Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Jade War by Fonda Lee

27 reviews

bearystarry's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

I think this was the perfect sequel to the first book.

Even though my favourite character died halfway through the first book

these characters are some of my favourites in everything I've ever read. Even when you're frustrated by them you love them. Shae's arc was Heartbreaking. I'm terrified (in the best way, if that's possible) to read the final book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Pregnancy, and War

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

sarah984'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

It's pretty rare to find a sequel - especially part 2 in a trilogy - that's as good as the original, but Jade War surpassed all of my expectations. It's got a broader scope this time: many scenes take place in other countries and the Kauls are contending with foreign militaries, expat communities and trade agreements on top of the clan war situation and general family drama. It was easy to romanticize what was going on in Jade City, but Jade War draws back that curtain a bit to show the darker side. The characters are fantastic and unfortunately all of their terrible decisions are absolutely consistent with what you'd expect them to do. I can't wait to read the third book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, Gore, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual content, Torture, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Abortion, Pregnancy, and War

Minor: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Chronic illness, Fatphobia, Genocide, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Rape, Suicide, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and Classism

theespressoedition's review against another edition

challenging tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

It's a little hard to compress all of my thoughts about this book into a review.

There's a lot that occurred in Jade War and I struggled to comprehend all of it. In fact, it took me about three times as long to finish it as I expected (I don't know why I thought I'd finish it sooner when it took ages for me to finish Jade City as well).

It's a thick book with a thick plot that's often really hard to follow. The primary theme is "political intrigue" and the author gives us that element in abundance. However, because of that, it often becomes sluggish and almost too dense. While the first book had almost equal amounts of informational chapters and action chapters, this one fell heavily on the side of information and left the action to happen in short spurts throughout.

However, when the action did occur, I found myself holding my breath, waiting to see what would happen next. I was never sure who would live and who would die, whether there was a traitor in the midst, or if a romance would occur. There aren't many other authors who could get me to sit through over 600 pages (probably 400 of which were about politics and war strategies) and still find myself interested enough to keep going. So major props to Fonda Lee for holding my attention through this one.

The ending alone was enough to make this book worth it. I honestly can't wait to find out what happens next.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, and War

Moderate: Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Abortion, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Rape, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

jakepasseri's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny 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? It's complicated

4.75

Amazing read, definitely better than the last one (if that is possible)! The only issue was with

the constant time jumps made it difficult to follow at times

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Abortion, and Colonisation

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Self harm, and Sexual content

kaseybereading's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Pregnancy

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

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, Kidnapping, Abortion, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Colonisation

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, Cancer, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Rape, Excrement, and Vomit

rorikae's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional reflective tense fast-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

5.0

In 'Jade War,' Fonda Lee continues the saga of the Kaul family as we deal with fallout from what happened in 'Jade City' and see how the political machinations, family dynamics, and the future of the clans continue to weave together. 
The middle books in a series tend to not be as strong as the first or final installments but that is not true with 'Jade War.' Lee elevates the pieces that she introduced us to in 'Jade City' and the more time we spend with these characters, the further we get pulled into their lives. I won't touch on any specifics since this is the second book but I will say that we continue to follow the Kaul family and those involved with the different clans. There are high points and even more devastating low points. 
I think the two parts of this story that are the strongest are the complex characters and the political machinations. Each of the characters are deeply flawed but Lee portrays them as so deeply human that it's hard not to care for them. I especially find Hilo a fascinating character. He may be my favorite character in the series but his flaws come out at many points of this book. There is a decision that he makes in this book that I absolutely did not agree with but Lee made me understand it and it didn't harm my care for him.
The twists and turns of this story are more dynamic and emotional than in the first book. I can't even begin to imagine what will happen in 'Jade Legacy' but I am sure that it will be a rollercoaster. I both cannot wait to pick up the final book and also want to put it off so that I always have more of these characters to return to. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Homophobia, Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Kidnapping, Abortion, and Pregnancy