Jade City

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.