Synopsis
JADE CITY is a gripping Godfather-esque saga of intergenerational blood feuds, vicious politics, magic, and kungfu.
The Kaul family is one of two crime syndicates that control the island of Kekon. It’s the only place in the world that produces rare magical jade, which grants those with the right training and heritage superhuman abilities.
The Green Bone clans of honorable jade-wearing warriors once protected the island from foreign invasion–but nowadays, in a bustling post-war metropolis full of fast cars and foreign money, Green Bone families like the Kauls are primarily involved in commerce, construction, and the everyday upkeep of the districts under their protection.
When the simmering tension between the Kauls and their greatest rivals erupts into open violence in the streets, the outcome of this clan war will determine the fate of all Green Bones and the future of Kekon itself.
Review
“Any old horse will run when it’s whipped, but only fast enough to avoid the whipping,” Hilo said. “Racehorses, though, they run because they look at the horse on their left, they look at the one on their right, and they think, No way am I second to these fuckers.”
This book was a game of two halves for me. I had tempered expectations going in because of some mixed reviews from the people I know and one friend even telling me they didn’t like it a lot. For a good 30 to even 40 percent of the book, I noticed some of the unfavorable things pointed out in the other reviews. It was slow and felt like a setup book with a very info-dumpy nature of revealing the lore, much less fighting than I expected for a mobster story and the modern setting was distracting/confusing at places.
But then it started working for me and once I was in, I was in. Deep. I read multiple books at the same time but I stopped my other current reads and completely devoted myself to this one. This book had me waking up early just so I can read it before work to find out what’s happening next. I am not able to point out exactly what was the turning point, but either the story or characters just silently devoured me.
I don’t know how exactly to describe the prose but it was accessible and complemented the story extremely well. Particularly once I was immersed, the story and prose gripped me so well that it simply felt like watching a movie. The complaints mentioned earlier didn’t matter anymore and I empathized with No Peak Clan so much I was euphoric when they held the advantage, however fleeting it was, despite them being very unsavory characters.
The biggest strength of this book has to be the character work. The three main POVs and the other secondary POVs all are very distinct and feel very real. The readers are able to feel what each of the characters feels: scared, wounded, threatened, pleased. From high schooler to Mafia boss, every character has differing levels of maturity and it shows. The emotional development and character growth are on point too. Also the author is ruthless and none of the characters feel like they have any plot armor.
Another strength of the book has to be the story’s narrative choices. Limiting the focus to just one city seems to have easily aided to all the huge tension build up. Throw in dubious characters, suspense, life threatening situations and it becomes one very delicious, dark, and broody family drama.
Coming to the magic system, A system based on deriving special powers out of magic crystals isn’t unique but the way the cost to the user is set up makes it feel fresh. Using too much of these magic crystals affects the user, stopping usage of these crystals affects the user. Using it without training affects the user and using it with training can still lead to addiction. Not everyone can use it but there’s also another plot point regarding this that is interesting but can’t be mentioned without spoilers.
All in all, I am glad this book worked for me and I recommend new readers to try persisting with the story if they experience some detractions in the first half of the book, it might just work out.
“What happens when you cross a goat and a tiger?”
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