Synopsis
In Jade War, the sequel to the World Fantasy Award-winning novel Jade City, the Kaul siblings battle rival clans for honor and control over an Asia-inspired fantasy metropolis.
On the island of Kekon, the Kaul family is locked in a violent feud for control of the capital city and the supply of magical jade that endows trained Green Bone warriors with supernatural powers they alone have possessed for hundreds of years.
Beyond Kekon’s borders, war is brewing. Powerful foreign governments and mercenary criminal kingpins alike turn their eyes on the island nation. Jade, Kekon’s most prized resource, could make them rich – or give them the edge they’d need to topple their rivals.
Faced with threats on all sides, the Kaul family is forced to form new and dangerous alliances, confront enemies in the darkest streets and the tallest office towers, and put honor aside in order to do whatever it takes to ensure their own survival – and that of all the Green Bones of Kekon.
Jade War is the second book of the Green Bone Saga, an epic trilogy about family, honor, and those who live and die by the ancient laws of blood and jade.
Review
“Hilo muttered, ”If this is supposed to be peace, I think I prefer war.”
Not that my other reviews have been coherent or structured well but I realize I have no hopes of even posturing with this one. It’s going to be one of those where I just have to get it out of my system as I’m writing this immediately after finishing this instead of the usual waiting awhile after finishing a book. Oh my god, what a book! Jade War is just magical. I am literally addicted (that is the perfect word to describe my condition right now) to Fonda’s writing, I was staying up late at night reading the book, I was waking up much early to read the book, every time my workday had a slow moment, I was sneak reading it in the office. Epic fantasy is my drug and Fonda Lee is my dealer.
I had mentioned in my Jade City review that it was a bit tough for me to get into because the beginning 30 percent is quite slow, but in this book pacing is perfected. It was just the right amount of everything. Jade City majorly focused only on the No Peak Clan family and their immediate neighborhood i.e., the city of Janloon. In this book, the scope is expanded to a global scale. It is not a case of one major inciting event occurring and immediately all focus is shifted low and behold. There is a natural order of things and it progresses properly. Balance between geopolitics, inner workings of the brotherhood, family dynamics, economical aspects of the Jade trade are all struck so well.
None of this sounds particularly interesting on its own or when interwoven in a gangster story and yet it works. I could keep reading about it and not tire. I have complained about time skips before but even those work excellently here. I fully believe I know everything that has happened across 5 years in this world. And the best part is, none of it is in the least bit jarring. Every plot point, dialogue, character interaction, machinations of the clan is realistic within the order of the world and it is so immersive.
I began doubting in the first half of the book that Fonda Lee surely had an interdimensional communication device/ansible and is just reporting what has actually happened on an alternate earth. In the second half, I am certain that she is not just reporting events that happened on an alternate earth but is actually a historian from there as well. No other way can everything be done in such an impeccable manner. One thing I noticed is how the story beats are different from what the expectations would be around certain events. It is a twist but doesn’t feel like it’s done purposefully to subvert a cliché there, it just fits so naturally and authentically to this world.
Coming to the fantasy elements, Jade is a crystal that bestows different powers temporarily to a select few people. Except for some really cool fight scenes, we don’t see it being actively used much. But the whole world is built around it. I mean fight scenes can be realistic, characters can be realistic but here the governments, gangs, and their politics around controlling this substance for military and economic purposes are realistic.
The prose is also simple and elegant. I have already said Fonda’s writing is like crack for me. Let me highlight one instance-
“Even Ayt Mada’s prominence as a patriotic public figure was eclipsed by the return of Hilo’s personal presence to the streets of Janloon.”
Out of context, it looks like a standard line for a fantasy book but the amount of effort the author’s put into setting up the city, the story, and the characters to get to this point plus with the realistic-ness all combine to make this moment so monumental and so vivid in my mind. Transferring this sort of emotion to the readers is unbelievable and therein lies the actual strength of the writing.
All of these are done really well and yet the dominance of the character work is so high that it literally towers over the other aspects of the book. After Book 1, I was so sure that I couldn’t hate a certain character any farther. It took Fonda Lee 6 pages into the story to show me that I can achieve even newer, even greater levels of hating with respect to this character. I have always admired this with authors, when they can show me, I can feel so strongly about a fictional character. It’s not just hate though, on the other end of the emotional spectrum, Chapter 60 absolutely ruined me. Fonda Lee redefines ruthlessness. I have read merciless authors before but Fonda is in a whole new level of absence of concern for the readers’ hearts. In my review of A Man called Ove, I mentioned how well Backman writes characters that feel real and rise out of the pages to become people I know among my relatives or neighborhood circle. In Jade War though, Fonda Lee’s characters rise out of paper and plunge a dagger in my heart. I know 5 languages and yet I simply do not have the words to express everything I went through in that one chapter. These are all not even morally good characters, what insane deviltry.
I want to talk about so many more things including the romantic subplots, how differently but equally well Wen and Shae portray strong female characters individually and as part of the clan, tension within gang members and across different gangs in different countries, how citizens of a different country treat immigrants with bias and how the immigrants’ ingrained bias is challenged under a different societal structure, how a strong antagonist elevates the stakes, clashes of loyalty vs morality, how military and political decisions affect people’s choices and how those people’s choices affect other people’s choices but I have already crossed the 1000 word limit, so I’ll stop here.
Books are magic and Fonda Lee is a wizard. I can’t wait to read Jade Legacy.
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