• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
FanFiAddict

FanFiAddict

A gaggle of nerds talking about Fantasy, Science Fiction, and everything in-between. They also occasionally write reviews about said books. 2x Stabby Award-Nominated and home to the Stabby Award-Winning TBRCon.

  • Home
  • About
    • Reviewers
    • Review Policy
    • Contact
  • Blog
    • Guest Posts
    • Lists
    • Neurodivergence in Fiction
    • Why You Should Read…
  • Reviews
    • Children’s / Middle Grade Books
    • Comics/Graphic Novels
    • Fantasy
      • Alt History
      • Coming of Age
      • Debut
      • Epic Fantasy
      • Fairy Tales
      • Grimdark
      • Heroic Fantasy
      • LitRPG
      • Paranormal Fantasy
      • Romantic Fantasy
      • Steampunk
      • Superheroes
      • Sword and Sorcery
      • Urban Fantasy
    • Historical Fiction
    • Horror
      • Debut
      • Demons
      • Ghosts
      • Gothic
      • Lovecraftian
      • Monsters
      • Occult
      • Psychological
      • Vampires
      • Werewolves
      • Witches
      • Zombies
    • Science Fiction
      • Aliens
      • Artificial Intelligence
      • Alt History
      • Cyberpunk
      • Debut
      • Dystopian
      • Hard SciFi
      • Mechs/Robots
      • Military SF
      • Space Opera
      • Steampunk
      • Time Travel
    • Thriller
  • Interviews
    • Book Tube
    • Authorly Writing Advice
  • SFF Addicts Podcast
    • SFF Addicts Clips
    • SFF Addicts (Episode Archive)
  • TBRCon
    • TBRCon2022
    • TBRCon2023

Review: Jade City (The Green Bone Saga #1) by Fonda Lee

July 5, 2021 by Manny Henri Leave a Comment

Amazon
Barnes & Nobles
Goodreads

Rating: 8.5/10

Synopsis

Jade is the lifeblood of the island of Kekon. It has been mined, traded, stolen, and killed for — and for centuries, honorable Green Bone warriors like the Kaul family have used it to enhance their magical abilities and defend the island from foreign invasion.

Now, the war is over and a new generation of Kauls vies for control of Kekon’s bustling capital city. They care about nothing but protecting their own, cornering the jade market, and defending the districts under their protection. Ancient tradition has little place in this rapidly changing nation.

When a powerful new drug emerges that lets anyone — even foreigners — wield jade, the simmering tension between the Kauls and the rival Ayt family erupts into open violence. The outcome of this clan war will determine the fate of all Green Bones — and of Kekon itself.

Review

“I’ll make an offer you can’t refuse”; those are the words echoed and mocked in so many movies. But they originated in a little book called “The Godfather” by Mario Puzzo in the late 60s and became a movie phenomenon. When I read “Jade City”, those words came to mind as this book is very much an organized crime novel. And if you add the touch of magic included in the story, from the Jade driven powers the characters have, it feels very much like gangster Urban fantasy.

As part of a trilogy (Jade War & Jade Legacy), Jade City feels like the book in the series setting up the world, the magic and the overall structure of the clans/rivalries. For some, this could be a negative since we’re spending a large chunk of the book in setup mode, but the world Lee builds is so rich in culture. Just understanding the consequences and possibilities of Jade powers is so crucial to enjoy the rest of the ride. I haven’t read yet the following tomes, but I have a feeling we’ll be spending more time in the conflicts and action of the Green Bone Saga world, since we’ve already experience the world building aspect of the series. The story is solid as it supports all this setting up through conflicts and meaningful dialogue versus exposing us to all this through dull exposition.

And where Jade City shines is in the organized crime exploration. This is such an unexplored genre. Just search for organized crime fiction on Amazon or Goodreads and you’ll find a fraction of any other subgenres (popular in the 60-70s but dwindled since then) — or Godfather and The Sicilian suggested as top reads. And Fonda Lee does such an amazing job in sinking us into a vibrant world of gangsters and institutions responsible for doing legit (or not so legit) business with the so-called Jade import/exports. If I had to put an exact date on how the book felt, it feels very 70s.

Finally, in this book it felt the fantasy part—or the Jade powered individuals and martial arts derived from using Jade—took a backseat in service of the war in between clans and characterization. Ultimately, it was necessary and an amazing approach to a fantasy book. We’re exposed to tons of magic systems in the genre and sometimes at the detriment of drama, but it was the opposite in Jade City. The fantasy served the story VS the other way around. Loved it. 

If you’re a fan of Urban fantasy deeply set into a world of crime, gangsters and Jade-powered martial arts, Jade City and the following books of the trilogy will fall right into your TBR.  Take Mario Puzzo, a dab of Jet Li and sprinkle it with magic and you’ll get exactly what this book is about. I am excited to continue the Jade journey through the following two books of the trilogy. 

Filed Under: Fantasy, Reviews, Urban Fantasy Tagged With: Fonda Lee, Orbit Books, Orbit Publishing

About Manny Henri

Emmanuel Henri grew up in Chambly, a city in the tail of Quebec (Canada) near Montreal. He’s an established technologist with 25 years of experience in the world of programming and design, and also published 125 courses on several platforms such as Linkedin Learning, Pluralsight and O’reilly. Since his teens, he always had a knack for storytelling, especially monster-driven tales, and has compiled a boatload of Sci-Fi, Fantasy and horror ideas he’s thrilled to put into words. To keep his head sane and healthy, especially after his close call with cancer in 2020 (now in remission), he’s pledged his body to a strict diet and rigorous exercise plan. He’s currently working on his novel “Ashes” and editing “From the mist” and several short-stories, such as “The Agency”.

Other Reviews You Might Like

Three Mini Reviews in One

The cover for New Yesterday by Frasier Armitage.

Review: New Yesterday by Frasier Armitage

Book Review: Untethered Sky by Fonda Lee

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Sponsored By

Use Discount Code FANFI For 5% Off!

Follow FanFi!

Sign up for updates and get FREE stories from Michael R. Fletcher and Richard Ford!

What Would You Like To See?(Required)
Please select the type of content you want to receive from FanFi Addict. You can even mix and match if you want!

FFA Recommends

Get This Book
Get This Book
Get This Book
Get This Book

Recent Reviews

The cover for New Yesterday by Frasier Armitage.

Recent Comments

  1. zidane on Review: A Fractured Infinity by Nathan TavaresMarch 14, 2023
  2. Gary Weston on Bender’s Top 10 Fights in Fantasy BooksMarch 14, 2023
  3. David S on My Top 15 Favorite Male Anime Protagonists (So Far)March 13, 2023
  4. Komikinime on My Top 15 Favorite Male Anime Protagonists (So Far)March 11, 2023
  5. Jennifer Mcvey on Review and Essay: Midnight Sun by Stephenie MeyerMarch 11, 2023

Archive

Copyright © 2023 · Powered by ModFarm Sites · Log In