Friday, December 1, 2017

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Jade City by Fonda Lee




Jade City is the first in a new trilogy of Epic Urban Fantasy novels by Fonda Lee.  Note, unlike many other books I describe as Urban Fantasy, Jade City isn't a book about magical/mythological creatures in a modern world - instead, it's "Urban Fantasy" in that it takes place in an alternate world with mid-20th century technology (we're pre-computers, but cars and airplanes and electricity are commonplace), but also where certain individuals can gain magically abilities from pieces of Jade.  Really calling this "urban fantasy" might be the wrong way to put this book - to use an analogy from the author herself, this book can better be described as "The Godfather" but with Magical Ninja Clans in place of the Italian Mafia.  Which is a pretty good hook!

And for the most part, Jade City delivers.  This is a really enjoyable read (though at 512 pages, it's not short) that drew me in very quickly, with several excellent characters and a really interesting world.  While The Godfather parallels are very clear, the story clearly transcends its inspirations to become its own work, and unlike some other books I've read lately, this is a book that lives up to its extremely strong hook.  That said, the book basically doesn't have an ending and one of the main characters didn't really work for me, so it's far from perfect.  But if "The Godfather, but with magical ninja clans" seems appealing to you, you'll almost certainly enjoy Jade City.

More after the Jump:

---------------------------------------------Plot Summary------------------------------------------------
The Island of Kekon is legendary for its Jade, which provides those with the right bloodlines with magical abilities - such as the ability to deflect projectiles, to channel force into objects/beings, to increase one's strength, to increase one's durability, or to perceive others' intents.  Years ago,, using the power of Jade, the street clans of Kekon united and waged a guerilla war that freed the island from a foreign power.  When the war was over, two of the most powerful clans - the "No Peak" and "Mountain" clans - ruled the streets of Kekon while keeping a mutual truce.  Still, foreign powers looked at the Island of Kekon with envy, even manufacturing a drug known as "Shine" that could be used to give ordinary people the ability to wield Jade to some extent.

But the times are changing.  The legendary leader of the Mountain Clan is gone, and his daughter assassinated all of her potential rivals to become the leader of the clan, and looks to expand her influence.  The legendary leader of No Peak, Kaul Sen, is aging and has given over leadership in the clan to the youngest generation of the Kaul family.  The members of the family are:

Grandson Kaul Lan is the new Pillar of No Peak (the leader), is pragmatic and wise, but feels not as respected and maybe a little bit inadequate compared to his grandfather's and even his brother's legacy;
Grandson Kaul Hilo is the new Horn of No Peak (the lead Enforcer), and is hot-headed and rash, and worries that not taking aggressive action will lead to the clan's downfall;
Granddaughter Kaul Shae used to be Sen's favorite, until she left the Island to be with a foreign man.  That relationship having failed, she returns to the Island without any Jade and hopes to find her way to be her own woman....but can she avoid being drawn back into the family business; and finally:
Adopted Grandson Emery Anden is a student at the academy for new clan fighters, but fears that, like his mother who went crazy from drawing too much power from Jade, he won't be able to control the power and will be unable to support the family that has taken him in.

As the Mountain Clan takes more and more aggressive steps, each of the Kaul siblings (and Anden) finds themselves drawn further into the necessity of the family business and finds themselves coming up against their own limitations - can they navigate the changing world without finding their clan, and their family, totally destroyed?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jade City alternates chapters between the Points of View of the four Kaul siblings, as well as occasional POV chapters of an unrelated thief named Bero (excluding the interludes, there's only one chapter where another character gets a Point of View).  Lan, Hilo, and Shae get the majority of the chapters as the characters most involved with the story (the clan tries to keep Anden, who hasn't yet graduated, out of the war) and each of their points of view are excellent.  You get a sense quickly about who each of the main trio is, their insecurities and their abilities, and they're each likable in their own manner.  Shae - playing the Michael Corleone role here as the returning Family member who doesn't want to get involved with the family business, but who is drawn in anyway - was easily my favorite, but Hilo and Lan are excellent characters as well.  The side characters who don't get POVs are also in general developed well - Hilo's girlfriend Wen gets very little time but is another interesting female addition to the cast,

The plot itself also is also in general excellent and contains a bunch of unpredictable (to me anyway) twists and turns for the most part.  That said, the book sets up its twists nicely and nothing in general feels like a deus ex machina or comes out of the blue.  And while the worldbuilding sets up a pretty expansive world, much of which are not covered in this book, it never truly feels overwhelming.  And well the magical abilities of the Jade-wielding Green Bones are pretty nicely explained and lead to some fun fight scenes.

Obviously this book isn't perfect, or it'd have gotten a better score from me.  The fourth member of the Kaul family, the adopted grandson Anden, never really clicked for me.  In large part this is because the book seems to spend the least amount of chapters with him, and many of his chapters have him on the periphery of the action, not doing anything to affect the main plot.  While his insecurities and fears are written well, it was hard to care about him in light of everything that was going on.  Essentially he gets lost amongst the other characters, which is a problem because he's clearly set up for big things.  And the chapters from Bero's point of view were ones that in general I wanted to skip through, even when he would stumble into majorly affecting the plot.  He felt kind of goofy, and there's a weird moral of his story which seems to suggest that it would've been better for him to have been executed in the book's second chapter than for Lan to have shown mercy.

The ending is another letdown.  I understand this to be the first book in a planned trilogy, but the book doesn't really end in a cliffhanger, but rather just....stops a short time after a major event int he conflict.  I'm sometimes a bit harsh on books that end with cliffhangers, but I'm more annoyed at books that just stop at a pause in the middle of the conflict, which Jade City does - it doesn't lead itself to a truly satisfying ending.  I look forward to the next book in the series for sure.


Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)