Title: Jade War.
Series: The Green Bone Saga #2.
Writer(s): Fonda Lee.
Publisher: Orbit.
Format: Hardcover.
Release Date: July 23rd 2019.
Pages: 608.
Genre(s): Fantasy.
ISBN13: 9780316440929.
My Overall Rating: ★★★★☆.
Previously on The Green Bone Saga:
Jade City by Fonda Lee.
There are stories that pull you in so wildly that you don’t have a choice but to succumb to its spell and let it immerse you into its world. These stories often insert numerous hooks into the reader and leave them at their mercy as they try to resist all the thrills and emotions that come with the events that unfold. This is even truer when it’s about sequels of magnificent novels as they already have their claws deep into the reader and all they need to do is whisper the names of all those beloved characters that they’ve grown attached to, to fully hypnotize the reader into a love-coma. Thus, Fonda Lee successfully delivers a fantastic sequel to her latest trilogy and does the impossible by making it bigger and better in every sense of those words. However, things aren’t looking too good for the No Peak Clan as they find themselves short-handed in the impending war.
What is Jade War about? Sequel to the World Fantasy Award-winning novel Jade City, the story is set 16 months after the events of the first novel and continues where it left off as the Kaul family’s honour is threatened and their power diminished with rival clans who look to overtake them and create a mono-ruled metropolis. While the tension is high on the island of Kekon, war is brewing outside the borders and there’s only so much that can be done to contain the impending chaos. The solutions aren’t always to everyone’s taste and the result isn’t always what is expected but change is necessary if anything is to happen. Fonda Lee achieves an incredible accomplishment with this massive sequel by exploring all of the family member’s dilemmas on an emotional and personal level while weaving in the societal and political climate that rules their lives.
There’s an irrefutable fluidity to the pacing of this story despite the multiple points of view that were present in this sequel. Allowing herself the freedom to expand her world beyond the island of Kekon, Fonda Lee pursues her exploration of love, honor, and trust within and between clans in this second installment. With the foundation of this epic urban fantasy set in stone in Jade City, she was able to focus on the characterization and develop the complex relationships that exist inside and out of the clan. This wasn’t just about spinning her characters into madness but to show the incredible decisions they need to take, the various motivations behind their actions, and the consequences of their vision on a personal and international level. In fact, Fonda Lee does an impressive job in showing the repercussions of war on an individual, economic, and political level without ever losing her grasp on the reader’s attention.
What I loved about this sequel was its scope and how it allowed the reader to understand each character and their level of commitment, ambition, and interest in the grand scheme of things. The multiple points of view also allowed to see the gap between each generation as well as the different realities that these characters were working with. From Hilo and his new role within the clan to Shae and her conflict between duty and love, the young Anden’s life is the one that allowed the author to reach overseas and complexify Fonda Lee’s Green Bone Saga. Without any doubt, the author’s comprehension of gangsterism and the illegal markets that they can handle is sublime. Although the novel takes on a stronger political facet, there were plenty of excellent action sequences—infused with jade and bloodthirst—and individual drama to allow the reader to connect with the characters and adore this story.
Jade War is a phenomenal sequel that explores love, family, and honor while the Kaul family remain under incredible tension as they enter an international playground to survive the onslaught from adjacent rivals.
Jade War is a phenomenal sequel that explores love, family, and honor within the Kaul family while they remain under incredible tension and enter an international playground to survive the onslaught from adjacent rivals.
Thank you to Hachette Book Group Canada and Orbit for sending me a copy for review!
Roars and Echoes 
I tried to tone down my own enthusiasm when I was reading your review for it (because I know I would end up adding yet another book to my to read list) but guess what? I failed lol😂😂 This was an amazing review, and you certainly convinced me to check this one out in the near future (which will probably be sometime next year, seeing my current books that I still have to read are huge 😂😂). Thanks for bringing this one into view! 😊
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Hahahah I’m glad to feed that TBR monster of yours with more books though! And if you do pick it up somewhere next year, maybe the third and final book will be out as well and you could binge through an epic fantasy trilogy! 😁 Thanks for reading, Michel! I appreciate it!
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“Love-coma”
Hahahahaaa. That is a fantastic phrase. I don’t care how you used it or what you meant by it (this author and her books don’t really appeal to me so I tend to skim reviews) but it stood out like an exotic dancer at a nunnery 🙂
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Hahahahahah I find the idea of an “exotic dancer at a nunnery” much more fantastic! 😂
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Awesome review, I’m hoping I can start the first book soon so I can catch up and read this one!
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Thanks, Mogsy! Too many awesome SFF books to check out, right? 😂 At least in one year there should also be a third and final book hitting the shelves though. Binging the trilogy would make it a lot easier to remember all these character names and events! 😁
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Glad you enjoyed it so much! I’ve read Jade City but somehow it failed to impress me – it was well written but as a reader I felt I had no stakes in it – so it’s good to see the sequel might be better 🙂
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I think I was able to enjoy it more because of how it played out like a TV series in my head. I also craved a fantasy world with a criminal organization theme to it. Although Priest of Lies then came out and impressed me way more. 😂
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Huh, maybe I should try out Priest of Lies then 😉 Jade City definitely did not work for me, except for that one fighting scene at the end 😉
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This world sounds so complex and intriguing. I’ve been meaning to pick these up for a while – even more so now I know the sequel is as good as the first
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I’m glad to hear your interest in this trilogy! I do hope you’ll enjoy it when you get the chance to check it out, Lydia! 😁
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This book sounds so cool! From your description, I thought it would be a 5-starred book! Amazing review 😍
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Hahaha it’s fantastic but it’s in how the story is told that I’m not the biggest fan, where the narrator explains everything to the reader, leaving nothing for us to analyze and understand. Thanks, Caroline! 😁
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Oooh I see! I can totally understand, it’s good to keep some sort of mistery! 😄
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My writing partner read Jade City! She agreed with you that the magic and battles were very good. She said that it was too much setup and not as much character as I enjoy. She knows I read for character… but it sounds like Jade War remedied that quite a bit! I noticed from your comment about your rating that it was all the telling that bugged you a bit. I admit that is a pet peeve of mine. 😉 I appreciate what you love about this series though. Jade magic is so tempting…
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So glad to hear that your reading partner checked out Jade City. I think she’ll definitely appreciate Jade War, even more, there’s a lot more character development going on here, while the story also further expands the world! But, personally, the writing style leaves no room for the reader to deduce anything. Everything is spelled out for them. It makes for an easy and fun cinematic read but not the kind that would make me give it 5 stars! 😀 I prefer when things are implied, when the reader is involved in the story!
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Sounds like an entertaining read with some interesting themes and it’s always rewarding when the second book in a series lives up to what’s come before. Awesome review sir, I need to branch out my reading a little in the coming months, I’ve been reading a lot of Star Trek novels lately – there are just so many and they keep coming haha!
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Thank you, my friend. Indeed, it’s always nice when the 2nd book of a trilogy surpasses the first one. Then again, the author did give this sequel way more pages than the first book to build it all up. Ouuuhhh Star Trek novels! I sort of feel the same about the Star Wars novels. I want to dive into them but every year there seems to be a new one out that makes it feel like there’s a mountain of them to go through!
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You make this sound like it should be the next Game of Thrones series.
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I think everyone is looking for something that could be the next GoT… Especially after the finale we got, anything could do!
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