Jade City is the first book in Fonda Lee’s gangster-fantasy series the Green Bone Saga. While this series is on many must read lists, I’ll admit I was a little skeptical before starting. An Asian, gangster-fantasy book… what even is that? That said, I was hooked pretty much right away. The writing style is fantastic, specifically the fight sequences, which for me are written in perfect book to mind-movie fashion. I could picture the scenes perfectly in my head, and it made for a great “movie”. I recommend this to anyone who enjoys rivalries, politics, back-stabbing, surprise, and/or Marvel-esque infinity stones that provide a range of powers to the wearer.

First, a couple items to level set (pre-spoilers).

Our story takes place in the fictional city of Janloon, the capital of an island nation called Kekon, which is similar to Hong Kong. Kekon is the only nation in the world where jade can be mined.

Jade is a stone, that once mined and processed, enhances the wearer with enhanced abilities – such as strength, steel (i.e. protection, like turning your skin into steel), perception, lightness, deflection, and channeling. Jade is not safe for all, and only those with a genetic pre-disposition and proper training, can manage their powers – primarily the natural born Kekonese. Those that wear jade and lose it (for whatever reason) go through jade withdrawal, much like a drug. And much like a drug, those that wear too much jade also get sick as do those that aren’t equipped to handle jade and do anyway. There are some, called stone-eyes, who feel no affects of jade (good or bad) and are mostly used to mine and traffic jade.

In addition to jade, there is a synthetic drug called SN1 or “shine” that can help improve the tolerance to jade or heal negative effects of jade. This is often used by non-trained jade wearers and outside of Kekon to support military use of jade by non-Kekonese.

Jade is primarily controlled by the two largest clans in Kekon – The Mountain and the No Peak clans. This formed from the disintegration of the One Mountain Clan which splintered into several rival clans after the Many Nations War (a precursor to the story). These are basically mobs, run by families – The Mountain by the Ayt family and No Peak by the Kaul family, who have sprawling business enterprises and warriors (enhanced with jade) to protect their people and/or war with rivals. Much like the mob, they have various hierarchical structures with varying responsibilities.

The head of the clan is called the Pillar and his right hand men are the Horn, who leads the muscle of the clan, and the Weather Man, who leads the business and finances. Further inner circle “staff” are called Luckbringers. Underneath the Horn are Green Bones (honorable warriors dudes wearing jade who are ready to scrap), with the higher ups called Fists and the lower foot soldiers called Fingers. Outside the family but still part of the clan, are Lantern Men – essentially business owners (and non-jade wearers) who pay tribute to the clan in return for clan protection from rivals. And lastly we have White Rats, non-jade wearers who ask as spies/informants.

Governing the clans, loosely, is the Royal Council of Kekon, a group of lawmakers and the Kekon Jade Alliance is a business group that oversees jade mining, distribution, trade, and how much jade each clan gets.

Jade City – Book 1

Written by Fonda Lee, published 2017. Summary, review, and spoilers ahead.

First let’s cover our cast of characters, as we have many with many differing names. Then we dive into the goods.

No Peak clan – The Kaul Family (our good guys)

•  Lan or “Kaul Lanshinwan. He is the new Pillar of No Peak, inheriting the role from his grandfather Kaul Sen. He is a level-headed guy, who tries to lead admirably… though he not without his struggles. His wife has left him, causing him to lose respect and shattering his confidence.
• Hilo or “Kaul Hiloshudon. He is the Horn of No Peak, and younger brother to Lan. He is extremely hot-headed, loves to fight, loyal to his family (nearly to a fault) as he’s a softy for his family.
• Shae or “Kaul Shaelinsan. She is the younger sister of Lan and Hilo. She studied abroad, refuted the right wear jade, and has no official position within the clan. Though she returns to Kekon looking to find a role.
• Kaul Sen or “Kaul Seningtun”. This is the Kaul Family Grandpa and O.G. Pillar. He is highly regarded by nearly all, and was a major leader in the Many Nations War. He’s now old, retired, and battling dementia.
• Kaul Wan Ria or “Kaul Wan Riamasan”. This is mama-bear of the Kauls, and daughter-in-law of Kaul Sen. Her husband died in the war and she isn’t much involved with the clan.
• Doru or “Yun Dorupon”. Not a Kaul by blood, but is the elder Weather Man of No Peak, who seems to clash with the younger (now-in-charge) Kauls.
• Anden or “Emery Anden”. This is the adopted grandson of Kaul Sen, and cousin to Lan, Hilo and Shae. He’s a teenager is in his final year as a student at the Academy.
• Wen or “Maik Wenruxian”. She is in a relationship with Hilo and is the sister of two high-ranking Fists of the No Peak clan. She is also a stone-eye, able to handle jade with no side-effects.

Mountain clan – The Ayt “Family” (our bad guys)

• Ayt Mada or “Ayt Madashi”. She is a baddie. The Pillar of the Mountain who gained power by murdering her inner-rivals after the death of the previous Pillar and adoptive father. I listed “family” in quotes, as she leads the Mountain, but has no kin or heirs.
• Gont Asch or “Gont Aschentu”. He is the Horn of the Mountain. Extremely strong and cunning… he is a force to be reckoned with.
• Ree Tura or “Ree Turahuo”. He is the Weather Man of the Mountain. He is aging and not particularly liked by Ayt or Gont Asch.

The Others (also bad guys)

• Bero. This brochacho is not part of any clan. He’s a teenager and riff raff, street rat (and thief). He is highly ambitious to get his hands on jade, and willing to do so at any cost.
• Mudt or “Mudt Jindonon”. He is partner to Bero, a smuggler and informant, who sells stolen merchandise through his discount goods store.

Ok, so all the heavy lifting is done. On to the story of Jade City!

We open with our young idiot and degenerate, Bero, attempting to steal some jade from a No Peak Fist at a restaurant. But as he is an idiot, he’s quickly caught (in a pretty cool fight/chase sequence), and brought to Hilo, the No Peak Horn for punishment. After a nice little beat down, Hilo takes Bero to Lan, the clan Pillar.

When talking with Lan, Hilo attempts to make the case that the Mountain clan is encroaching on their territory and wants to muscle them out. Doru, the Weather Man, shoots Hilo down saying it’s no biggie and can just talk through whatever might be happening. Hot-head-Hilo ain’t happy. Lan ain’t either. They don’t love Doru being the old, out-of-touch guy with old ways of thinking. Lan cries to grandpa (Kaul Sen) about getting Doru fired, but grandpa is like no way dude, Doru is my guy!

Meanwhile, Shae returns home from her overseas study and adventures, and wants a job in the clan… but one that does not require wearing jade, for which she’s against.

Anden, our student at the Academy, is just chilling when he’s kidnapped by the Mountain. Ayt, bad boss lady, offers Anden a position in her rival clan, and wants to use this offer as an initial step in merging the Mountain and No Peak into one super-clan. She also wants Anden to relay a message back to say that Hilo sucks, and shouldn’t be the Horn. He’s released, safely, to do exactly that.

Well No Peak doesn’t like this message and refuses to remove Hilo and shuts down any potential merger. And Lan starts making some moves to outmaneuver the Mountain. He pitches a new law that prevents any one clan from gaining control of the Kekon Jade Alliance. And gives Shae the job of auditing the Jade Alliance’s books. Lan suspects the Mountain has been secretly gaming the system.

The Mountain didn’t love No Peak’s response (or lack thereof) and tries to off Hilo on their own. This fails, and to avoid all out war, make some concessions. They give up the assassins (as tribute) and give No Peak some of their territory in Janloon. But one of the assassins asks to be killed in a duel (not just pure execution) and Lan, feeling like a wimp, decides he’s got to accept and take this bloke down or risk looking like a wuss and possibly being ousted as Pillar. He wins the duel, but barely.

Post duel, Hilo wants to marry his girlfriend Wen but needs the Pillar’s permission. She’s a stone-eye from a not great family, but he loves her. Lan reluctantly agrees.

Back to Lan. Post duel, he’s nursing some injuries. And also having some weird tolerance issues with the addition jade he’s wearing. The jade he got from the loser assassin in the duel. This is not good for a Kekonese person, and the Pillar of No Peak no less. To help bear this weight, he asks Anden (sworn to secrecy) if he can snag some shine (SN1) to drug himself back to normalcy.

Now Shae has done some auditing on the Kekon Jade Alliance and reports that someone is skimming some jade and says that Doru either is an idiot and is clueless, or, he’s complacent in this illegal enterprise. Lan sends Doru overseas to get him out of the picture and tells the Council he’s suspending jade production. Major move, as jade is highly coveted and a major financial and military factor.

Now idiot Bero, who’s doing minor crimes here and there to survive, meets a Mountain Green Bone who gives him an uzi and tells him to shoot up a nightclub that Lan, the No Peak Pillar, often frequents. Lan often goes to have weird non-sexual (but somehow still sexual) encounters with a stripper (or sexy waitress maybe?). Well Bero shoots up the club, and Lan, who’s super hopped up on shine and not in a right-state-of-mind, dives off the side of the establishment into the sea… where he drowns. Yes, the Pillar of No Peak is dead. And at the hands of a nobody. Luckily for Bero, no one (other than the Mountain Green Bone) knows he’s responsible.

Upon hearing this news, Shae immediately goes to her safe and dons some jade. And this news has inadvertently made hot-head-Hilo the new Pillar. Probably not great, since he’s not much of a diplomat or businessman. He’s really just a thug (a good thug, but a thug). Not needing much convincing, Shae suggests to Hilo they retaliate and yeah… they do. A group of Shae, Hilo and some No Peak Fists retaliate against the Mountain, killing two. With her new found valor and family dedication, Hilo promotes Shae to Weather Man, with Doru out. Shae spares Doru on the condition he gives up his jade (basically a death sentence given withdrawal symptoms) and remains locked up near Kaul Sen for the rest of his days.

Well with Lan dead (assumed at the hands of the Mountain) and the retaliation that just took place, No Peak and the Mountain are basically in all-out war. This is mostly street level, as the leaders must remain somewhat peaceful in person and to maintain some normalcy across Kekon.

Hilo and Shae put forth a plan to burn Ayt at the next meeting of the Kekon Jade Alliance. Shae tells Hilo to wait until the last day to lampoon the Mountain with her finding of jade skimming and supplying it to non-clan folk. Unfortunately, Hilo is too hot-headed to wait and drops this bomb too early. Ayt plays it cool, makes some apologies, and the Alliance basically doesn’t care.

On the side, Ayt arranges to meet Shae. She attempts to talk her into betraying Hilo and No Peak, and join the Mountain. But Shae, bonded more tightly with her family over the death of her brother, denies this proposition. Knowing it puts her in a tough spot, and possibly puts her life on the line.

Back at No Peak HQ, Wen (Hilo’s new fiancé) asks Shae if she can become a spy. She doesn’t like being just a side-chick. Going behind Hilo’s back, Shae agrees and sends her to a foreign military base with a boatload of jade (which she can easily carry as she’s a stone-eye and unaffected by wearing it). This move helps reestablish some jade supply that was disrupted by the suspension of jade production that Lan had issued.

We cut back to old man Doru, left to rot, is given jade by grandpa Kaul Sen which he uses to regain his strength, and escape. He bucks right off and heads over to the Mountain to spill all No Peak’s trade secrets. What the hell?!? He’s been a longtime No Peak Weather Man, why would he do this?

Well back to Hilo. He gets hitched to Wen and almost immediately after saying “I Do” he decides to basically go on a suicide mission and take down the Mountain. Anden takes him to Mountain territory and starts whipping some ass. However, there are simply too many Mountain Fists and Hilo is overwhelmed. Though he kills quite a few. Before he’s offed, Gont Asch, the Mountain Horn, steps in to finish him off. Mano-a-mano. Gont Asch is no joke, and it becomes apparent that Hilo can’t win and is about to die.

Just as this is about to happen, Hilo throws Anden his jade and Anden goes full Hulk. He’s never worn jade, but it quickly apparent he’s super in-tune with it. He flashes crazy super powers and manages to kill Gont Asch. Though to be fair, it was still a close call.

While Hilo and Anden survive, Anden’s super jade-sesh leaves him in a coma. He gets nursed back to health. At this moment, No Peak has the advantage over the Mountain. Gont Asch was a huge loss for them. Yeah No Peak! Anden goes back to the Academy to graduate, and when he is presented with his jade, he denies it. He does not like the power he felt fighting Gont Asch and never wants to wear jade. He fears what it might make him become. He does not want to become a Green Bone. This is a stab to the heart for Hilo to hear. He loves Anden and wants to see him as a Green Bone. But that is not in the cards. A rift has been created between Anden and Hilo.

We end with a cut scene… Bero has decided to grave rob. Only he’s decided to rob the grave of ex-No Peak Pillar Lan, who is buried with all his jade. Bero is successful… and walks away with a bunch of jade. What will our idiot boy do with this much uncontrolled power?

Find out in the next review of Jade War.

TLDR: A wonderful story that took me by surprise. Deep world building and interconnected stories and families. Bonus points for a genre I didn’t know existed, gangster-fantasy. Would recommend. 5/5 Stars.