Jade City is a 2017 novel by Canadian-born author Fonda Lee. The first entry in the Green Bone Saga is a fantasy crime family story about a conflict between two rival clans in the fictional nation of Kekon. It follows the Kaul family as they navigate a struggle for power in their city of Janloon.
Point 1: Genre Hotpot
Jade City is a lot of things and manages to succeed in being each of its elements without compromising the others. Let me just list all the things that I saw it as:
- Family drama
- Geopolitical thriller
- Supernatural action
I’m sure you can find other things to add to this list, but these are the ones that stood out to me. On top of that, I would add that it has a distinct Asian influence in the way the country of Kekon is built as well.
In my opinion, it is first and foremost a family drama of the Kaul family with the current generation doing their best to live up to the reputations of their predecessors while still trying to forge their own paths. While it is not doing anything earth-shattering in this genre, the slow build of the narrative allows Lee to establish strong pillars (that’s a little book-related pun for y’all) for the characters. It is easy to follow the three main siblings’ very different viewpoints and allows the reader to feel strongly connected to the decisions they make.
Meanwhile, the geopolitical aspect is as rich a tapestry as the family. It interweaves the complex connections within the island nation of Kekon, and specifically the city of Janloon, with the international relations between Kekon and other nations such as Ygutan and Espenia. If you like worldbuilding, you will appreciate the meticulous care taken to create something so tangible that it feels like you are really learning about the real political relations in and between nations. The history feels rich and its impacts are felt through machinations of everyday life within the world of the book. It never feels forced nor pretentious, but you do have to give yourself in to wanting to learn the inner workings of the world to fully appreciate the great work Lee has put in.
Once we get into the meat of the action, that’s where the supernatural action comes in. The “jade” in Jade City is a substance that can provide powerful abilities to those attuned to them, but come with serious risks as well. The Kekonese nation has been built around the structure that jade has provided for their society through their history. Greenbones, those who have earned their stripes to carry jade as part of a clan, train to use their jade through a variety of abilities that are interwoven into martial arts. Fonda Lee being a karate and kung fu black belt shows off her keen knowledge of the craft in her visceral depiction of movements in the action scenes. Combining the supernatural aspects with grounded movement allows the fighting to feel real and elevated at the same time. Although the action scenes themselves are few and far between in this 500-page novel, their impact is greater as a threat that is rarely acted upon than if it were a constant occurrence.
The true artistry of Jade City is how these three main elements are interwoven to feel like one harmonized tapestry rather than three heads fighting for ascendancy. I never looked forward to one aspect more than the others because each element fed into the advancement of characters, plot, and lore. Lee does a commendable job in pulling the whole thing together while constantly shifting perspectives in every episode and even taking interludes to fill in more worldbuilding elements. She makes it look easy when it very much is not.
Point 2: Low Concept, Medium Fantasy
Being primarily a movie or TV watcher as my medium of choice, a very common thing that gets talked about is “high concept”. For those not aware what high or low concepts mean, they are generally used when pitching an idea to be made into a movie or show. Studios favour high concepts – ideas that are easily described and succinctly explained. This allows them to more easily market that to audiences.
Although there is nothing inherently wrong with high concept media, it has unfortunately led to lower-concept ideas becoming less and less common. That is one of the things I have appreciated as I slowly delve back into reading books.
Jade City lives squarely in the world of low concept. You’ll notice I did not really make an attempt to try to explain the premise of the novel because it’s just got so much going on that it’s hard to do that. Even Wikipedia spends two paragraphs trying to give context and still does not really give much of an overview of the ongoings of the book.
This may turn you off, which is fine, but I really enjoyed having to peel back layers and really discover something built from the ground up that requires buy-in from the reader to get the full experience of what’s going on and what’s at stake.
I also have a thing for low-fantasy settings that meld what we know and reshape them with fantasy elements. Although this isn’t quite low-fantasy as it sets itself in its own world, I wouldn’t quite call it high fantasy either. It’s somewhere in the middle where it still integrates many of the things we are familiar with but goes further than just injecting supernatural elements to our world. Kekon is clearly Asia-inspired while Espenia is some amalgam of Europe. The technologies are akin to the late-90’s. I would probably file this under medium fantasy and liken it to something like Attack on Titan, where the names of things are new and there are things that do not exist in our world, but the elements are easy parallels.
It’s a concept I loved in Attack on Titan, as I do here too. It allows you to not have to get overwhelmed with figuring out every law of the world on top of the new history and geopolitical aspects that you learn along the way. High fantasy has its own draws, but I appreciated this setting for this story more than if it had been a full high fantasy setting.
Point 3: Who, Not What
Although the plot is strong, what really grabbed me and kept me going were the characters. It feels obvious, but a family drama can only stay compelling if you can connect with the characters involved.
The main characters are the siblings Lan, Hilo, and Shae. Lan is the oldest who has taken on the burden of the position of the patriarch of the No Peak clan as the pillar while his younger, more brash brother Hilo serves as the horn, the head of the enforcers of the clan. Meanwhile, Shae returns to Kekon after she had decided to leave due to her not wanting anything to do with clan business.
Lan plays the part of someone who almost feels like he has lost his own identity to play the role he has been groomed for. He is level-headed and is compelled to make the right political move no matter the situation. I wouldn’t go so far as to say he has no personality, but the part that really drew me to him is his self-awareness of the fact that he feels like he is little more than who he was meant to be. It is an interesting push and pull as his ability to just coast gets disrupted by the events of the story when he finally has to make choices of his own. In many ways, he is very much the archetypal older sibling.
He is strongly contrasted by his two siblings with much stronger personalities. I think most readers will feel themselves gravitating towards Shae. She challenges the status quo and works hard to forge her own path despite the privileges her family ties give her. However, she is far from a Mary Sue as she finds her attempts towards independence constantly thwarted as if there is no escaping destiny. I particularly loved the way she was written. I don’t want to be THAT guy, but it is clear to see that she is written by a woman as she feels tangible in not being too much of any one thing and finely balanced between her flaws and qualities.
Hilo’s personality very much fits that of a youngest sibling. He is headstrong and brash, and feels the most one-note of the three. However, without giving any spoilers, that setup is a great jumping off point for the character development later in the story. It really surprised me how compelling Hilo’s character arc was later in the story.
Some other standout characters among the secondary ones were Anden, Wen and Ayt Mada.
In general, one of the great strengths of the writing for all of the characters was that they all end up in very different places than where they start off. Not all of it is a shock, but it always feels satisfying and consistent with the personalities that were established.
Point 4: No Pulling Punches
I really enjoyed that Lee is not afraid to go down narrative directions that don’t feel safe. Despite juggling a bunch of storylines, she’s able to weave all the threads together and back apart again artfully.
Most importantly, there are serious swings taken in the story that are far from shock-value choices. I of course can’t actually cover these surprising directions, so this section will feel bare, but I truly felt this to be a strength of the novel.
Some of the bold decisions are clearly taken to set up characters for the larger narrative of the trilogy, namely Anden and Wen, but other directions with some of the main characters also take some interesting directions in their arcs. I look forward to seeing where many of the story setups lead in the next books.
Jade City is a great, sprawling crime drama filled with other genre elements well intertwined. The story and the characters are great elements exploring a strongly built world. If this sounds like these aspects are up your alley, I would strongly recommend the novel. It can feel slow at times as it takes its time to set up all the geopolitical and historical aspects of the world, but it feels like necessary work for the tapestry to feel as vibrant as it does by the end.
