A review by genny
Jade City by Fonda Lee

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

3.75

I enjoyed this; it was very readable and the setting was easy to fall into. Even though most of the story was set only in the city of Janloon, the worldbuilding was rich, with just enough history and a glimpse of the world outside Kekon. For a mob story, this wasn't fast-paced; the action sequences were brutal, but they took up less of the story than I anticipated. Instead, nearly the whole book felt like a set-up for the sequel - lots of political maneuvering, shifting of power, planting plot devices whose consequences are to be revealed later on.... All enjoyable and well-written, but I was ~80% into the book before I got truly excited. Even now I'm still not that invested in the characters. I'm interested to see where their paths take them and I care about No Peak as a whole, but would I cry if any of the main characters died? Probably not. Will I still read Jade War right away? Yes, actually! I have a feeling it'll be a lot more exciting now that the chess pieces are in place (fingers crossed).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Pedophilia, Torture, and Grief

Minor: Rape, Suicide, and Death of parent

Jade acts like a drug, pretty much, with all the consequences of withdrawal or addiction. There's also SN1, a synthetic drug designed to decrease sensitivity to jade.