Jade City

Thanks to Orbit Books via NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. My opinion of this book is not influenced by this opportunity.

Jade City combines elements of gangster families with martial arts, fantastical properties of jade, and the quest for power. The book spans multiple perspectives from the No Peak clan (and a couple outside perspectives too), and one of the central themes is the role of family obligation.

To be completely honest, I had a really hard time getting into the book. It took me until about 50 percent through the e-book to find a groove, which means that had I not been reading it as a galley, I would have abandoned it by that point. I never felt that sympathetic or even enraged by any of the main characters, instead feeling kind of annoyed at their decisions and lack of overall maturity. With so many characters introduced, I never felt like I had a sense of any one character's depth or complexity. Only towards the end of the book did I feel that one of the purported villains was multifaceted, and that would have made for a much more interesting subplot. Similarly, a side female character without jade-related abilities (stone-eye) ended up being one of the more fascinating cases and I would have loved to have experienced this plot from her eyes.

I also found Lee's choice to make men so prominent in her world and women - with two slight exceptions - fairly minor. In a world where we're supposed to imagine a different world, why are men still so prominent?

I think if this book continues on to become a series, I'd like to see a tighter plot with better editing and stronger character development.