Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

Jade City by Fonda Lee

11 reviews

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

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.

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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

griffinthief's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Murder, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Addiction, Gun violence, and Mental illness

Minor: Pedophilia, Infidelity, and Kidnapping

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

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

horizonous's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Murder, Xenophobia, Animal death, Death, Terminal illness, Violence, Animal cruelty, Pedophilia, Self harm, Grief, and Gun violence

Minor: Death, Suicide, and Infidelity

◦ Death (minor) = Parent
◦ Death (moderate) = Sibling
◦ Terminal illness = Dementia

thewordsdevourer's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

a gritty, cool, stylish story about family, loyalty, duty. gangster stories and their seemingly needless violence have never interested me, so it's an amazing feat indeed that jade city is able to make the aforementioned seem rational--even inevitable--to me.

even more surprising, though at times painful as well, is how much lee is able to make me care abt the characters, their plight, their battles (both external and internal). i also appreciate how much nuance is imbued in both sides of the clan war: the characters' personalities, their motivations, differing ideologies that have both merit and disadvantages, making the central conflict actually seem unavoidable. this book is also full of violence--though none of it is gratuitous--and w/ the startling death of [redacted] halfway thru the book, i was shocked to discover that no one is spared, which is actually realistic, rly.

i also enjoyed the political stuff, esp how much meaning can be conveyed or inferred from even the subtlest words or actions. the third person pov is effectively used to great effect as well. another thing i rly like is the ideas and themes explored in the story. shae is disturbingly relatable w/ her internal warring of stifling expectations and need to escape her present environment; parallels to the real world are reflected in the hubristic foreign presence on kekon, and the latter's rightful desire to take control of its own country, though obvs the means are a contentious point; the seemingly cyclical nature of violence and vengeance spurred on by loyalty and a sense of duty. lee explores the themes w/ aplomb w/o ever seeming preachy or overbearing, and that's not sth many authors can say. im daunted to see how it all further unfolds in the sequel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Self harm, and Violence

Moderate: Body horror, Death, Dementia, Drug use, Gun violence, and Infidelity

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Misogyny, and Sexism

winters's review against another edition

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