If you read my review of Jade City, then you will know how head over heels in love I am with the Green Bone Saga. High fantasy, family politics, and magical jade? How could I not be in love? And Jade War did not disappoint in the least.
Summary
In Jade War, the sequel to the World Fantasy Award-winning novel Jade City, the Kaul siblings battle rival clans for honor and control over an Asia-inspired fantasy metropolis.
On the island of Kekon, the Kaul family is locked in a violent feud for control of the capital city and the supply of magical jade that endows trained Green Bone warriors with supernatural powers they alone have possessed for hundreds of years.
Beyond Kekon’s borders, war is brewing. Powerful foreign governments and mercenary criminal kingpins alike turn their eyes on the island nation. Jade, Kekon’s most prized resource, could make them rich – or give them the edge they’d need to topple their rivals.
Faced with threats on all sides, the Kaul family is forced to form new and dangerous alliances, confront enemies in the darkest streets and the tallest office towers, and put honor aside in order to do whatever it takes to ensure their own survival – and that of all the Green Bones of Kekon.
Jade War is the second book of the Green Bone Saga, an epic trilogy about family, honor, and those who live and die by the ancient laws of blood and jade.
Amazon — https://amzn.to/2LIhqRg
Book Depository — https://www.bookdepository.com/Jade-War/9780356510538
Goodreads — https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41716919-jade-war
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
Reading Jade War is like re-discovering your favorites. No matter how long it’s been since you read Jade City, opening Jade War is an emotional experience. If you’re fresh off the twists, turns, and cliffs from the first, or it’s been some time for you, it’s a thrill to become re-immersed in the Green Bone Saga world. It’s intoxicating. The power, the vulnerability, of jade. The cost is extracts, the rush, the way it pulls us in. In Jade War, we are treated to a more international scope as the Kaul family face enemies from beyond and within their borders.
Characters
There’s an intensity to every part of Jade War. Whether it be in the fast paced action scenes, the adrenaline coursing through your veins as your favorites enter danger, or even in the quiet introspection in the aftermath. Shae’s past comes back to haunt her and she begins to ask herself what she will end up giving up for her family? All while Hilo leadership capabilities and family is tested more than ever before. And Anden as he experiences what it is like to be an Outsider. These three only brush the surface as Lee introduces other characters who grow to become major players.
(There is also the presence of a m/m relationship in Jade War!)
You will have no choice but to fall in love with this family. Whether it be their steadfast loyalty, the mistakes they make together, or how even beaten, they are always planning their next move. Like a viper coiled ready, and waiting, to strike.
Overall,
Jade War is a book that balances the line between honoring our traditions and culture, while recognizing the pressures of globalization. It’s more than just a book about the family dynamics, transcending to become even more powerful and gripping. As country lines become more defined, allegiances are drawn, and control becomes more elusive, the Kaul are up against more enemies than ever before.
When the lines between us are being consistently erased and blurred, while also drawing boundaries between us, what part of our identity is our own? Is it our family clan? Our heritage? Our country? What will we give up to maintain that, whether it be just an illusion? And what happens when who we are, does not match expectations, especially of our family?
Amazon — https://amzn.to/2LIhqRg
Book Depository — https://www.bookdepository.com/Jade-War/9780356510538
Goodreads — https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41716919-jade-war
About the Author
Fonda Lee writes science fiction and fantasy for adults and teens. She is the author of the Green Bone Saga, beginning with Jade City (Orbit), which won the 2018 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel, was nominated for the Nebula Award and the Locus Award, and was named a Best Book of 2017 by NPR, Barnes & Noble, Syfy Wire, and others. The second book in the Green Bone Saga, Jade War, releases in the summer of 2019. Fonda’s young adult science fiction novels Zeroboxer (Flux), Exo and Cross Fire (Scholastic), have garnered numerous accolades including being named Junior Library Guild Selection, Andre Norton Award finalist, Oregon Book Award finalist, Oregon Spirit Book Award winner, and YALSA Top Ten Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers. In 2018, Fonda gained the distinction of winning the Aurora Award, Canada’s national science fiction and fantasy award, twice in the same year for Best Novel and Best Young Adult Novel.
Fonda wrote her first novel, about a dragon on a quest for a magic pendant, in fifth grade during the long bus ride to and from school each day. Many years later, she cast her high school classmates as characters in her second novel, a pulpy superhero saga co-written with a friend by passing a graphing calculator back and forth during biology class. Fortunately, both of these experiments are lost to the world forever.
Fonda is a former corporate strategist who has worked for or advised a number of Fortune 500 companies. She holds black belts in karate and kung fu, goes mad for smart action movies (think The Matrix, Inception, and Minority Report) and is an Eggs Benedict enthusiast. Born and raised in Calgary, Canada, she currently resides in Portland, Oregon.
Author website — https://fondalee.com/about-fonda-lee/
Goodreads — http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7705004.Fonda_Lee
Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/fonda.lee.94
Twitter — http://www.twitter.com/FondaJLee
Tumblr — http://fondalee.tumblr.com/
Blog Tour Schedule
July 22 (Monday)
- Blog tour launch (from Shut up, Shealea)
- Review, creative feature and photos, and favorite quotes from Bookevin
- Review, aesthetics/moodboard, creative feature and own quote graphics from The Bookworm Daydreamer
- Review, creative photos, and own quote graphics from The Devil Orders Takeout
- Review, aesthetics/moodboard, and favorite quotes from Flipping Through the Pages
- Review, creative feature and photos from Trisha Almighty
July 23 (Tuesday)
- Mini-author interview, Pt 1 (from Shut up, Shealea)
- Review and creative feature from Bookathon
- Review, aesthetics/moodboard, creative feature and photos, and favorite quotes from bookdragonism
- Review, creative photos, and own quote graphics from Magical Reads
- Review, creative feature, and favorite quotes from Pages and Coffee Cups
- Review, own art, and own quote graphics from YA on my Mind
July 24 (Wednesday)
- Mini-author interview, Pt 2 (from Shut up, Shealea)
- Review, own art, own quote graphics, and own playlist from As Told By Zaheerah
- Review, creative photos, and favorite quotes from Books in the Skye
- Review and own quote graphics from BookwyrmBites
- Review, aesthetics/moodboard, and creative feature and photos from mybookcastle
- Review and creative feature from Read at Midnight
July 25 (Thursday)
- Mini-author interview, Pt 3 (from Shut up, Shealea)
- Review, aesthetics/moodboard, and own quote graphics from Sophie’s Corner
- Review and favorite quotes from if the book will be too difficult
- Review and own quote graphics from Novelishly
- Review from Reading (AS)(I)AN (AM)ERICA
- Review and creative feature from Unputdownable Books
July 26 (Friday)
- Mini-author interview, Pt 4 (from Shut up, Shealea)
- Review, creative photos, and favorite quotes from The Book Prescription
- Review and own quote graphics from The Little Miss Bookworm
- Review, creative photos, favorite quotes, own art and own playlist from R E A (D) I V I N E
- Review, creative feature, and favorite quotes from Sun and Chai
- Review, creative photos, and favorite quotes from Utopia State of Mind
July 27 (Saturday)
- Author interview (from Shut up, Shealea)
- Review and own art from Accio! Blog
- Review, creative photos, and favorite quotes from Afire Pages
- Review and creative feature from Kaitlyn Gosiaco
- Review and creative feature from The Ultimate Fangirl
- Review and creative photos from Your Tita Kate