Jade City
December 1, 2021 1:30 PM - Subscribe
The first book of the Green Bone Saga, Jade City introduces us to the Kaul family, leaders of one of the powerful jade clans who run the country with a mafia-like grip. The story is a collision of Asian-inspired old codes of honor set in a world not far technologically from our own (closer to the 70s and 80s than 2021).
This is a dense family story in a Godfather vein, but centered on the warring clans that run a small island nation with a history of invasion by the bigger countries around them, a codified system of rackets and protection, and a group of men (and more recently women) who act as enforcers for the clan bosses.
This is a dense family story in a Godfather vein, but centered on the warring clans that run a small island nation with a history of invasion by the bigger countries around them, a codified system of rackets and protection, and a group of men (and more recently women) who act as enforcers for the clan bosses.
I really like this book to kick the story off. The main characters are all interesting and fully rounded and frustrating at times. You get involved in their lives, and you get sucked into the culture that the author builds up. It's a really fun worldbuilding setup which used the idea of how people fight in wuxia stories and looks at honor culture and the world of gangsters and how it all builds into a really fleshed-out setting. Sometimes you get sucked into the same thing that Sopranos does - you are rooting for people who are definitely doing bad things - but it's an exciting story and I fell right into it.
posted by PussKillian at 10:41 AM on December 2, 2021
posted by PussKillian at 10:41 AM on December 2, 2021
It’s been long enough since I read this that I can’t really discuss it in detail or eloquently, but I’ll just say I LOVED this book (it’ll go in my end of year top 10) and recommend it quite heartily. I didn’t know the third was out, I’m pumped to read it!!
posted by obfuscation at 5:54 AM on December 3, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by obfuscation at 5:54 AM on December 3, 2021 [1 favorite]
Liked it a lot. A well-done mix of gangster drama and magical martial arts thriller.
posted by kyrademon at 7:22 AM on December 3, 2021
posted by kyrademon at 7:22 AM on December 3, 2021
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posted by heteronym at 10:30 AM on December 2, 2021