Adult, book review

Jade City, Lade War & Jade Legacy by Fonda Lee (Review)

Title: Jade City
Author: Fonda Lee
Type: Fiction
Genre: Adult, Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Orbit
Date published: November 7, 2017

This book was a personal purchase.

Magical jade — mined, traded, stolen, and killed for — is the lifeblood of the island of Kekon. For centuries, honorable Green Bone warriors like the Kaul family have used it to enhance their 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 — from their grandest patriarch to the lowliest motorcycle runner on the streets — and of Kekon itself.

Jade City begins an epic tale of family, honor, and those who live and die by the ancient laws of jade and blood.

Title: Jade War
Author: Fonda Lee
Type: Fiction
Genre: Adult, Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Orbit
Date published: July 23, 2019

This book was a personal purchase.

Title: Jade Legacy
Author: Fonda Lee
Type: Fiction
Genre: Adult, Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Orbit
Date published: November 30, 2021

A complimentary physical copy of this book was kindly provided by Hachette Book Group Canada in exchange for an honest review.

⤖ My Review ⬻

Note: Please beware of any unintentional spoilers in the review below if you have not yet read all three books.

Jade City, and The Green Bone Saga as a whole, has been on my TBR since it came out in 2017 and I was still new to the book blogging world. For some reason, I kept putting it off, year after year, until the opportunity came along to to review Jade Legacy for Hachette Book Group Canada. I used that as my final push to finally read the series.

With the first book it was really cool to learn about the world, magic system, and get to know all of the different characters, the groups everyone belonged to, the culture, the politics. Jade City, while introducing everything, also allowed me to feel the closest to the characters out of all three books.

The second book, Jade War, definitely suffered a bit from second book syndrome for me. I was happy to return to some of the characters’ lives, but found that the overall plot didn’t hold my attention as much. I will say though that it was interesting to learn more about the world from a broader perspective, rather than just the city Jade City was set in.

Going into Jade Legacy, I should have figured from the title of the book that it would focus on the legacy of all of the characters (duh). So I definitely found myself intrigued again. Although I do wish there had been more focus some of the newer characters more (especially since the focus was shifting toward the future). Overall, I found this series, characters, and world to be unique and memorable. I hope to read more by Fonda Lee soon!

⤖ Places to Purchase the Books ⬻

⤖ Let's Chat ⬻

Thank you for reading my review! Have you read these books/this series? What did you think? And if you haven’t read it yet, do you plan to? Let me know in the comments!

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