Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Jade City by Fonda Lee

24 reviews

strawberrybooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

I listened to the audiobook and was absolutely enraptured by this rich world. The author does an absolutely amazing job creating thrilling clan politics that have you considering the different perspectives of the characters and how their current circumstances have led them to making their choices. Each character is amazingly fleshed out. 
The only reason I’m knocking it down a star is sometimes felt like I was listening to a history textbook happening in real time, and just needed a liiiiitle more personalization. But I think that’s more personal taste. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Violence

Minor: Addiction, Drug use, Gun violence, Blood, Murder, and Alcohol

crybabybea's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I have mixed feelings. I enjoyed reading this and found enough things I liked to keep going, but it didn't quite meet the hype for me.

The plot, inspired by old-school kung fu and Chinese gangster movies, was fresh and interesting, but it didn't push the envelope or add anything new. There are high-stakes politics, with a couple of good twists at the end. The plot is fairly generic, with real-world elements changed to imaginative fantasy ones.

The world-building was well-done. I appreciated the author's focus on small details. The world follows a stereotypical Confucian blueprint of patriarchal values, filial piety, and honor. Since it's urban fantasy, there wasn't an overwhelming amount of new information to process, making it easy to grasp the setting and its culture. The focus on Kekon made the setting feel intimate and immersive, and the capital Janloon felt bustling and full of life. Again, it's urban fantasy, so don't expect sprawling Fellowship of the Ring adventures.

I liked the characters but wanted to see a bit more from them. Anden had the coolest characterization, with an interesting backstory that made his motivations feel complex. I would have liked more from the villain, who has an intriguing story. There is a serious lack of complexity when it comes to the female main characters, so I hope they are explored more in the next installments. I see potential in the characters and their relationships despite not fully connecting with them here.

The choice to use jade as a magic amplifier is a unique idea that fits well with the old-school kung fu themes. I liked that the magic had drawbacks and didn't feel overwhelmingly powerful. The idea of the magic being akin to an addiction that harms the body over time, while not being the  adds depth to the story. The addition of

a street drug that counters the aftereffects of jade

is interesting and makes it feel like we are watching the world progress. The magic system was definitely the best part of this book. It was easy to understand, fit well with the setting and premise, and wasn't overpowered.

The writing itself was okay. I liked the author's tendency toward simplicity, but explaining actions and emotions overtly rather than letting them unfold naturally was distracting. There were some hard-hitting lines but nothing that wowed me. The POV switching was well done and added a cinematic quality to the book that made the experience satisfying. It never felt confusing or unnecessary and didn't take away from the pacing.

Overall, pretty solid as the first in a trilogy. I expect the first book in a fantasy series to be a bit slower and less in-depth than the following books, and Jade City does its job well: setting up the world and characters, introducing action, and leaving things up in the air to make you want to continue the series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Grief, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, and War

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Torture, and Mass/school shootings

The plot heavily revolves around a street drug that is similar to amphetamines. The drug and its usage are described in detail, including the use of needles and the characters' feelings after usage. The magic system itself behaves like an addiction, if characters use too much jade or use jade for too long it causes a mental sickness that drives them to things like dementia or suicide. A minor character is shown in a flashback committing self-harm and suicide. A minor character is revealed to be pedophilic with a past of abusing children and there are no repercussions. Heavy usage of violence and guns, with a scene involving a planned mass shooting.

unsuccessfulbookclub's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I enjoyed this modern fantasy take on gangster warfare. Lee has built an interesting post-war Asian world complete with territory disputes, magic and foreign powers interfering. Layers and layers of betrayal and plot twists. The audiobook is excellent, too!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

dajul73's review against another edition

adventurous funny sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, and War

Moderate: Torture, Medical trauma, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

olympia98's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Ottimo inizio.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

anni_swanilda's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Confinement, Mental illness, Sexism, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Racism

vnderseelie's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

The overall setting of Jade City was amazing and the structures of the clans and Kekons society was intriguing. However, most if them were introduced too late in the story for my opinion and that made it difficult to understand them from time to time. As a reader you are treated as if you already know everything about the terms, phrases, gods, etc. that are mentioned in the book and I feel like some points have not been addressed at all and you are forced to accept them as they are.

The characters are really interesting and actually carry a lot of the story, since their flaws and decisions let the events progress and escalate further, which makes them feel alive and well merged with the world Fonda Lee built. Nevertheless, a lot of the actions that the characters took did not make a lot of sense in specific situations or were needlessly cruel, even given the topics the book deals with. Especially the grandfather gave the impression that he just appeared to talk the others down. Additionally, I really disagreed with some scenes and the behavior in them, which made it hard for me to continue the book sometimes.

Some scenes felt a bit too long or they were repeated in almost the same way too often, which made them repetitive to read and it seemed to just add to the page count of the book, without providing a real impact on anything.

All in all the idea of Jade City was really interesting to me, but I think the actual translation into the story was lacking in my opinion.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, and War

jasannalise's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

i can respect the hustle - this book was well written, deeply thought out and had strong, intriguing, original elements. i was expecting it to live up to the poppy war (which was my mistake) and felt as though there was an element absent that maintained an impersonal distance between me and the characters. the length of this novel is noticeable but felt very rewarding to finish it. would  recommend still, and look forward to continuing the series!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and War

Moderate: Gore, Blood, Dementia, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cursing, Suicide, Torture, Death of parent, and Alcohol

lunep's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Vomit, and Kidnapping

Minor: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Racism, Suicide, Dementia, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Colonisation, and Pandemic/Epidemic

rnbhargava's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Dementia, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

This is the first part of a fantasy tinged saga about a crime family. All the violence and tropes of mafia stories are present here. Certain things are also essentially superpowers. That said, it’s also very gritty with hard hitting violence. There’s mental illness, there’s drug addiction, there’s deteriorating health of the elderly old leader. There’s suggestions that one character is a sex offender and pervert. There’s essentially ableism surrounding certain figures born to Jade user families but can’t use Jade abilities, ableism suggestions. There’s vilification and racism toward certain outside nations albeit because they’re also colonizing forces. Also, certain characters’ relationships with foreign nationals are heavily talked about with racist suggestion. The connection between drug addiction and potential suicide is a major theme in the story because it’s framed within the context of jade ability performance enhancement drug usage. There’s a lot of heavy themes to suggest while reading through this mafia family novel.