The magic system was interesting but overall this just wasn't for me. I struggled with it and skim read the last of it.

I think the simplest way to describe Jade City is ‘The Godfather’ meets magical jade wearing ninjas in an epic gang war on an Asian inspired island. However...it’s so much more than this. It’s full of political intrigue, plotting and scheming of metaphorical chess pieces, mingled with bloody violence and a fair amount of familial drama. And the central figure in all of this is jade - a natural element mined exclusively on the island of Janloon that turns specific ‘Green Bone’ sensitive individuals into superhero enhanced killing machines.

Lee manages to interweave these complex elements masterfully, drawing the reader into a world expertly crafted and intricately described. At times I honestly felt like Janloon was real. The plot here is also thrillingly fast paced, pulling us from a highly tension filled boardroom scene to an all out street fight within the space of one chapter. Several times the plot also took a turn I wasn’t expecting, throwing out surprise after surprise until I didn’t have any idea of where the story would end. It managed to keep me guessing, and therefore hooked, right until the last word.

I was also incredibly impressed with how well all of the main characters were crafted and developed. Jade City follows the Kaul children of the No Peak clan, which has a strict hierarchy of power from the leader, or ‘Pillar’, eldest child Lan to his younger brother Hilo, the ‘Horn’ - who is in charge of the more brutish elements of clan life. Lan is a newly appointed Pillar, who has big shoes to fill since the retirement of his Grandfather. With this constant shadow hanging over his every move, he must become calculating and ruthless in order to maintain the clan’s power in the wake of its rivals. However, as a pacifist Lan’s heart really isn’t in leadership, and it was painful at time’s to watch his struggles play out on the page. He’s frequently tormented, putting up walls to ultimately try and protect his family.

In comparison, younger brother Hilo relishes life as the new ‘Horn’, with an army of loyal Fists and Fingers at his side. However, his hotheaded nature could leave the clan in danger from his quick tempered actions. Circling these two is Shae, the youngest sibling and recently estranged from her family due to her decision to move abroad to study and have a foreign boyfriend. On her return to Janloon, she’s determined to make her own way by forgoing all her jade and live a ‘normal’ life. But is that even possible for a Kaul to do, or has fate for other ideas. I loved Shae’s ruthlessness throughout the story. Time and time again she proves that she’s an equal to her brothers in terms of violence and outmanoeuvring.

Honestly, I can’t recommend this enough. It’s wonderfully written, with a unique magical system and excellent character development that shines through in a sea of fantasy fiction. Highly recommend.

Sadly this Just Wasn't My Thing - it's a great twist on martial arts tales and organised crime narratives, but in the end the characters left me cold and the clan war left me colder. Not a bad read, but just not my cup of tea.

This was a wonderfully unique fast-paced fantasy, with incredible world-building, great plot and plenty of lovable characters. This was a brilliant read.

Asian inspired with sprinklings of magic and martial arts... what's not to love.

I adored multiple points of view and found each voice to be as compelling as the one before.

This was a kick-ass family-focused magical fantasy and well worth the read.

Lately my experience with books that other people love seems to be not the greatest - I continue to search for books that will knock my socks off and make me want to come back to them, only to be denied. I know it's probably more about me than it is about the books themselves, but still...

Anyway, Jade City looked like a reasonable candidate for sock removing purposes, but for one reason or another failed to quite do the business. It looked like a reasonable candidate, having picked up a Nebula nomination along the way, however the solid and clever world-building proved just a little too mentally chewy for my liking.

The basic premise of Jade City is that it's set in the country of Kekon, which has just come out of a period of war where the jade-enhanced guerrillas who are now involved in two powerful gangs kicked out their foreign overlords. In this scenario, the possession of jade gives some people various powers and drives others crazy, with yet another group being immune to its effects either way. Ownership of this particular kind of jade, only produced in Kekon, means power and there's an added twist in the tale in that a drug has now been produced allowing those who otherwise wouldn't have been able to use jade to do so, including foreigners.

The main element of the story focusses on a particular family whose previous generations had been freedom fighters and who are now a powerful gang running part of the city. Lan is the gang's Pillar, in charge but still in the shadow of his formerly-powerful grandfather, while his brother Hilo is the Horn, a more hot-headed enforcer of his brother's decisions (and often his own). This is all shaping up to be a bit of a sausage fest with the main female characters being the head of the rival gang, Hilo's girlfriend and then a third member of the family, their sister Shae. Years earlier, Shae had set aside her jade and run off elsewhere with a foreigner, only to return years later, full of foreign ideas and education but initially determined not to get involved with either her family or the use of jade again.

There's also a sub-plot involving a young thug who desperately wants jade for himself, despite the fact it will likely drive him crazy, as his paths cross with the family and he's eventually semi-responsible for the death of one of them. I hadn't realised till partway through that this is also the first book of a series and clearly this individual is going to continue to be a pain in everyone's arse in at least the next volume if not longer.

It's clear that the writer has put a lot of work into the world-building for Jade City but for me, at least, there's a fine line between knowing your world and needing to tell the reader a bit too much about it. On more than one occasion, I found myself skimming past explanations of stuff that could have been more deftly handled than with a couple of paragraphs of info-dumping and that definitely affected how I rated this book.

So, once again, I find myself understanding why other people might have loved this book but saying the literary equivalent of: it's not you, it's me.



I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

What a joy this book is! It tells the story of the No Peak family and their ongoing battle for supremacy with the Mountain family in the Jade-enriched city of Janloon. As a green bone, you can use the jade to enhance your speed and strength and everybody wants to control the supply. Firstly, the writing is superb. There is an emotional distance to the prose that works towards making everything seem matter of fact and totally normal, despite detailing some pretty magical occurrences. This worked really well for me as the enormity of some of the events had a real impact precisely because the rest of the narrative was so dispassionate. I loved the interplay between the characters. The sibling relationships felt real and authentic and at no point did I question character motivation, even if I didn't agree with their decisions. The plot is quite straightforward, but Lee has interwoven this with some outstanding world building that immerses the reader into this frightening but dazzling environment. Janloon feels like a real city somewhere and that is a great achievement. Overall, I absolutely loved this book and will devour the next instalment when it arrives.
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

How do you review books that ripped your heart out about halfway through and then continued to batter your emotions mercilessly, all the while laughing with glee? Who knows, but I'm about to try. (Don't be surprised if this review dissolves into incoherency. It's been a week and I'm nowhere near over this book.)

The island of Kekon is controlled by two crime syndicates - clans of Green Bones, who are granted superhuman abilities by the island's magical jade. In the past, the Green Bones protected the island from foreign invasions, but now the clans are involved in commerce, construction and the protection of the districts who pay them. However, the Mountain clan aren't content with the way things are, and want to gain control of the whole island for themselves. Thus begins a clan war.

Jade City is primarily a character-driven novel. There is definitely plot, but it's a fairly slowburning one. The first half of the book is more focused on the Kaul family, of the No Peak clan - Lan, the Pillar (leader), Hilo, the Horn (kind of like the general), Shae, their jadeless sister, and Anden, their cousin/adopted brother. One of the best parts of this book, in my opinion, is the amount of time spent on the family relationships. Yes, they're pretty damn painful, and quite angst-filled (if you've read the Timothy Wilde series by Lyndsay Faye, they're definitely up there competing with that for Most Painful Familial Relationships), but they are also so compelling and there's no one character you'll love to the detriment of all the rest.

As well as there being such good relationships, the characters in themselves are also brilliant. I don't remember the last book in which I loved every single one of the main cast so much. (Which was a Big Problem around a particular part because it absolutely wrecked me. Beware of getting too attached to anyone in this series, I think, is the message to be taken away from that.)

Another wonderful thing about this book was the worldbuilding - ultimately it's a fairly simple fantasy world, but it felt so realistic and, to be honest, it's probably some of the best worldbuilding I've read in a fantasy novel of any sort. Everything just fits so seamlessly together.

If there's any complaint I have about Jade City, it's just that it was fairly slow up until That Particular Scene Which I Like To Pretend Didn't Happen. Yeah, the characters and the worldbuilding made up for it, and this is only a really minor complaint, but I did feel there needed to be a bit more action before the halfway point. Like I said though: this is a really minor issue. In the end, it didn't make a difference to how I rated the book.

So now all I have to do is wait (suffer/attempt to recover) until Jade War comes out.

Oh hell, it was superb perfection.
My only disappointment with this book is that it came to an end.

4.5 stars!
Thank you Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for the e-arc

I feel like I've been waiting for a book like this for a long time. This has a really cool and integral magic system that feels grounded and real, and it's the basis of the world that has a unique blend of government and gangsters. The characters were flawed but likable, and I cared about the conflict because everything, every death, even of minor characters, felt like it mattered. This book often went in directions I wasn't expecting and it felt like a breath of fresh air. A joy to read.


Characters

This didn't have one main character, but followed (mostly) one family who runs this clan, No Peak. I was interested in everyone introduced in the book, and they felt real and whole and I liked that they had flaws that felt realistic for their personalities.

My only complaint with the characters is that I wish there were more important female roles, there are a few really strong woman, and I especially liked Ay and Wen (even if Shae had the biggest part to play), but they were the only female characters of importance, which isn't a lot when this has such a big cast.

I feel like I could list each and every character as say why I liked them and found them interesting, with the exception of Bero, I hate Bero (but I kind of think we're meant to, and I still think his character was well done, so...).

Every character had there own motivations and personalities that drove them forward, and not of their actions felt out of place or random.


Plot

This plot must have taken a lot of time to perfect considering the number of point of views this books has. I will say that if you can't deal with a lot of POVs, this might not be the one to pick up, but the multiple second person perspectives is partly what I loved and admired about this book.

The plot was engaging and intricate. It felt like every scene with had merit, and there was a great balance of action and character building that made this book stand out to me.


World-Building

My only grudge, and what dropped this book a half-star, was that sometimes we spent too long explaining cultural details or stories of the world, or too long the administrative side of the plot in too much detail, which slowed down the pace and wasn't as interesting as the meat of the novel.

However, what these details really accentuated was how detailed and real this world felt. Every facet was well thought out, and it made this world feel real and like every detail had been remastered from the real world and made realistic for this world of gangsters. For the most part, the world-building and culture of this world was done in a seamless and interesting way, it was only in fleeting moments that the author spent a little too long on something that didn't particularly appeal to me.


Overall

I am so excited about this book, and I can't wait for the next one whenever it comes out. This really impressed me and I'm so glad I picked it up. It feels like sometime new and I can't wait to read more from this world. I'll defiantly read more from this author.

"Family is duty. Magic is power. Honor is everything".

This book seemed to have all the elements I absolutely adore in a book - an alternative world, ancient customs, family, conflict, and honour. It sounded like my cup of tea and although I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would it is still a fantastic read.

Okay, let's begin with the positives - I was taken in from the opening chapter and it had me in its grip, the storyline was excellent and I liked the writing style which made it very easy to get into. The worldbuilding is simply fantastic and I thoroughly enjoyed the setting and the use of ancient laws which both form a substantial part of the plot. The characterisation is stunning too, the characters are vivid and memorable and pique your interest from the first couple of pages.

The one issue I had that prevented me from awarding a full five-stars is the fact that the book frequently switches between multiple POV and as a result becomes slightly convoluted and confusing. This did affect my reading experience as it made it a tad difficult to keep everything straight. It also starts off a little pedestrian and I wondered when something exciting was going to happen. Luckily, it did pick up pace.

I love that this is a trilogy and cannot wait to delve into the second offering from Lee. I was not familiar with Lee before this novel but I will be checking out her past titles and enjoying those until the next one arrives. This is a magical fantasy and I am eager to see how the world and ideas develop in book two.

Many thanks to Orbit for an ARC. I was not required to post a review and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

I've read through a quarter of this book, and I can't seem to get in to it, the character POV's change so frequently it's really hard to keep track of, it's a shame as the story is intriguing. I may come back to it in the future when I can wrap my head around it being multi-person POV without it being clear.