katiequack'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? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Violence, Drug use, and Death
Moderate: Gun violence
Minor: Sexual content
bearystarry's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-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? Yes
5.0
I'm extremely emotionally attached to all of the main characters and am a little terrified to read the next two books, not gonna lie. I think the characterizations and descriptions are so well done... ugh. I love it.
Spoiler
I cried multiple times at Lan's death and how people mourned him afterward as well. Oof. Honestly stunning emotional writing in that sense.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Dementia, Drug use, Animal death, Blood, Cursing, Kidnapping, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Abandonment, Death, Injury/injury detail, War, Mental illness, Murder, Xenophobia, Animal cruelty, and Gun violence
Moderate: Pedophilia, Fatphobia, and Ableism
laraveliants's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
“On my honor, my life, and my jade.”
I had high expectations for Jade City before reading it because I have read nothing but praise, and let me tell you it did not disappoint!!! Jade City exceeded my expectations and I'm glad I picked it up.
The story was so good and it's more than just the rivalry of the No Peak Clan and the Mountain Clan. Relationships between family members and clan members was one of the focuses of Jade City so it was interesting to see when the two mixed together.
The fight scenes were a hundred percent perfection. I was gripping my book every time a fight scene came up. They were so tense that they had me flinching and gasping. The fight scenes were like I was watching anime or something.
The characters, I can't even begin to describe how attached I am to them. Lan, Shae, Hilo, Anden, Wen, Kehn, and Tar are all members of the No Peak Clan and are the protagonists of the story. Most of them had their own POV and it made the book better because they're all complex characters. If I had to pick favorites I would choose Hilo.
There's very little romance here (which is not a complaint btw) but Wen and Hilo's small moments were so beautiful and sad.
I had high expectations for Jade City before reading it because I have read nothing but praise, and let me tell you it did not disappoint!!! Jade City exceeded my expectations and I'm glad I picked it up.
The story was so good and it's more than just the rivalry of the No Peak Clan and the Mountain Clan. Relationships between family members and clan members was one of the focuses of Jade City so it was interesting to see when the two mixed together.
The fight scenes were a hundred percent perfection. I was gripping my book every time a fight scene came up. They were so tense that they had me flinching and gasping. The fight scenes were like I was watching anime or something.
The characters, I can't even begin to describe how attached I am to them. Lan, Shae, Hilo, Anden, Wen, Kehn, and Tar are all members of the No Peak Clan and are the protagonists of the story. Most of them had their own POV and it made the book better because they're all complex characters. If I had to pick favorites I would choose Hilo.
There's very little romance here (which is not a complaint btw) but Wen and Hilo's small moments were so beautiful and sad.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder, and Violence
leanne_miron's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Injury/injury detail, Murder, Violence, War, Sexual content, and Death
Moderate: Gun violence, Medical content, Xenophobia, Addiction, and Drug abuse
Minor: Pedophilia and Sexual harassment
maregred's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
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? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, War, Sexual content, Dementia, Injury/injury detail, Emotional abuse, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Blood, Alcohol, Animal death, Addiction, Grief, Drug abuse, and Drug use
Minor: Sexism, Homophobia, Racism, and Xenophobia
james2021'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? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Blood, Violence, Death, Grief, and Murder
cardanrry's review
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Gun violence, War, Death, Kidnapping, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Torture, Grief, Sexual content, and Self harm
kaseybereading's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
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? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Blood, War, and Death
pixxyhex's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
After seeing so many great reviews of this book, I went into it with so much hope. A gang war in an urban fantasy setting with magic and martial arts, sounds fantastic.
Unfortunately I struggled to finish the book and almost DNFed it 3 times.
The disjointed POVs and very slow pace at the beginning made it hard for me to understand the world and politics that rule it. The pace does pick up after the 55% mark and I stopped struggling as much to get to the end.
The worst thing for me however, was the fact that I couldn’t connect with any of the MCs. This meant that nothing that happened to them made the impact on me it should have. I pivoted between who I found least annoying, and in the end I ended up disliking all of them.
The last chapter just made me angry.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Violence
thenovelmaura'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
"Screw you, Hilo. I can kill my ex-boyfriends myself." I love a good out-of-context quote, and this is one of my favorites from a new favorite book. I'm so glad this was chosen as our #ViolentQueensBookClub pick for May, even though I'm shamefully late in reviewing it!
Jade City is a beautiful array of contradictions that defies genre categorization. The description makes this book sound like a sprawling epic fantasy, and while it has plenty of epic elements, it's also an urban fantasy unlike any I've read before. Despite its large cast of characters and constant political intrigue, it's simultaneously an intimate look at the Kaul family and all the complexities that come with growing up as leaders of a crime syndicate—heavy responsibility, competitive relationships, privilege and corruption. The primary antagonist of the rival clan is so well-developed and captivatingly cunning that I can easily imagine the book being told from her perspective instead (and I'd be totally fine with that).
I will say that it took me about 100 pages to wrap my head around the world that Lee has so elegantly designed, but after that I was completely hooked. Everything I learned about the magic, the system of government, the history of Kekon, and the characters' relationships made me want to learn more. There's so much more story to be told here and Jade War is going to be making its way onto my shelves very soon. I have no idea why I waited so long to read this book, but I won't make the same mistake with the rest of the trilogy!
Jade City is a beautiful array of contradictions that defies genre categorization. The description makes this book sound like a sprawling epic fantasy, and while it has plenty of epic elements, it's also an urban fantasy unlike any I've read before. Despite its large cast of characters and constant political intrigue, it's simultaneously an intimate look at the Kaul family and all the complexities that come with growing up as leaders of a crime syndicate—heavy responsibility, competitive relationships, privilege and corruption. The primary antagonist of the rival clan is so well-developed and captivatingly cunning that I can easily imagine the book being told from her perspective instead (and I'd be totally fine with that).
I will say that it took me about 100 pages to wrap my head around the world that Lee has so elegantly designed, but after that I was completely hooked. Everything I learned about the magic, the system of government, the history of Kekon, and the characters' relationships made me want to learn more. There's so much more story to be told here and Jade War is going to be making its way onto my shelves very soon. I have no idea why I waited so long to read this book, but I won't make the same mistake with the rest of the trilogy!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Death
Moderate: Addiction and Self harm