For over a year, The Green Bone Saga has captivated my attention with the beautifully written characters, the exciting and often heartbreaking twists and turns, and the fascinating world building of this urban fantasy trilogy. Today on Ariel’s Arcs, I bring you a spoiler-free review of the series and the last book, Jade Legacy.
My excitement for Jade Legacy knew no bounds as I preordered the hardbound and requested the physical arc, which Orbit provided for free in exchange for an honest review. However, I must make a disclaimer due to the Twitter Events that occurred on October 26th and 27th of 2021, where Fonda Lee’s broad comments about the film Dune left many North African and South West Asian readers dismissed and unheard, and Fonda’s response to those communities only perpetuated that dismissal. A few days later, Fonda Lee wrote a blog response describing her experience with people misinterpreting her tweets on numerous occasions. I share this disclaimer so that you may be fully informed and make your own judgement. Having read the full trilogy prior to these events, I will review the books for how I subjectively experienced them, not based on my opinions of the most recent event.
The Green Bone Saga has two books currently out, Jade City and Jade War. Jade City starts out mainly on the island of Kekon, where the No Peak and Mountain clans have drawn the boundaries of their rivalry and maintain a tense relationship. The trilogy as a whole follows the three Kaul siblings, and those closest in their orbits. The eldest is Lan, who is a newly appointed Pillar, or leader, of the No Peak clan. He has a burdened sense of responsibility and ultimately tries his best to be a young leader. The middle sibling is Hilo, who is reckless and passionate, and loves nothing more than his family. The youngest is Shae, who is a savvy businesswoman and struggles with close relationships. These three drive the story forward from the beginning of Jade City and ultimately build the foundation of the rest of the trilogy in a character-driven plot line.
The world itself gets bigger with each book, and the stakes get even higher and the pressure mounts with each chapter up until the end. The entire trilogy spans about thirty years, and for Jade Legacy itself, it almost felt like too many years were flying by, and could have benefited from a fourth book. Many of the time skips are quick and present readers with a significant (and often traumatic) event for the characters before zooming to the next significant event. While overall I enjoyed the book, I felt like we missed a lot of the interpersonal charm that made Jade City and Jade War so personable, and it felt like I was going from one emotional catastrophe to the next and missing all the quieter and nicer beats of the Kaul family’s life in exchange for the ones that pushed the plot forward. At just over 700 pages, there is a lot to pack into a 30 year span, but that reinforces my thought that perhaps a fourth book would have been better, with books 3 and 4 each spanning 15 years.
Overall, this series is one of the best adult urban fantasies I’ve read. It drew me in and I was fully invested from start to finish. I laughed, cried, and felt every emotion alongside the characters.
A big thank you to Orbit for a free copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
Final Rating:
Be sure to check out Jade Legacy. It is out November 30, 2021!
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