#* THREAD : KAUL HILO. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

terramythos · 3 years

Text

TerraMythos 2021 Reading Challenge - Book 27 of 26

Title: Jade War (The Green Bone Saga #2) (2019)

Author: Fonda Lee

Genre/Tags: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Female Protagonist, LGBT Protagonist, First-Person (briefly), Third-Person

Rating: 10/10

Date Began: 10/14/2021

Date Finished: 10/26/2021

Having barely escaped destruction at the hands of the Mountain clan, the No Peak clan seeks to strengthen its position locally and abroad. As war breaks out beyond Kekon’s shores, international attention turns to the small island nation and its valuable magic jade supply. Jade can enhance one’s physical abilities when worn, making it a coveted weapon of war. No Peak, led by the powerful and canny Kaul siblings, must strike risky alliances and combat unexpected enemies to secure the clan’s future on the world stage. But the Kauls will also have to grapple with themselves and how far they’re willing to go to protect family, clan, and country.

“You have to go where your enemies are,” Hilo said. “And then further.”

Content warnings and spoilers below the cut.

Content warnings for the book: Depicted — Death, animal abuse/death, graphic violence, graphic sexual content, drug use/addiction/withdrawal/overdosing, racism, domestic abuse, suicide/suicidal ideation, sexism, torture, terrorism, self-harm. Mentioned — Colonialism, p*dophilia, r*pe, child abuse, warfare, homophobia.

Jade War is everything a good sequel should be. The stakes are higher, the scope is broader, the political machinations are more intricate and intense, and characterization both improves and continues to impress. While I enjoyed Jade City a lot, Jade War is a huge step up. Assuming Jade Legacy sticks the landing (which I fully expect it to), I can say that The Green Bone Saga is one of the most criminally underrated fantasy series of the last few years.

Full disclosure — I initially struggled with this book. The first third or so is definitely a slow burn. Lee introduces a lot of different plot threads that, seemingly, have little connection to one another. Hilo meets with a jade smuggler to negotiate a hostage situation. Anden gets effectively exiled to Espenia and struggles to adapt in a strange, foreign county. Shae meets up with her secret boyfriend and ruminates on her role in the clan vs her personal desires. Stuff like that. I found it a little difficult to connect with everything. But all that setup pays off big time— and several threads from Jade City come back as well. Small details and minor characters return in interesting ways that play with one’s expectations. When everything comes together in the final act, it’s simultaneously satisfying and harrowing.

While Jade City focused on Janloon and the clan war between the Mountain and No Peak, Jade War elevates things to the world stage. Jade, found only on Kekon, enhances the martial abilities of people who wear it. It’s captured international attention as a potential weapon. When conflict erupts in nearby countries, Kekon finds itself caught in the middle as allies and enemies alike seek to procure jade by any means necessary. Add that to a longer timeline and the strained, tenuous peace between the two Green Bone clans, and you end up with a layered political conflict.

And boy does political intrigue take center stage in this novel. The last book had its fair share of politics, negotiations, and backstabbing. But like everything else, it’s on a whole new level here. Everyone’s playing the long game, and many chapters read as intense, manipulative chess matches. Though they’re fun to read, these stretches would lure me into a false sense of security. Then Lee would just gleefully blindside me with a shocking twist or development. There’s always a sense of tension reading Jade War, because one never knows when the shoe is going to drop.

The title is almost a misnomer, because the so-called “jade war” happens elsewhere in a foreign country. We never see it directly. The war we do see is fought in nontraditional battlefields— boardrooms, clandestine meetings, homes, etc. I’m almost—ALMOST— disappointed that Lee’s excellent fight scenes are less prevalent in this book. But honestly, I think this just enhances the ones we do get. In particular, there’s an intense fight about halfway through the novel, and it’s probably the best one so far. I’m avoiding spoilers, but it’s just stupidly good. Again, Lee writes action better than almost anyone I’ve encountered. Her descriptions and choreography are vivid and cinematic.

Characterization is on-point, both improving what I liked and addressing my criticisms from Jade City. Specifically, the Maik siblings get a lot of development, something I felt was lacking in the last book. I got a clear sense of Maik Kehn and Maik Tar as individuals rather than interchangeable background characters. Maik Wen gets lots of attention and a few perspective chapters. She ends up being the most important character outside of the main leads.

Anden also feels way more impactful as a character. My struggle last book was that he didn’t do much and felt a little wasted. But now that he’s a fish out of water and has to develop as a person outside of clan expectations, he matures quite a bit. His chapters add a lot of context about the world outside of Kekon, and I like how even Espenia has an unofficial clan structure among the Kekonese diaspora. He also has the most optimistic ending, which is a far cry from last book. His chapters seem almost at odds with the rest of the story, but, like everything else in the book, it all comes together in the end. It’s hard to pick a fave out of the three leads, but Anden comes closest.

But most of all, I love that Jade War explores and expands on the morally gray nature of the characters. Jade City touches on this a bit; often our heroes do questionable things out of necessity with an ends justify the means attitude. After all, Ayt Mada and the Mountain are cutthroat and willing to do whatever they can to undermine No Peak. Why shouldn’t No Peak do the same? The kid gloves come off in Jade War, however. The climax of the first act solidifies this— I won’t spoil it, but it’s a total shock that haunted me for the rest of the book.

The morally gray, violent nature of the story is often juxtaposed with the core theme of family. There are several kid characters who are obviously set up to be the next generation of Kauls. Hilo, despite his brutal nature in much of the book, takes to fatherhood with love and enthusiasm. He’s shown to be a compassionate and caring father figure, something he never had himself. But then you have one chapter where Hilo dispassionately buries a man alive to suffer a slow, agonizing death in jade withdrawal… then goes home and has a cute, meaningful scene with one of his kids. It’s horrifying, and there’s lots of examples of this throughout the book. The takeaway is that the two sides of clan life are intertwined… something the conclusion (especially Shae’s speech) drives home.

One last detail I enjoyed is that Hilo and Shae experience a reversal. Hilo, normally portrayed as the headstrong warrior archetype, shows his more duplicitous and politically cunning side. Meanwhile, Shae becomes more impulsive; she’s the one who jumps into a secret relationship and picks the most notable fight in the book. This is the opposite of their dynamic in the last book, yet it’s still perfectly in character based on their backstories. In Jade City, we learned the two siblings basically hated each other as kids, and even now they butt heads pretty often. The narrative doesn’t dwell on this much, but it’s interesting that the two are, at their core, pretty similar people.

If I have a criticism it’s that, again, I wish we saw more of the Mountain and its villains. Ayt Mada is such a fascinating antagonist, but outside of a few memorable scenes, we see very little of her directly. Nau Suen is also an unexpected treat (god, that one wham line), but outside of one chapter, he disappears until near the end of the book. As the Mountain and No Peak become more similar, and the line of morality continues to blur, I really want to see more of these characters. They’re not exactly the narrative focus, and I get that, but I think exploring them more could only strengthen the story.

That being said, Jade War was freaking awesome. I’m sad I have to wait a whole month for Jade Legacy to release, but I have high hopes for it. Definitely check this series out; it’s unlike any urban fantasy series I’ve read before, and its roots in martial arts and gangster stories add a lot to the experience. Mind the warnings though, because these books get pretty dark.

#2021 reading challenge #BONUS ROUND #taylor reads #10/10 #man.#and i have to wait a month for the next one. man.

9 notes · View notes