Jade War

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I actually worried that things were going to be moving too slowly while reading this, as I was not even sure what direction the plot was going to take us until around the 30% mark. But while the scope has expanded, and the areas described are full of wonderful descriptions that really bring them to life - at it's heart this is an urban fantasy and it's hard for me to really come away thinking urban fantasies (most of the time) can be extremely memorable due to how closely they resemble real life. If you have read my review of book 1, you would know that I liked it but had some criticism and things that I said could be improved.

Jade War is the second book of the Green Bone Saga, an epic trilogy about family, honour and those who live and die by the ancient laws of blood and jade. Crime and gangster type of stories is usually set in a very male-dominated society but the girlbosses women of this series were portrayed to have just the same (if not more) amounts of conscientiousness, passion, perseverance, diligence, and (sometimes) cruelty as their male counterparts without feeling the need to outright say it. Ayt Mada knowing something might happen like that, allows Shae to live after she surrenders but states to her, I wish to watch your clan burn and you are going to watch it happen. 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.It takes the foundation that made the first book so great, and doesn't need the slow character development the first book needed to get right into the flow of this story. I honestly find it very intriguing and it creates a multi-layered feeling to the setting, especially since the perspectives we read from most of the time are from those at the top of the social hierarchy. But what Hilo does not know, the gangs are internally warring and this has just made it a whole lot worse. Someone who is ‘green’ is someone who holds steadfast to their moral code as a jade warrior, a Green Bone; it is someone who adheres to their values as a Green Bone and their way of life and being. As all good sequels should, this novel expands the worldbuilding by bringing the reader to the further shores of Espenia, to the city of Port Massy - the world's largest trade centre - where the use or ownership of jade by civilians is illegal, a stark contrast to the culture amongst the Kekonese.

The men begged for their captors to kill them, but the Jo Sun clan handed the criminals over to No Peak as a sign of allegiance and good will to the Kaul family. Apart from the occasional fight or interesting plot point, Jade War consists in the characters jumping between a meeting with Tom, a tea with Dick, and another meeting with Harry. Though the perspectives come largely from the Kaul family, Jade War also explores the impact such proxy wars will have on the people, particularly refugees, people in countries rife with corruption, and the lower class people who will do what they can to make it. Shae, Weather Man to the No Peak Clan, has rapidly become one of my favorite fictional characters, ever. The dialogues, when there are, are shallow, always circling around the same matters and with little regards to how the people talking feel.It made things feel more global, and increased the tension and importance of the events that occurred. I was honestly waiting for the full blow-up of the tension between clans but it was more "war by proxy" between smaller factions and yes, through foreigners! The last quarter of the book ratchets up the intensity even further as the subplots unravelled into the proverbial shit hits the fan.

Together with the well-conceived plot and superb pacing of the narrative, Jade War was exceedingly engrossing. I'm not sure that adding in a crazy magic system would have benefitted this book, but as it stands this is definitely the weakest part of this book. Moreover, Jade War strongly introduces something that was alluded to Jade City but was never really palpable: the perspectives of people outside of the city of Janloon, or the people who live outside of the Green Bone way. The author constantly summarizes conversations and events, and states how the characters are feelings instead of displaying it. Readers will visit Uwiwa Islands, spend a great deal of time in Espenia, and will become intimately familiar with the conflicts between the other nations.He concluded that he admired the way Lee "juggles the personal and the epic with deft, admirable skill. Neither of the two surviving grandchildren of the Kauls were expected to become leaders, especially not in the aftermath of a devastating feud. In 2020, it was announced that a TV series based on the first novel in The Green Bone Saga, Jade City, was being developed at Peacock, with Lee serving as a consulting producer. And now I find myself in the strange and unexpected position of finding a new favourite book of all time.