Review: Fonda Lee’s ‘Jade War’ (#2 The Green Bone Saga)

★★★☆☆

Rating rounded up from 2.75 stars. Jade War (2019) is a heavier read than its predecessor, Jade City, and not just because it is 600 pages long. In essence, this sequel can be described as ‘the same but more’. Everything that is noticeable about the first book is carried over and amplified in Jade War, for better and for worse.

I had exactly the same struggle settling into the read. There are so many parallels in the opening chapters it is unreal – there is even a similarly gratuitious sex scene around the 50-page mark. Thankfully, things do get moving after 100 pages or so, and thereafter it was easy enough to rattle through to the end. Again, because I found the narrative fast-paced and gripping, I finished the book at speed.

I was hopeful that this installment in the series would be darker in tone, so was pleased to see this realised. Together with the fallout from the previous book, the events that take place in Jade War force the characters, especially Hilo, to get their hands truly dirty, which feels like a more mature, realistic take a family who rule by intimidation, and whose business often situates them firmly outside the law.

“Enough,” Shae declared, loudly enough to disrupt Ayt midsentence and be heard by those nearby. There was a ripple of astonishment through the crowd, and in the space where Ayt’s searing aura met Shae’s like lava pouring against rocks. Shae continued advancing, implacably, cold as the moon. “You’ve insulted and slandered me enough.”

With that being said, anyone who liked the first book for its characters will probably struggle somewhat with their less-than-heroic development here. For Hilo, Jade War is essentially a villain arc, to the extent that I struggle to see how he can be redeemed in the series finale. With Shae, aside from one cinematic confrontation, it’s an exercise in wasted potential. This book mostly just uses her for cheap subplots that feel fresh from a soap opera, denying her any real chance for growth. Anden, too, was a real disappointment. I struggled not to skim-read his chapters out of boredom.

From the outset, this series has tended towards plot-driven narration. This is magnified in Jade War, with events taking place over several years. There is nothing wrong with plot-driven narratives – they offer pacier, action-packed storytelling, and can more easily stage things on a grand scale – but they do require the characters’ decisions to be largely explained by external events. That isn’t the case here. Because every situation in Jade War is the result of the characters’ personal choices, we need insight into their inner lives to understand their reasoning. We don’t always get it. Life-changing decisions (and mistakes) are made without the emotional context that would explain them, which paints the characters as unintelligent and lacking in self-awareness.

…He’d viewed his situation in the bleakest of terms, as a jadeless, damaged exile salvaging what few options remained to him. Only now did it seem to Anden that perhaps there was a path forward, resolving out of the fog.

Also, whether the book actually reaps the benefits of plot-driven narration is questionable. Jade War is less cohesive than Jade City, the structure episodic and meandering, to the extent that the bigger picture is often lost. There was some info-dumping in the previous book, but here it seems to be the author’s weapon of choice in making things make sense. There is no knowing, of course, but I do think it is plausible that this book was rushed through publication in an effort to ride the coattails of Jade City‘s success, because the writing is less polished, and the story seems to suffer a lack of direction.

I’m giving this book almost three stars mostly because it was so easy to read, and because of that one knockout scene that still gives me hope for Shae, but overall I found this a disappointing sequel. Though it is a long book, the characters, who the first book established as complex, interesting people, are given little chance to shine. I also think there are several elements here, from poorly written sex scenes to seedy plot devices, that serve only to cheapen the series.

I will in all likelihood read the big finale, Jade Legacy, to find out Hilo’s fate – and in the hope that the author finally does Shae some justice – but I’m in no hurry. Sadly, this book curbed much of my initial enthusiasm for the series.