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A review by cricklewood
Jade City by Fonda Lee
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
4.75
Setting/Worldbuilding: 10/10
Main characters: 10/10
Side characters: 10/10
Dialogue: 9/10
Plot: 9/10
Technique: 8/10
Prose: 9/10
Romance: 9/10
Ending: 10/10
Overall enjoyment: 10/10
Total: 94/100 (4.7)
This was PHENOMENAL.
Mind-bogglingly, heart-poundingly, ear-shatteringly phenomenal.
I am absolutely in awe at how Fonda manages to create such a violent but believable world, with such an interest magical system, rife with politics, economics, detail, lore, and brilliantly well thought out characters, all encased in prose of the highest order.
There are multiple things about Jade City that set it apart from other epic fantasy and urban fantasy works that occupy the same kind of literary space. In a way it weaves the best of both worlds - it combines the grit, culture and rip-roaring tension of the best of urban fantasy with ehs takes, character arcs and lore-filled worldbuilding of epic fantasy. But most of all, Fonda goes to places most writers of epic fantasy daren't venture to - Fonda weaves a totally novel Asian-inspired fantastical setting, but then ramps it up to the present, neo-modern world, instead of sticking to Tang dynasty or medieval eras.
Such a simple twist, but oh so effective. And worldbuilding is undoubtedly the star of Jade City - Kekon feels immensely real, to the point where I cannot bring myself to accept otherwise. I totally agree with those that say that Janloon reads like it was predominantly HK-inspired with the focus on Triad-like clan wars in a densely-packed and seedy urban setting, but I totally believe Fonda when she says she tapped from all aspects of East Asian cultures and the wider Sinosphere to construct her unique world.
What is interesting to me was how bravely and intelligently Fonda weaves in the overarching plotlines and characters placements in order to showcase her world to us. We have Shae who brings with her an astute understanding of the economics and business of Kekon and Espenia, Anden who shows us what Kekonese schooling culture is like, Lan who takes us through the upper echelons of society and drags us through the thickets of politics, Hilo who takes us deep into clan culture and the concept of brotherhood and loyalty, and Bero who becomes our guide to the Kekonese underworld. So many characters, so many arcs, so many parts of the world explored. It was masterful.
And these characters, wow. I don't have a single bad thing to say about them. They were flawed, imperfect, brash, immoral at times, but were still written in a way that still made them incredibly sympathetic and likable. I don't know how Fonda does it, but she never overplays their flaws but lays it out bare for people to see, and it makes each character unspeakably human. I don't have a single favourite in this book; I loved them all.
And genuinely, this work brings me to a bigger overarching thought I had about writing in general. After wading through quite a number of mediocre (most) YA works written by very young authors, reading Jade City was like a brearth of fresh air. I will never deny young and up-and-coming literary talents as and when I come across them, but there is something to be said about having a clearly adult (non-novelist) perspective interwoven into the plot and the world. Seeing the detail clan politics and the society and socioeconomic nature of Kekon/Janloon, it was incredibly obvious from the get go that Fonda worked in the corporate world before becoming an author, and perhaps somewhere in consultancy/finance/business. It took me less than 5 minutes of Googling to find out that my suspicions were indeed true.
There is just *something* about works of fiction written by people who have real-life career experience outside of the literary world, a certain gravitas and layering to the worldbuilding perhaps, that I don't really see elsewhere.
I am still trying to parse it all. But all I know is that whatever it is that makes a book special, Jade City has it. This is it.
Main characters: 10/10
Side characters: 10/10
Dialogue: 9/10
Plot: 9/10
Technique: 8/10
Prose: 9/10
Romance: 9/10
Ending: 10/10
Overall enjoyment: 10/10
Total: 94/100 (4.7)
This was PHENOMENAL.
Mind-bogglingly, heart-poundingly, ear-shatteringly phenomenal.
I am absolutely in awe at how Fonda manages to create such a violent but believable world, with such an interest magical system, rife with politics, economics, detail, lore, and brilliantly well thought out characters, all encased in prose of the highest order.
There are multiple things about Jade City that set it apart from other epic fantasy and urban fantasy works that occupy the same kind of literary space. In a way it weaves the best of both worlds - it combines the grit, culture and rip-roaring tension of the best of urban fantasy with ehs takes, character arcs and lore-filled worldbuilding of epic fantasy. But most of all, Fonda goes to places most writers of epic fantasy daren't venture to - Fonda weaves a totally novel Asian-inspired fantastical setting, but then ramps it up to the present, neo-modern world, instead of sticking to Tang dynasty or medieval eras.
Such a simple twist, but oh so effective. And worldbuilding is undoubtedly the star of Jade City - Kekon feels immensely real, to the point where I cannot bring myself to accept otherwise. I totally agree with those that say that Janloon reads like it was predominantly HK-inspired with the focus on Triad-like clan wars in a densely-packed and seedy urban setting, but I totally believe Fonda when she says she tapped from all aspects of East Asian cultures and the wider Sinosphere to construct her unique world.
What is interesting to me was how bravely and intelligently Fonda weaves in the overarching plotlines and characters placements in order to showcase her world to us. We have Shae who brings with her an astute understanding of the economics and business of Kekon and Espenia, Anden who shows us what Kekonese schooling culture is like, Lan who takes us through the upper echelons of society and drags us through the thickets of politics, Hilo who takes us deep into clan culture and the concept of brotherhood and loyalty, and Bero who becomes our guide to the Kekonese underworld. So many characters, so many arcs, so many parts of the world explored. It was masterful.
And these characters, wow. I don't have a single bad thing to say about them. They were flawed, imperfect, brash, immoral at times, but were still written in a way that still made them incredibly sympathetic and likable. I don't know how Fonda does it, but she never overplays their flaws but lays it out bare for people to see, and it makes each character unspeakably human. I don't have a single favourite in this book; I loved them all.
And genuinely, this work brings me to a bigger overarching thought I had about writing in general. After wading through quite a number of mediocre (most) YA works written by very young authors, reading Jade City was like a brearth of fresh air. I will never deny young and up-and-coming literary talents as and when I come across them, but there is something to be said about having a clearly adult (non-novelist) perspective interwoven into the plot and the world. Seeing the detail clan politics and the society and socioeconomic nature of Kekon/Janloon, it was incredibly obvious from the get go that Fonda worked in the corporate world before becoming an author, and perhaps somewhere in consultancy/finance/business. It took me less than 5 minutes of Googling to find out that my suspicions were indeed true.
There is just *something* about works of fiction written by people who have real-life career experience outside of the literary world, a certain gravitas and layering to the worldbuilding perhaps, that I don't really see elsewhere.
I am still trying to parse it all. But all I know is that whatever it is that makes a book special, Jade City has it. This is it.