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A review by mattdavenport
Jade War by Fonda Lee
4.0
8.2/10 - Great
The second entry in the Green Bone Sage definitely upped it's game even from a pretty good opening installment. Anden's storyline seemed like the most prominent to me, with Hilo and Shae trading POVs to a roughly similar amount. The events take place over the span of ~5 years, which is something I haven't really seen in a fantasy book before. It made the story a bit more episodic at times than I'm used to, but I actually found myself enjoying it; it allowed the characters, world, and geo-political conflict to evolve sensically but radically from beginning to end. After having a bit of an emotional downturn halfway through Book 1, I think the decisions made then have paid off, as I've become more emotionally invested in a much broader array of characters who have been forced to grow in new ways. The climax to the book was really well done, and I was tearing through the last 60 or so pages. Overall, this was definitely a well-above average fantasy book for a good fantasy series, that I could see having a fantastic ending if it's GoodReads rating is anything to go by.
The second entry in the Green Bone Sage definitely upped it's game even from a pretty good opening installment. Anden's storyline seemed like the most prominent to me, with Hilo and Shae trading POVs to a roughly similar amount. The events take place over the span of ~5 years, which is something I haven't really seen in a fantasy book before. It made the story a bit more episodic at times than I'm used to, but I actually found myself enjoying it; it allowed the characters, world, and geo-political conflict to evolve sensically but radically from beginning to end. After having a bit of an emotional downturn halfway through Book 1, I think the decisions made then have paid off, as I've become more emotionally invested in a much broader array of characters who have been forced to grow in new ways. The climax to the book was really well done, and I was tearing through the last 60 or so pages. Overall, this was definitely a well-above average fantasy book for a good fantasy series, that I could see having a fantastic ending if it's GoodReads rating is anything to go by.