By: Kelly Chia, Staff Writer
Let me preface this by saying Jade City is not the kind of book that I’d normally read: it brands itself as an “epic tale of family, honor, and those who live and die by the ancient laws of jade and blood.” I’m more of a YA fantasy kind of girl, and am always looking for that addictive feeling of immersing myself in a new world. But I’m tired of the rushed worldbuilding, often dubious romantic consent, and unnaturally cool one-liners that I’ve come to associate with this genre.
I was cautious about reading an adult martial fantasy novel like this one, but I found myself completely in love with this novel’s world once I gave it a chance.
Jade City carefully introduces its readers to Kekon, an island fraught with the politics of jade and the tradition and legacies that come with defending it. While Fonda Lee, author of Jade City, has said that Kekon is not particularly inspired by any particular Asian city, the setting often reminds me of the Hong Kong gangster movies my dad used to watch, where characters start up ridiculous fights in restaurants and break dishes.
Yet, the almost absurd violence in the novel makes so much sense because of Lee’s incredible worldbuilding and characters.
For example, jade defines characters of different social classes in very different ways. People draw on jade as a source of power in Kekon, but it’s a double-edged sword that can also be too addictive for some users. Some people are expected to be excellent wielders of jade, like the Kaul family, who lead the region. For others, jade is fatal. Then there’s the scrappy underground people that hate jade for the social power it grants others.
These different reactions to jade were represented in five perspectives, and I found myself caring about all of them. There are three central characters: Kaul Hiloshudon, Lanshinwan, and Shaelinsan. The three are very different siblings that live under the burden and expectations of the great legacy of their grandfather, Kaul Sen, the former leader of the region. Filial duty, not only to Kaul Sen, but to each other, shapes the relationships in the novel.
Because a lot of time was dedicated to their respective character arcs, their actions make a lot of sense. We get to really know them and what they value. Honour and duty are almost tropey as motivations for Asian characters, but it’s so lovingly integrated in the novel that it doesn’t feel lazy.
I found myself sympathizing with Kaul Shaelinsan, a woman who’s expected to take on filial roles, but wants to forge her own career outside of the violent Kekon region instead. At the same time, she watches her beloved grandfather, whom she was close with in childhood, slowly become a shadow of himself as his dementia sets in. Her struggle of forging an identity outside of her family, while contending with the guilt of her duty and legacy, is riveting.
Another character, Anden, is established early in the story as a gay character, but he does not have much time to really explore his sexuality. Instead, he worries more about his adoptive family, the Kauls, and their power struggle in Kekon. I wished that he would find a confidant his age and have some happiness, but maybe that’s in the next book.
Lee’s biggest strength in the novel is her ability to shock readers. The plot twists feel earned; they are executed in a way that makes sense with the characters. More importantly, we see lasting consequences with these twists, so it doesn’t feel like shock for the sake of it. It’s also why I found the fight scenes exciting — I found myself glued to some pages because I really wanted to see how they’d upturn the characters’ worlds.
This book took me a while to get into. But once I did, I could not stop reading. The imagery is vivid, the world is immersive, and the characters are so unbelievably human. It’s what fantasy should be. Jade City is the first of three novels, and it definitely stands strong by itself. The last novel in the saga, Jade Legacy, comes out on November 30, 2021.
