Synopsis:
In the explosive finale to the instant New York Times bestseller Breath of the Dragon, a young warrior fights to reunite his family and the realm.
Two brothers. Two nations. One destiny.
Exiled as a traitor after the Guardian’s Tournament, Li Jun has vowed to retrieve the stolen Scroll of Heaven and to honor his father’s dying find his mother and twin brother, Sai.
Fleeing into the East in search of their friend Ren, Jun and his longtime rival Yin Yue have no choice but to trust the two breathmarked women who saved their lives but who answer to the mysterious and draconian Council of Virtue that tore Jun’s family apart and banished him and his father a decade ago.
Recovering the Scrolls of Heaven or Earth in order to stop the brewing war that threatens to devastate East and West alike isn’t Jun’s only seemingly insurmountable challenge. The twin he was separated from in childhood is now the High Keeper who resides in the Sun Pagoda, protecting the precious Scroll of Earth from all potential enemies…including Jun.
The fate of the entire land hinges on an inevitable reckoning between brothers that will test their skills, their loyalties, and everything they thought they knew about themselves and the nature of destiny.
Review:
Fonda Lee’s Green Bone Saga is a must-read in the Fantasy/Sci-Fi reading sphere. With her Asian-infused fantasy, she set expectations high for any of her future releases – for better or worse. Her sci-fi mystery The Last Contact of Isako earlier this year met my expectations, but readers are always going to compare her books. I won’t compare Mark of the Warrior to Jade City, but I do think the Middle Grade/Young Adult sequel is well worth the wait following the 2025 release of Breath of the Dragon. It defied my ideas of what she and co-author Shannon Lee would do in the second part of the duology, but I was pleasantly surprised with the end result.
If you’re new to this series, Fonda Lee teamed up with Shannon Lee (daughter of legendary martial artist Bruce Lee) for this story drawn from the writings of Bruce Lee, himself. Before her time in Jade City, Fonda Lee had extensive experience with Young Adult writing and in the Breathmarked duology, it pays off.
The two books are the story of Jun and his twin brother, Sai. Separated at age 6, the two brothers were put on completely different paths in two different lands. I really liked the first book, but I was definitely proven wrong. I went and found my review of Breath of the Dragon and I said, “I expect the second book to be focused mainly on Jun’s twin brother who was sidelined throughout most of Breath of the Dragon. We saw Jun’s twin, Sai, in the prologue and then mentioned a few times throughout. However, while we got Jun’s scrappy underdog story in this installment, I imagine we’ll see what life was like for Sai as one of the Breathmarked in the second book.”
Well…I was wrong. The first book was told completely from the point of view of Jun and…so was this one. We do learn about Sai’s life, but nearly all of what we learn comes as Jun learns it, too. I actually think this was a really smart decision, and here’s why — Jun never comes across as stupid. Maybe foolhardy and too big for his own britches at times, but I can say I was never frustrated with him. Often when I’m reading a Young Adult book, the protagonist comes across as childish or just stupid at times. I’ve wanted to throw my Kindle against the wall many times reading some of these books, but I didn’t feel that way here. Jun makes some mistakes, yes, but they were honest ones and I never felt frustrated with him. Perhaps you can have a Young Adult protagonist and have him still be…smart?
I’m not sure I would have felt that way if Sai had been our POV character for this installment. His place in his society is important to the story and the way he and Jun interact after having been separated for a decade sometimes felt off — mainly due to Sai’s attitude towards it all.
But, the tournament that really worked in the first book was replicated towards the end here with how Jun and his allies have to take down their enemies and I really enjoyed the final quarter of the book.
If you’re looking for a fun martial arts fantasy with elements drawn from Bruce Lee himself, I would definitely recommend Mark of the Warrior by Shannon Lee and Fonda Lee.
Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
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