Jade War

3.5 stars. I had a much better time/overall was more invested in this one than the first book. Idk if that’s just cause I’m in the world and know the characters better or not, but I was def sucked in and wanting to see what happened.

The thing is tho. I fucking hate Hilo.

i can't believe that he fucking killed Niko’s mom!! She just wanted him out of this toxic mob green bone shit and he murdered her, and stole her son, and the family is CHILL WITH THIS!? and I NEED Niko to grow up, learn that, and fucking kill Hilo for it. I need that!!!!!

He’s just. So misogynistic. So violent. Holds such a grudge. Doesn’t let anyone do stuff without his permission. I hate him!! I hate how he acts towards Shae. That last fight at the end where show more he hit her INFURIATED me. Wen!!! Can!!! Make!! Her!!! Own!!! Choices!!! And!!! So!! Can!!! Your!!! Sister!!! And !!! Your!! Cousin!! And!!! Your!!! Ex-sister in law!! You!! Absolute!!!! Fucknuckle !!

Like here’s the thing, does Bero FUCKING SUCK!!? Yess 100%, is he wrong????? Nah not rlly. This clan bullshit is BULLSHIT, actually. Hilo is an asshole!! No one should be listening or beholden to him!! The violent green bone shit is stupid!! It just is!!!

(And yet I DO want to see them have victory over The Mountain, I can admit that many things can be true at once).

I’m enjoying myself, but I’m still not sure why this had SO much hype across the board. It’s good. But i hate Hilo too much to ever actually love it or root for him. show less

After reading Jade City, I was completely hooked on the characters/story and ready to dive right into this 2nd book of The Green Bone Saga, I had read and was told by some that this book suffered from 2nd-book syndrome and was just meh, but equally read and heard the opposite from others. I ended up falling hard into the latter camp.

The way Fonda Lee writes her characters has me drawn tightly into their perspectives, and I feel it all. Granted, there really aren't any good guys (so far) in this story, but I absolutely care about them - laughing and crying throughout. If you have ever watched the series The Sopranas, it is a very similar dynamic.

Normally, I would insert a light and quick read in between books with this type of heavy show more and somewhat dark plot line, but I am jumping right into the 3rd book - Jade Legacy. show less

I've been so busy I forgot I didn't write this yet haha

I'm honestly really regretting making this trilogy the first thing I read this year because I feel like I've been spoiled. The book after a 5 star read like this feels a little underwhelming a lot of the time. I'm seriously obsessed with this trilogy so far.

There were so many times in this book that just made me make audible reactions, and I am NOT a loud reader usually. The plot points felt so well placed. I couldn't predict what was gonna happen, but the shocking parts weren't so shocking that they felt out of place or unrealistic. The perfect balance.

And I can't even express how much I care about the characters. Good writing can only go so far if I don't have any feeling show more towards them. Almost every time a character is in a situation where they could possibly die genuinely made me nervous in the best way possible. I say "almost" because if I'm telling the truth, one of the protagonists is a little boring to me. The chapters that were from their POV felt very dull in comparison to the other chapters. But that's honestly the only fault I had.

Seriously can't wait to get my hands on Jade Legacy. show less

[b:Jade War|41716919|Jade War (The Green Bone Saga, #2)|Fonda Lee|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1537885614l/41716919._SY75_.jpg|59189299] was my second Covid Christmas read and absolutely ideal as a distraction from feeling ill. I found it if anything even more compelling than [b:Jade City|43587154|Jade City (The Green Bone Saga, #1)|Fonda Lee|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1547625704l/43587154._SY75_.jpg|55755047] and read all 600-odd pages within 24 hours. The same protagonists from the previous book in the series are all developed in really interesting ways. I particularly appreciated Shae's point of view and Bero's life taking unexpected turns. Meanwhile, show more the plot deftly enabled wider world-building beyond both the city of Janloon and the island of Kekon. No Peak Clan isn't a mere crime family, it's an important political force at national and international level. Anden's perspective is used cleverly to show the new alliances that form. The geo-politics of the background war were a little tricky to keep track of, but this in no way detracted from the reading experience.

As in the previous book, Lee keeps up a fast pace throughout and uses point of view shifts extremely well. The plot is thrilling and involving, with complex stakes and unpredictable twists. The action scenes are marvellously kinetic and vivid, while never been gratuitous or insignificant to events. Shae's big fight was particularly incredible. The denouement is brilliantly tense and exciting. When Anden revived Wen my heart was in my mouth! This series is just getting better; I can't wait to read the final volume of the trilogy. show less

5/5

I usually give a good interval before reading a sequel in order to avoid mixing up the plots, but sometimes a series is just good enough to keep itself on my mind for so long that I end up with no choice but to dive into the sequel after a way too short period. This was one of such cases.

For starters, this series has a lot of things that I love. Every chapter is amazing and moves just fast enough to keep you wanting to read and find out what happens next, but it also manages to avoid falling into the trap of having too much action. The characters are great, they are very human and their motivations are easy to grasp. The universe is extremely well built and the parts that don't interest me much, like geography and the abundance of show more different foreign nations, are not hammered in and can be cast aside easily enough.

For the characters: Shae is my favorite character of the bunch, she is tough and incredibly smart. Her insecurities are easy to understand and she does a wonderful job getting through them. Hilo is a more difficult character in this book, the Pillar position is starting to get to him and he's constantly stressed, having to deal with many aspects of day to day life. Andem is the exact opposite: the lack of a place in the world for him is eating him up inside and it's not easy to deal with it. He has to grow and not only make his own choices for his life, but also learn how to live with them afterwards.

The prose is very well done, although I will admit that at some moments it gets slightly too heavy handed for my taste, but said moments never last too long and are easy enough to get through. The dialogue is very well written and is one of my favorite parts of these books. Long sessions of dialogue always feel like a small treat to me as a reader.

A lot of things happen in this book and, while I try to use this session of my reviews as a way to remind future me of everything that went on, I don't think that will be possible at this time. So let's get to the more relevant parts: Wen's injury kinda broke my heart, she's one of the characters that fought most fiercely for her place in the world and it's very depressing to see it taken from her like this. I'm sure she will be in the next book as a very important character, but it still feels like she got the short end of the stick. Hilo is shaping up to be more ruthless in the next book than in this one and I wonder where that will leave him. The possibility for Wen's absence does not help with that at all. It wouldn't surprise me to see him dying in the next book, but I would still feel sad to see him go. Andem found his place in the world and I really like to see it. I'm not sure it will be a stable place to be, as a doctor of sorts, he will end up more involved in the clan war than he wanted to be. I still believe he will have to deal more with jade as a weapon in the rest of the series. And Shae is the most troublesome to read, I'm not really sure where she will end up. She's strong and smart enough to take care of herself, but at the same time, she's going against some terrifying enemies that are not easy to defeat and I'm not just talking about Ayt Mada. She is the closest we have to a protagonist of this series, and like I mentioned my favorite character, so I'm hyped to see where she'll go from now on, I hope she becomes a fearsome Weather Man.

To conclude, this was a very good book, part of a series that I quickly fell in love with and will probably try and finish very soon. I would recommend it to anyone that has any interest in low-fantasy and in some gang war settings. show less

I really liked this- [b:Jade City|43587154|Jade City (The Green Bone Saga, #1)|Fonda Lee|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1547625704l/43587154._SY75_.jpg|55755047] was all about setting up the world of Kekon and the jade clan cultures, and with that established, War takes us to a more global perspective, as it becomes difficult to remain an insular nation post-world war equivalent. And while the clans would prefer to stick with tradition and not care about what goes on beyond the island, outside elements make that impossible (as well as lucrative, as inter-island war is expensive.)

A LOT happens in this book, and over a span of at least three years (based on how it's bookended by Anden's departure and show more return to Kekon). I sort of clocked passage of time through various means, but it marches on and sometimes I had to gauge the age of small child characters to figure out what was going on. I found Anden's plot most intriguing as it explored a diaspora community of Kekonese in Espenia (colloquially known as Kespenians which is neater than a hyphenated demonym), retaining some of the old ways as immigrant communities do, a snapshot of when they left but also having a modified version of their approach to Greenbone culture equivalents. Between Anden and Maro, there's also some commentary on being mixed race and how that's perceived, especially in insular communities.

I also really appreciated Shae's plot, though I'd like her to have some level of happiness at some point. The thing I liked most was how Lee approached Shae's unplanned pregnancy and subsequent abortion, as it's something I don't think we see depicted often in fiction let alone fantasy without being a Very Special Episode of a thing, and how pragmatic the character was about it which was true to who they are.

It still feels really novel to have fantasy in a world recognizable similar to ours but not quite- still a little bit mid century as we have phones and televisions, but the phones are rotary still. Also, we didn't bury our gays!

Looking forward to the consequences of Hilo's actions coming to roost as the next generation comes of age in [b:Jade Legacy|51057191|Jade Legacy (The Green Bone Saga, #3)|Fonda Lee|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1565294729l/51057191._SX50_SY75_.jpg|72702671]. My husband tells me the time jumps are greater across that novel, which sort of makes sense because I'm sure Niko will eventually have questions... show less

after avoiding this series for years (due mainly to my pig headedness), i have finally joined the bandwagon and am 2 books deep into fonda lee's jaded (pun intended) world.

its just so...fascinating and fun to read! and i never thought i'd say that about a book that dumps a lot of economic and financial info on how the world works. politics and backstabbing i can handle...but money stuff, inventories, and records-keeping...who knew they can be exciting!? ^_^

i'm now so invested in the Kaul family and can't wait to see how their story ends!