A review by nkfanning
Jade City by Fonda Lee

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.75

A bit slow to start but once it hit the midway point it was impossible to put down. I love that classic urban gangster genre and I think the author blended this perfectly with the fantasy element. I thought the fight scenes and politics of the world were great. My main issue was the lack of women characters, especially considering the author is a woman herself. It just seemed odd to me that even background and less important side characters, like Anden’s classmates for example, they were all men. Like, why? Out of Wen and Shae, the only two MCs who are women, Wen and all her choices and dictated by her love for Hilo and her concern for her brothers. I liked Shae but her motives were at times unclear to me. Her character seemed driven purely by the requirements of the plot -

like when Lan dies and she immediately steps in to be Weatherman, not a second thought. Even her reasoning for returning to Kekon in the first place seems strange and again unclear, if she’s so determined to stay out of clan business why return to the Clan Capital of all places?

. But it’s definitely well written and I’m hooked on the story, so I plan on finishing the trilogy.