was no romance. That allowed the focus to stay on the Kaul family and tension between the clans, and rightfully so.
The last fifty pages were so much more stressful than I expected and I don’t appreciate it. Anden is about my age, everyone else is older than me, but I’m attached to these characters and I DON’T WANT ANYTHING BAD TO HAPPEN TO THEM. I love Hilo, Shae, and Anden, and I WANT TO PROTECT THEM. But everyone talks about how devastating these books are and this is only the first, so..... to say I’m scared is an understatement.
Also, I legit can’t find the second book anywhere, at the library physically or digitally, and I am sad. I have so many other books I’m excited to read but I also lowkey only want to read Jade War.
If you’re on the fence about reading this, do it, and stick with the book even if you’re kind of bored at first. I was, and now I’ve got yet another book I’m obsessed and in love with.
Representation:
• One of the protagonists is queer
@ everyone hyping this book up: y’all were right. This book is freaking fantastic, and it singlehandedly renewed my interest in adult fantasy.
Lee built an incredibly complex yet easy to understand world, and it was so easy to get lost in. Even though the pacing in the first half was a bit too slow for my tastes, the second half more than made up for it. Politics and war and family dynamics—I’m here for all of it. I also liked that Hilo and Wen were already together, and aside from their relationship, there was no romance. That allowed the focus to stay on the Kaul family and tension between the clans, and rightfully so.
The last fifty pages were so much more stressful than I expected and I don’t appreciate it. Anden is about my age, everyone else is older than me, but I’m attached to these characters and I DON’T WANT ANYTHING BAD TO HAPPEN TO THEM. I love Hilo, Shae, and Anden, and I WANT TO PROTECT THEM. But everyone talks about how devastating these books are and this is only the first, so..... to say I’m scared is an understatement.
Also, I legit can’t find the second book anywhere, at the library physically or digitally, and I am sad. I have so many other books I’m excited to read but I also lowkey only want to read Jade War.
If you’re on the fence about reading this, do it, and stick with the book even if you’re kind of bored at first. I was, and now I’ve got yet another book I’m obsessed and in love with.
Representation:
• One of the protagonists is queer
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Sexual content, Violence
Moderate: Death
Minor: Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide
Regarding the three content warnings tagged as minor—sexual assault, self-harm, suicide—all three happen prior to the story, and are mentioned in passing multiple times during the story. None of it happens on page.
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Fascinating and ruthless, Jade City is a slow-burning, deftly-politicking fantasy which brings you 'round to meet new friends, then coyly remarks that none of them are safe; the best you can hope for is that when your darling dies you'll bury them with their Jade.
I love this book, I love the characters, the setting is great... If you've read very many of my reviews you probably know I love interpersonal politics and heists... and this has all of that, all the time. Lots of discussions, weighing of actions, politicking, and then blades. There's betrayal and subterfuge, a few heists, some capers and a very high body count. Seriously, like, a lot of people die by the end of this (and I suspect even more will die in the sequel, Jade War). For me the two biggest strengths in this book are the world-building and characterization. There are a lot of named characters, but the book is very good at directing attention to minimize the number of names the reader really needs to retain, while still realistically portraying large networks run by a few powerful families. I thought I knew who my favorite character was, but then someone else started giving them a run for their money in my affections and I look forward to seeing how they get on in the sequel.
Sometimes stories introduce their readers to a new (to them) setting by including a character who is also new. Others just drop you in and expect you to keep up. This book had a wonderful blend of both, not by having a character who was wholly new to the setting, but one who was returning after an absence spent in a setting implied to be very much like the real modern world. It also included some who were continually present, but marginalized in different ways from each other. The combination of them meant that different people were naturally able to comment on or explain different parts of the setting and give different views on the principal players involved, without it ever feeling like an infodump. It took me a little bit to get into it because there was a lot of world to build, but once it got going I couldn't read anything else until I was done.
One of the very clever things this book did to center the reader fully in the world was to repurpose various phrases in English which normally have different (sometimes negative) meanings, by recontextualizing them in a fictional country which is organized around this highly prized and quasi-magical substance, Jade. Phrases related to being green are turned from being an indication of new-ness or weakness into expressions indicating strength, prowess, and power. To be "cut" has a new, Jade-specific and differently positive meaning, etc. Early on it made me pause to reconfigure my expectations of these words, but because the context was clear and these new meanings were unmistakable it hastened a kind of immersion into this new world, and that new world is fantastic.
I love this book, I love the characters, the setting is great... If you've read very many of my reviews you probably know I love interpersonal politics and heists... and this has all of that, all the time. Lots of discussions, weighing of actions, politicking, and then blades. There's betrayal and subterfuge, a few heists, some capers and a very high body count. Seriously, like, a lot of people die by the end of this (and I suspect even more will die in the sequel, Jade War). For me the two biggest strengths in this book are the world-building and characterization. There are a lot of named characters, but the book is very good at directing attention to minimize the number of names the reader really needs to retain, while still realistically portraying large networks run by a few powerful families. I thought I knew who my favorite character was, but then someone else started giving them a run for their money in my affections and I look forward to seeing how they get on in the sequel.
Sometimes stories introduce their readers to a new (to them) setting by including a character who is also new. Others just drop you in and expect you to keep up. This book had a wonderful blend of both, not by having a character who was wholly new to the setting, but one who was returning after an absence spent in a setting implied to be very much like the real modern world. It also included some who were continually present, but marginalized in different ways from each other. The combination of them meant that different people were naturally able to comment on or explain different parts of the setting and give different views on the principal players involved, without it ever feeling like an infodump. It took me a little bit to get into it because there was a lot of world to build, but once it got going I couldn't read anything else until I was done.
One of the very clever things this book did to center the reader fully in the world was to repurpose various phrases in English which normally have different (sometimes negative) meanings, by recontextualizing them in a fictional country which is organized around this highly prized and quasi-magical substance, Jade. Phrases related to being green are turned from being an indication of new-ness or weakness into expressions indicating strength, prowess, and power. To be "cut" has a new, Jade-specific and differently positive meaning, etc. Early on it made me pause to reconfigure my expectations of these words, but because the context was clear and these new meanings were unmistakable it hastened a kind of immersion into this new world, and that new world is fantastic.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexual content
Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Drug use, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexism, Violence
Minor: Sexual assault, Torture
CW for sexual abuse (brief mention), torture (brief mention), sexism, drug use, addiction, mental illness, self harm, body horror, sexual content, massacre, violence, major character death.
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
First read 2018: 4/5
Second read 2019: 4.5/5
This review can also be found here!
A while ago, I chose this book as a book for First Lines Friday. I read a glowing review of it (which you can find if you click the link to the FLF) and I knew that I had to read it. Dynamic characters, an Asian inspired world, and an interesting world? I was sold right away.
Yet, it was a slow book. It’s around 500 pages and a lot of it is filler for setting the stage. Establishing the characters, the plot, the world. But the world isn’t exactly explained to you. I wish some of it was, but it wasn’t too hard to pick up on in the end. The plot was a slow burn one, too. You had to pay attention and pick the pieces up.
What really stood out to me were the characters. Lan, the leader of the clan. Hilo, his brother and right-hand man. Shae, the sister who left to live her own life and then comes back. Aden, the orphaned mixed-blood boy who wants to be one of them. The grandfather, the once great leader of the clan and now is diminishing. Then, there are the side characters that crop up.
All of them were fantastic. I grew to love and understand all of them over the 500 pages. I came to really care for them. I nearly cried towards the end when I thought something was going to happen to one of them. Lee got me very engaged in the story. While I thought the plot could have been a bit quicker with more ground covered, the length of the book gave enough time to flesh out the characters really well.
What I can say is that I’m excited to read the next book when it comes out!
Second read 2019: 4.5/5
This review can also be found here!
A while ago, I chose this book as a book for First Lines Friday. I read a glowing review of it (which you can find if you click the link to the FLF) and I knew that I had to read it. Dynamic characters, an Asian inspired world, and an interesting world? I was sold right away.
Yet, it was a slow book. It’s around 500 pages and a lot of it is filler for setting the stage. Establishing the characters, the plot, the world. But the world isn’t exactly explained to you. I wish some of it was, but it wasn’t too hard to pick up on in the end. The plot was a slow burn one, too. You had to pay attention and pick the pieces up.
What really stood out to me were the characters. Lan, the leader of the clan. Hilo, his brother and right-hand man. Shae, the sister who left to live her own life and then comes back. Aden, the orphaned mixed-blood boy who wants to be one of them. The grandfather, the once great leader of the clan and now is diminishing. Then, there are the side characters that crop up.
All of them were fantastic. I grew to love and understand all of them over the 500 pages. I came to really care for them. I nearly cried towards the end when I thought something was going to happen to one of them. Lee got me very engaged in the story. While I thought the plot could have been a bit quicker with more ground covered, the length of the book gave enough time to flesh out the characters really well.
What I can say is that I’m excited to read the next book when it comes out!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Racism, Grief, Murder, War