Jamie
2.5 stars for the first half for being too painfully slow and descriptive for my liking... 4 stars overall thanks to the insane last third!
packed so much emotion within such short length. only my second read of clark's works but his lush prose is irresistible.
3.5 stars
had my jaw dropped for the most part. would've been 4 stars if not for that wretched ending...
call me pretentious for giving this 5 stars, i don't care! endless highlighting, note-taking, pondering. this is a book i will reference and ruminate on for years to come. only con were some of the spiritual dogma that felt trivial.
where do i even begin... a world so rich and colorful, so fantastically epic in scale that gets larger and larger. the characters, namely fatma, siti, hadia, and abigail, were such well-developed, fleshed-out people whom i could read 1000 more novels about. such profound, social themes tackled so masterfully and just so gosh darn funny. i need to devour more of this world!
i'd adored p djeli clark's novellas in this series but master of djinn has cemented him as an ultimate favorite author.
2.5 stars. began promisingly but eventually lost me. complex and ambitious, perhaps to a fault and a really poorly executed romance between the main 2 characters. what kept me going was the action.
a book that i was supposed to love... concept and magic system had me hooked but wasn't enough to compensate for my utter lack of investment in the characters, the stakes, and the world-building :/
2.5 stars
this might be my largest disappointment of the year. jade city has been on my tbr for numerous months and i'm more than aware it is a much beloved story.
before i list my issues with this story, let me preface by saying fonda lee's writing is good. i enjoyed some characters decently, especially lan and anden. and the premise had a lot of potential. in terms of actual reading experience though, it was just... okay.
the overarching conflict of clan conquest felt too distant. maybe i had gone into this book with the presumption of it having high stakes (which is naturally my taste with fantasy, i need the world to be ending to pique my interest) and was severely let down because jade city read more like a semi-draggy family drama.
i massively wish there was more exposition on the jade disciplines. the portions of the story where the kauls wielded their jade abilities were some of my favorite, though they were quite few. that last fight scene between hilo and gont where anden is inserted as a secret weapon was cool. speaking of, as of the moment, i'm considering continuing the series even if this first installment was quite subpar, i'm curious to see anden's relationship with jade and its addictive qualities develop.
covered interesting themes: from imperialism, nationalism, politics, to ethnocentrism, all of which i don't encounter frequently in the books that i read, so the thematic coverage was pleasant, albeit it fell short. wish it was explored more directly.
lan's death was too abrupt. maybe i think this way because he was my favorite character. had to slog through the remainder of the book after his death. truly what wasted potential. also felt his dependence on shine wasn't nearly explored enough. overall, his death felt like a contrite device to trigger shae's return to green bone life and establishment as weather man. which by the way, was majorly abrupt too.
moving on to some miscellaneous thoughts about the book:
i felt ambivalent with the family dynamics. i cared little for hilo, minutely for shae, and a fair amount for lan. their interactions were interesting at times and boring at others.
the character angst felt off-putting. especially hilo.
i had virtually no care for the clan conflicts. no peak this, mountain that. ayt madashi this, kaul lan that.
bero's plot line was useless, other than being the cause for lan's death.
the deitist religion was random and unexplored.
the female characters (kaul shae, maik wen, ayt madashi) did not get nearly as much development as the male ones.
overall, not a very satisfying read. promising premise, disappointing execution and focus. no tangible sense of escalation. not for me.
2.5 stars
disappointing, but not entirely bad! found the world-building incomplete. characters aside from the main two were all a bore. for some reason, just couldn't latch onto the story (in other words, i had no idea what was happening more than half the time). BUT, gideon and harrow are an amusing duo! and the magic system was so cool, wish it was better illustrated...
for such a bleak story, i had a great time reading it! good beginning and even better middle part. can't wait to see what happens in the next books.
haven't felt true emptiness and enthrallment until i read this book... save for chapter 34's ending, a perfectly fulfilling read.
2.5 stars
would be as groundbreaking as it's heralded if i had zero direction in life. some sections were helpful, most stated the obvious. wish the section on how habits can turn awry was prolonged, that was interesting.
3.75 stars
another lush read from clark. love the dead djinn universe. finished all three short stories and now can't wait to devour the first novel in the series!
2.75 stars
was an okay read for the most part! i found murderbot endearing and the story interesting enough to keep reading but i felt no connection to the other characters. still considering continuing the series though!
more actionable than the finance books i've read so far. learned more about how to simplify my prospective journey to financial independence... skipped a bunch of chapters though due to the heavy US-centrism.
3.75
was just looking for a short read to palate cleanse and pleasantly found myself enthralled by this world, its creatures, and its magic system. the writing was lush and mystical without being overly descriptive. i had fun following the main character throughout her investigations and had satisfaction (the right amount) watching her piece the puzzle together! short but impactful.
2.75 stars? 3 stars?
probably the book i've felt the most mixed feelings for... i went in with such high expectations, wanting to love it, and found it mostly alright. too many characters and too many places – definitely a book to be savored slowly. overly filled with sometimes inconsequential details but had a handful of endearing characters. hated the portrayal of women for most parts in the story...
4.5 stars
oh so horrifying and unnerving... very sad... this'll marinate in my head, for sure.
i just got bored... promising beginning but the yawning began when the most uninteresting villain i've ever encountered appeared on the page...