I have been so excited for Jade Fire Gold ever since I saw it announced. The comp titles of The Bone Witch, The Tiger at Midnight, We Hunt the Flame, and Girls of Paper and Fire? YES! And I’ve only become more and more excited as time has gone by. So when I got an early ARC I knew I had to read it immediately. Keep reading this book review for my full thoughts.
Summary
In an empire on the brink of war . . .
Ahn is no one, with no past and no family.
Altan is a lost heir, his future stolen away as a child.
When they meet, Altan sees in Ahn a path to reclaiming the throne. Ahn sees a way to finally unlock her past and understand her arcane magical abilities.
But they may have to pay a far deadlier price than either could have imagined.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from Edelweiss. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
TW: torture
What I loved about Jade Fire Gold is that it examines power and monstrosity. Revenge and forgiveness. This dual POV story explores what we will sacrifice for power, salvation, and revenge. Do we allow ourselves to become weaponized? How do we know if the costs of action are worth it? While Jade Fire Gold is certainly slower paced than I was expecting, I enjoyed the character development for Ahn and Altan. How Ahn has to come to terms with her power, with her lack of control, and with her own responsibility. How Altan thinks he has nothing left to lose, but there’s always more.
Jade Fire Gold explores the ways history is permeable and susceptible to erosion. The ways that history is like fabric – and it’s all in the way its cut. All the ways we are confined by our legacy, our past, and our family. So while I was expecting more action at the beginning, what ended up captivating me were the thematic explorations. In some ways, they’re both convinced of their own monstrosity, but could they find pieces of themselves in each other?
Since it was slower than I expected, the pacing does speed up at the end, but overall I was just so swept away with Jade Fire Gold. If you allow yourselves to sink into the story and the characters journey’s, you just might be too.
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Find Jade Fire Gold on Goodreads, Amazon, Indiebound, Bookshop.org & The Book Depository.