Jade City

The Green Bone Saga, Book 1

By: Fonda Lee

Narrated by: Andrew Kishino

Nominee for Nebula Award for Best Novel

In this World Fantasy Award-winning novel of magic and kungfu, four siblings battle rival clans for honor and power in an Asia-inspired fantasy metropolis.

Jade is the lifeblood of the island of Kekon. It has been mined, traded, stolen, and killed for - and for centuries, honorable Green Bone warriors like the Kaul family have used it to enhance their magical abilities and defend the island from foreign invasion.

Now, the war is over and a new generation of Kauls vies for control of Kekon's bustling capital city. They care about nothing but protecting their own, cornering the jade market, and defending the districts under their protection. Ancient tradition has little place in this rapidly changing nation.

When a powerful new drug emerges that lets anyone - even foreigners - wield jade, the simmering tension between the Kauls and the rival Ayt family erupts into open violence. The outcome of this clan war will determine the fate of all Green Bones - and of Kekon itself.

The Green Bone Saga

• Jade City
• Jade War
• Jade Legacy

©2017 Fonda Lee (P)2017 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

Named one of TIME's Top 100 Fantasy Book of All Time

Winner of World Fantasy Award for Best Novel

Winner of Aurora Award for Best Novel

Finalist of Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel

2017, Nebula Award, Runner-up

2018, World Fantasy Award, Winner

2018, Aurora Award, Winner

2018, Locus Award, Runner-up

"A beautifully realized setting, a great cast of characters, and dramatic action scenes. What a fun, gripping read!" (Ann Leckie, Hugo, Nebula, and Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning author)

"An instantly absorbing tale of blood, honor, family and magic, spiced with unexpectedly tender character beats." (NPR)

"An epic drama reminiscent of the best classic Hong Kong gangster films but set in a fantasy metropolis so gritty and well-imagined that you'll forget you're reading a book." (Ken Liu, Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Award-winning author)

i liked it

good book, narrator is clear, doesn't jump around a lot so its easy to listen to at the gym in bits and pieces.

Elegant, inviting, relentless

I'm left in awe. Please try it. This was really great. All expectations were exceeded. The story combines power, identity, family, legacy, politics, and loss in very satisfying way. The action scenes were gripping. The characters felt understandable and relatable. The setting feels like a real place. I haven't read a setting this clearly articulated and felt in a long time. There was a ton of atmosphere.

The central concept of a type of jade that bestows heightened abilities on those who wear it was handled in a compelling and intriguingly layered way. Jade isn't just a one dimensional power booster. It can damage just as much or more than it gifts if not handled the right way. There are dangers to wearing it, and inborn senstivity as well as level or lack of training affects one's capacity to use it. It can make people godlike martial artists but also destroy their lives. It's hard to sum up in a quick way but it worked very well as a focal point for character struggles and action sequences and the way it informed the culture of the country the story happens in.

There are a lot of POV character changes from chapter to chapter. It was reminiscent of the Game of Thrones books in that way, but with a smaller cast of characters and everything feels much tighter because POV characters are dealing with connecting situations within one city.

There looks to be a degree of criticism around people not being able to relate to the characters but I never found it a problem. Certain characters are more sympathetic than others of course but even ones harder to connect with are well written and who they are and why they do what they do was very understandable. I could see the switching of perspectives could potentially make it hard to bond with any single character but for me that's subjective to one's taste and not a problem of the book itself. I never found it an issue.

The narrator is trustworthy. He manages the different voices well. There were only a very few times I was unsure who was speaking and it never lasted long. He's easy to listen to and some of the character voices in particular suit who they are for quite well.

Perfection

Everything about this book is phenomenal the character work the magic system and the premise and story and prose is just fantastic

Narrator should never read an explicit scene again

Andrew Kishino has a voice like sandpaper. It works very well for most of the book but is incredibly awkward when he's describing sex.

enjoyable but not fantastic

Enjoyable, but characters are not enthralling. came for strange magic advertised got Asian Mafia instead

Andrew knocked it out of the park!!

Voice performance really elevated the fun I had with this book! Well done, everyone involved!

Very exciting book about family and duty

This was great because I really love books about fantasy and magic. However many focus on them solely. This really told a story if transition of warring clans. Responsibility but finding yourself and who you want to be

Literally just Godfather but Asian and with magic

This book is literally just the Godfather but Asian instead of Italian, and with almost the exact same magic system as Kill la Kill. And I'm not just using the word "literally" like your average teen white girl, I mean this book follows the plot beats and the character arcs of Godfather point for point until somewhere around the last third. It mixes things up a little bit by having the characters swap some traits around, like how Shae follows Michael's character arc, but as the Consiglieri instead of the Don. Or how Anden is an adopted prodigy like Tom Hagen, but has a weak will and gentle heart like Fredo.

Now, whether the whole Godfather retelling is a good or bad thing is up to you. Personally, I'm a Sicilian, and you're never going to convince a Sicilian that anything will ever do the Godfather better than the Godfather. It's just not happening. On top of that, all the wisdom and intelligence that the Godfather's characters have are nowhere to be found here. Jade City's characters are all idiots across the board except for the villains. It's like how the bumbling dysfunctional dumbasses in Wheel of Time are based on the transcendent geniuses of Dune. You'll probably be calling out every mistake as they make them, and they'll all come back to bite in exactly the ways you'll expect. The Kauls are exactly the type of family the Corleones eat for breakfast.

That being said, the fictional cultures in this book and its sequels are really well fleshed out, and the mythologies and magic tie into the worldbuilding super well. The magic itself is functionally the same as in Kill la Kill, but seeing as how that show was an over-the-top gratuitous action comedy about evil clothes from outer space taking over the world with nothing but a militarized high school and an army of nudists to stop them (I'm not kidding, it's so stupid and it's wonderful), the more nuanced and realistic scope of Jade City allows the magic to flow naturally through the world and story, and get a much more proper exploration of what it can do and how it would affect the people who use it.

All in all, this book is somewhere between "fine" and "really good." I have hangups with all the Godfatherisms that are done less well than in that masterpiece, but I also know plenty of people who are the exact opposite and prefer the dysfunctional fuckups of Jade City that make it feel like more of a struggle. And I can't stress enough how well the urban fantasy elements are done here. Read it if you think you'll like it, don't read it if you think you won't.

The family dynamic and the battle scenes kept me engrossed

I am immediately jumping into the second book, This was such an engaging book. Felt myself holding my breath in parts because i had no clue what was happening next. This was so good, I will be tiring my friends and family about reading this series.

Amazing Urban Fantasy Crime thriller

This book manages to masterfully create an interesting world that both mimics our own and diverges sufficiently. The familial, clan, and country politics are executed in a believable and intelligent way.