Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

Jade War by Fonda Lee

22 reviews

jessiereads98's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.75

While this one doesn’t hit quite as hard for me as Jade City did, it’s close. If I could give this like a 4.85 or 4.90 it would be more accurate. Fonda Lee continues and expands her masterful world building here by interweaving international cultures and politics with that of Kekon. The crafting of politics and international relations here is truly an impressive feat. Unfortunately with the new politics, settings, and characters we end up losing some time with Kekon and the Kauls. The time jumping around and pacing in this book just felt messier and more inconsistent to me than the first book. The pacing doesn’t seem to pick up to where it was in the first book until the last 150-200 pages when the separate threads laid out throughout the story start to come together. Overall a strong follow up to Jade City but does seem to suffer somewhat from the second book syndrome of largely setting things up for the third book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Violence, Xenophobia, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gore, Gun violence, Racism, Torture, and Blood

Minor: Confinement, Cursing, Homophobia, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Grief, Abortion, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Classism

redthistle's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Racism, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

ncoletti's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Gun violence, Racism, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Abortion

le_mur's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Hate crime, Racism, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Biphobia, Homophobia, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Abortion, and Pregnancy

ripxreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

Moderate: Drug abuse and Suicide

Minor: Racism and Abortion

_azure76's review

adventurous dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Torture, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Minor: Cursing

bethsiekierawalker's review against another edition

adventurous challenging tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Drug abuse and Violence

Minor: Abortion

horizonous's review against another edition

adventurous tense slow-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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Xenophobia, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Rape, Self harm, Kidnapping, and Abortion

◦ Death = Brother, Grandparent

maira_h's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective 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

I didn't think it was possible to feel this way again about a book; that sort of giddy feeling after reading a particularly mind-blowing book. But I did– feel that way, that is. That ending was crazy explosive. I was at the edge of my seat all throughout that thrilling ending to this second installment.

The Kauls are really growing on me. The first book, for some reason, I didn't know what to feel yet about these characters. But this book made me adore them each in their own way. They were not perfect characters, mind you, but the were distinct individuals nonetheless. Fonda Lee did a really great job capturing their unique personalities, even the massive cast of side characters. I feel like the characters in this series will be those that will stay with me for a long time.

Going into this, I knew to expect a lot of politics involved. This second book was still politically heavy, but with that anticipation, I was not struggling at all to go through this book. The pacing felt a lot faster than the first book.

Also, I want to applaud the emotional maturity with which every conversation, every action was written. I was blown away by that emotional awareness, by the details to each action and consequences. Fonda Lee's writing style is impressive for this.

5 stars and a new favourite! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Hate crime, Xenophobia, and War

Minor: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Abortion, and Injury/Injury detail

felix_blomfelt's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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 abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual content, Abortion, and Pregnancy