Summary:
In Jade War, the sequel to the Nebula, Locus, and World Fantasy Award-nominated Jade City, the Kaul siblings battle rival clans for honor and control over an Asia-inspired fantasy metropolis.
On the island of Kekon, the Kaul family is locked in a violent feud for control of the capital city and the supply of magical jade that endows trained Green Bone warriors with supernatural powers they alone have possessed for hundreds of years.
Beyond Kekon’s borders, war is brewing. Powerful foreign governments and mercenary criminal kingpins alike turn their eyes on the island nation. Jade, Kekon’s most prized resource, could make them rich – or give them the edge they’d need to topple their rivals.
Faced with threats on all sides, the Kaul family is forced to form new and dangerous alliances, confront enemies in the darkest streets and the tallest office towers, and put honor aside in order to do whatever it takes to ensure their own survival – and that of all the Green Bones of Kekon.
Jade War is the second book of the Green Bone Saga, an epic trilogy about family, honor, and those who live and die by the ancient laws of blood and jade.
Review:
Jade War is the second book in the Green Bone Saga. The story picks up a few months after the end of Jade City. So much happens that I don’t think I could do any sort of summary any justice. Basically, the goal for the characters is still a vague sort of “take down the Mountain clan.” Except there’s more to it than that since we’re following all the smaller things that are done to work toward that goal.
The world is expanding a bit because Anden is living in Espania going to school. I thought his part of the story was really interesting. He deals with finding his first love, but also with being separated from his family and feeling like he’s disappointed them. I really enjoyed the part of the story when he has visitors. I thought the conflict and goings-on in his small neighborhood were just as interesting as the much bigger conflicts going on in Kekon. We follow a lot of what Shae does as well in her position as the Weather Man. She’s trying to make No Peak more profitable but it’s coming at the expense of her personal life and her reputation. Hilo spends most of the book showing how he’s grown. He’s a family man now and he’s really settled into the position of the pillar. I liked his character growth the most. Especially getting to seeing him become a father. But I did enjoy that we still got to see the Hilo we first met come out now and then.
My biggest issue with this book was the pacing. This whole book spawned something like three years? I would start a new chapter and somehow it would be nine months after the previous chapter ended. Hilo’s wife birthed two children in this book and most of the second was skipped over. We’re told that Wen has the baby and then suddenly, a few pages later, said baby is six months old. It happened over and over for the whole book and I really didn’t care for that. I think it really threw off the pacing of the story. It could have been a shorter time period and it just would have felt like a fast paced and action-packed book. But instead, it felt like it was trying to be that, but it wasn’t because of all the random and out of nowhere jumps forward in time.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. Once I started, I couldn’t put it down. I loved these characters and oh man did Lee really put them through the wringer in this book. I still don’t feel like I have a firm grasp on the plot, but I’m interested to see how things are tied together for the third and final book.
Keep on reading lovelies, Amanda.
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