Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

Ciudad de Jade by Fonda Lee

75 reviews

minxtte's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

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

dani794's review against another edition

4.5

"Family was duty. Blood was destiny. And jade was the key to it all."

The world building in this was fun, I felt like I could really imagine the world that's so dedicated to jade! It does feel a little slow to start with but it transitions to action very nicely. 

The range of characters is nice, they all felt different and you can understand why each character thinks the way they do. It can be hard to track all the characters so having a list in front of you is a good idea lmao. I like there was a lean into the emotions of war but I wish I felt more connected/emotional. I did like it though, it was a nice start.
I particularly like Bero's thought process

when he "killed" Lan and received no recognition for it.

I've heard it just gets better in the next few books so I'm excited to contnue!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and War

pri_lakshmi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, and War

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Dementia, Medical trauma, Stalking, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Bullying, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, and Colonisation

bobbyeight's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Sexual content, Violence, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Sexual violence

dreadspawn's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror

lissi_k's review against another edition

4.5

This is the first book in a long time that managed to make me feel the way I felt reading fantasy as a child. It has this feel of absoulte immersion into another world to it, while still satisfying the storytelling quality I look for now as an adult. 

The worldbuilding is insane - at first it seems very straightforward, but throughout the story the author effortlessly weaves in more and more details that make you realise how deep it actually goes, and how every part of it is inextricably intertwined with the characters and the story at large. 

All the characters are three-dimensional, morally grey and very human, and it is so interesting to follow their thoughts and actions. Every action always has far-reaching consequences, nothing exists in a vacuum. 

Bonus points are the fight scenes, which are remarkably realistic both regarding what happens, and how the characters feel during. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Death, Drug abuse, Pedophilia, Sexism, Sexual content, Xenophobia, and Murder

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

noeyy'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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Gun violence, Suicide, Violence, and War

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