Take a photo of a barcode or cover
stormlightreader 's review for:
Jade War
by Fonda Lee
There's books that suffer from middle book syndrome and then there's Jade War. If I hadn't heard so many reviews say that book three is AMAZING I would have DNF'd Jade War and just given up about 200 pages in. The first 530 or so pages (of 587) are a complete slog. There was a whole lot of nothing happening but a load of info dumping and new characters. THEN we had so much happening off the page with characters we actually care about from Jade City and what is with the time jumps?! What the hell! The action is minimal and at times I couldn't really see the point of the few fights scenes we did get.
Jade City was really good but I honestly don't know what's happened with Jade War. It doesn't feel like the same series. It's like I missed a book in between Jade City and Jade War. The atmosphere that was so well done in Jade City is practically non-existent in Jade War. Hilo seems weaker in this book and Shae is making questionable choices that seem completely uncharacteristic of her. Early on I felt that Wen was showing her value to the clan but then predictably she made a dumb decision, convincing Shae to ignore Hilo's demands and ends up harmed. Are we really surprised though? Also, where was Ayt Mada for the vast majority of this book?!
For me, Lan dying (by some dumb luck at the hands of an absolute idiot) in Jade City created a massive drop in intrigue for me. Killing off characters is fair enough and it raises the stakes and keeps you wondering whether your favourite characters are safe. The problem with Lan's death is that I don't feel like Hilo has taken up his position as Pillar particularly well and so it feels like a character type is still missing. Lan was level-headed and now the Kauls are left with hot-headed Hilo and Shae who seems to forget she's meant to be the brains of the clan. What is quite odd with Jade War, is how much Lan is still referred to and how much Hilo is compared to Lan/compares himself to Lan. Remembering their fallen brother is expected but I actually found that he got a fair bit of page time but it didn't feel authentic and just felt like it was there to serve the "we are a tight family" vibe. If this is serving as build up for him to return, then great. If not, it just feels forced and half-hearted.
There's lots of issues with pacing and it felt like there were new characters popping up all over the place, that either died shortly after being introduced/left to go to school/were just pointless obstacles put there to create a short-term problem for a main character. The title gives the impression that we're building up to something big but with both Jade City and Jade War ending on Bero's POV, I'm not hopeful for what comes next and I feel like this annoying termite will be alive at the end of the trilogy.
I am hoping book three ends the trilogy well but I have already decided I won't be revisiting this series in the future and I'm only finishing the trilogy out of pure curiosity.
Jade City was really good but I honestly don't know what's happened with Jade War. It doesn't feel like the same series. It's like I missed a book in between Jade City and Jade War. The atmosphere that was so well done in Jade City is practically non-existent in Jade War. Hilo seems weaker in this book and Shae is making questionable choices that seem completely uncharacteristic of her. Early on I felt that Wen was showing her value to the clan but then predictably she made a dumb decision, convincing Shae to ignore Hilo's demands and ends up harmed. Are we really surprised though? Also, where was Ayt Mada for the vast majority of this book?!
For me, Lan dying (by some dumb luck at the hands of an absolute idiot) in Jade City created a massive drop in intrigue for me. Killing off characters is fair enough and it raises the stakes and keeps you wondering whether your favourite characters are safe. The problem with Lan's death is that I don't feel like Hilo has taken up his position as Pillar particularly well and so it feels like a character type is still missing. Lan was level-headed and now the Kauls are left with hot-headed Hilo and Shae who seems to forget she's meant to be the brains of the clan. What is quite odd with Jade War, is how much Lan is still referred to and how much Hilo is compared to Lan/compares himself to Lan. Remembering their fallen brother is expected but I actually found that he got a fair bit of page time but it didn't feel authentic and just felt like it was there to serve the "we are a tight family" vibe. If this is serving as build up for him to return, then great. If not, it just feels forced and half-hearted.
There's lots of issues with pacing and it felt like there were new characters popping up all over the place, that either died shortly after being introduced/left to go to school/were just pointless obstacles put there to create a short-term problem for a main character. The title gives the impression that we're building up to something big but with both Jade City and Jade War ending on Bero's POV, I'm not hopeful for what comes next and I feel like this annoying termite will be alive at the end of the trilogy.
I am hoping book three ends the trilogy well but I have already decided I won't be revisiting this series in the future and I'm only finishing the trilogy out of pure curiosity.