Tuesday, November 16, 2021

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Jade Legacy by Fonda Lee

 



Full Disclosure:  This book was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained via Netgalley from the publisher in advance of the book's release on November 30, 2021 in exchange for a potential review.  I give my word that this did not affect my review in any way - if I felt conflicted in any way, I would simply have declined to review the book.       


Jade Legacy is the final book in Fonda Lee's "Green Bone Saga", her trilogy that began in 2017 with Jade City (my Review Here) and continued with 2019's Jade War (my Review here).  For those who somehow missed the earlier books in this series, the trilogy is often pitched as "The Godfather" meets "Kung Fu/Wuxia", and the premise lives up to that mash-up, while also dealing with a lot of serious themes at the same time (ala well, The Godfather).  The first book in the series, Jade City, won the World Fantasy Award and was nominated for the Nebula Award, while the second book Jade War was nominated for a few awards like the Ignyte Award as well.

This is another one of those series that I have mixed feelings about - I liked Jade City a good bit at the time of reading it, but didn't love it enough to pick up the sequel....and then when I picked up Jade War, I found myself not caring as much as I wanted to about the events and characters...except for one protagonist character whose actions I really hated.  And so I wasn't too sure I'd be continuing with this finale book - especially as this book is significantly the longest in the series.  Still, I suspected this one will be nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Series next year, so I decided to give it a shot anyhow.  

And well I liked Jade Legacy more than I thought I would, perhaps the most of any of the trilogy, and it definitely capped out the series in strong fashion.  As mentioned above, the book is the longest by far in the trilogy (listed at over 700 pages, and that's probably an understatement) and it features by far the longest time span of the trilogy, with the story covering decades through the use of multiple time skips.  And honestly, it probably could or should have been broken up into two separate books, with the time skips preventing me from really feeling the impact of a number of developments.  Still, those same time skips allow this story to really showcase the development and legacy of its protagonists, the Kaul clan, both old and new, as they deal with their old enemies (The Mountain) and foreign influences and the inevitable changes to their ways of life.  I'm not sure every development worked by the end, but it had me enraptured, and that's all I could've hoped for.  

Spoiler Warning: For obvious reasons, spoilers for books 1 and 2 of this series are discussed below the jump.  You have been warned.
----------------------------------------------------Plot Summary------------------------------------------------------
The clan of No Peak, and its leaders the Kauls have managed to survive despite attacks from their nemesis, the rival Mountain clan, and the dangerous efforts of foreign powers like Espenia and Ygutan to interfere with Kekonese sovereignty in their desire for the power of Jade.  But the family - Pillar Hilo, Weather Man Shae, and adopted brother now-turned doctor Anden - is as fractured as ever due to Hilo's anger over Shae going behind his back to use his wife Wen as a spy, an act that almost got Wen killed on Espenian soil.  And now the Mountain is rising once again in financial power, allowing it to exert dangerous pressure on No Peak, pressure that may crush them all if they can't stand united.  

And the Mountain may be the least of it.  For the foreign powers are more set than ever on intruding on Kekon, in their own nefarious ways.  Even worse, an underground Kekon anti-clan movement is brewing, perhaps with the encouragement of those foreign powers, which poses a threat neither clan could possibly have foreseen.  And as more and more Kekonese experience the rest of the open world, and more of the world gets to see Kekon, the very people who once were the clans' greatest supporters are starting to have different ideas about the future.  

To survive these foes, and the inevitable changes coming to Kekonese society, the Kauls will have to reconsider what they are willing to do and how they are willing to act.  And as the next generation of Kauls and Green Bones begins to come into their own age, they will struggle to shape the legacy of those who come next.......
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Jade Legacy begins in the same vein as its predecessors, with the story switching between the points of view of our usual suspects: Hilo, Shae, Anden, and Wen, to go along with occasional check-ins with Bero, the stumbling fool who is still finding himself a part of momentous events (in this case, an underground movement to overthrow the Clans, aided by foreign resources).  The characters are in similar positions as to where they were left off, with Shae being the wise one, if a step behind Ayt and the Mountain, Hilo not listening to her and Wen as much as he should - and Hilo being an utter ass about them still - as he rashly does things for what he thinks is best for the clan, even as they're dangerous, Anden trying to embark on his new profession as a doctor back on Kekon, and Wen struggling with her physical disability due to her injuries and Hilo not seeming to trust or love her as much any more as a result of it.  

And then something happens - Jade Legacy begins to jump forward in time in between events.  And the result is something very different - events unfold in more momentous ways, and characters develop in ways that are really interesting and well done, as they deal with foreign intervention, family problems, issues of different generations conflicting, and moral and ethical choices of a changing modernizing world.  These time jumps aren't without cost - and honestly, I think the book might overuse them at times, to the point where certain events are never given a chance to breathe.  For example an early plot point is Shae's right-hand man Woon, who is married but in love with Shae, finally winding up in an affair with her (and then getting married), resulting in his divorce and their marriage....a dramatic plot turn that goes absolutely nowhere and has no effect on anyone.  Another major even about 40% in threatens to overturn the entire order of the clans and rather than giving us the chance to see the Mountain and No Peak respond to it...we have a six year time jump.  This book very much could have been two books, with the extra space being used to show how things play out, and it does suffer a bit from everything being jammed together with the frequent time jumps.  

But the time jumps work so so well in general to really emphasize this book's title and its main theme, that of Legacy, as the main characters and their successors tackle how they will adapt to the growing new world, with globalization and modernization changing everything.  The new generation, all of whom get POV chapters and their own plots are not copies of their predecessors in any way, are all really interesting, as one struggles with expectations of leadership he doesn't want, another tries to find a destiny despite his being a stone eye, and the third tries very much to live up to Hilo's name.  The main characters all change and grow as they struggle and try to figure things out, from Anden who grows fully comfortable in his own skin as a doctor and as a side member of the clan, to Shae who makes decisions she never could have imagined, to Wen who learns to user her brain to promote the clan's interests through media and movies now that she can't act anymore as a spy.  

And hell, even Hilo grew on me, even as his past sins are absolutely unforgivable still, and he never gets a reckoning for them.  And the story again deals with serious themes, not just of generational change, but of foreign influence, of the reaping of natural resources, of the atrocities committed by mercenary groups, and of lines that should and are too often not drawn.  Not everything works in the plot, and I'm not sure how one character's ending plotline really fits her character, but so much of it does, and it's a very satisfying journey to an ending.  And it's a journey that made me very happy I decided to give this trilogy another chance...and if you liked the first two books better than me, I suspect this one will really really make your day.   
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