Jade City (Fonda Lee)

Jade City
The Green Bone Saga, Book 1
Fonda Lee
Orbit
Fiction, Fantasy
****+ (Good/Great)

DESCRIPTION: The jade of the island nation of Kekon is prized around the world, source of great power - and great danger. It empowers wearers with superhuman abilities, yet can lead to addiction and insanity. Within memory of some, the Kekonese "green bone" warrior clans used their superior tolerance and training to throw off years of foreign rule... but, even as Kekon emerges as a modern country, the clan system that once brought victory may bring about their fall.
In the sprawling capital of Janloon, the Kauls of No Peak clan have been second only to Mountain clan for years. Though some thought Kaul Lan too young to be made Pillar after his grandfather grew too feeble for the job, he's managed to hold the clan together and stave off rivals in these rapidly changing times, as imported technology and ongoing international pressure over jade exports drag Kekon onto the world stage. Troubling news from the underground signals a shift in the long stalemate, as Mountain's ambitious Pillar seeks ultimate supremacy by violating the oldest codes of green bone honor and conduct. With Lan's war-hungry brother Hilo and long-absent sister Shae, the Kauls will face their greatest challenge in the history of No Peak, a challenge that will determine the fate of Janloon and the whole of Kekon.

REVIEW: It's not often one opens an epic fantasy to the requisite map and finds the international airport marked. As more than one praise-heaping quote mentions, Jade City is a strange blend of martial arts, mafia, and modern family saga. Being indifferent to martial arts films and not caring for mob stories, I'll admit I was initially skeptical that it would work, but the world Lee crafts and the characters she fills it with (not to mention the powers and dangers of Kekonese jade) quickly won me over. This is not just a thinly-redressed Earth, but a unique world with distinctive nations and cultures; Kekon clearly draws heavy inspiration from Asiatic nations, but is its own thing. Janloon comes alive as an ancient city thrust into modern times, where usurpers were thrown off only to become valued trade partners and investors and where old codes and family honor threaten to destroy the very prosperity they helped create. Within its streets, ranging from narrow tracks to modern thruways, an ever-shifting hidden network of clan allegiances and rivalries (not to mention the gangs of jadeless criminals) lives and breathes, changes tracked in the color of lanterns hung outside a given business and the quiet passing of tribute envelopes as much as open warfare between jade-wearing clan soldiers. For all that, as I mentioned, I've never been a fan of mob-based stories, I found myself drawn into the Kauls and their struggles, not just to reconcile tradition and modern times but to maintain peace within their own flawed family. The plot advances on numerous levels, from a controversial drug to counter jade addiction (which culiminates in "the Itches," a madness that sees victims mutilate themselves even as they crave jade contact) to clan attack and counterattack, through the boardrooms of power and back alley meetings, all the way down to a jadeless street thug who keeps finding himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. The story starts fairly quickly, with chapters that tend to be short but invariably kept me reading. By the end, some matters have been resolved, but much more waits to be dealt with in the sequel. Jade City is a very enjoyable and refreshing change of pace.

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