Jade City
"Stylish and action-packed, full of ambitious families and guilt-ridden loves, Jade City is an epic drama reminiscent of the best classic Hong Kong gangster films but set in a fantasy metropolis so gritty and well-imagined that you'll forget you're reading a book." -- Ken Liu, winner of the Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Awards and author of The Grace of Kings and The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories FAMILY IS DUTY. MAGIC IS POWER. HONOR IS EVERYTHING. Jade is the lifeblood of the island of Kekon. It has been mined, traded, stolen, and killed for -- and for centuries, honorable Green Bone warriors like the Kaul family have used it to enhance their magical abilities and defend the island from foreign invasion. Now, the war is over and a new generation of Kauls vies for control of Kekon's bustling capital city. They care about nothing but protecting their own, cornering the jade market, and defending the districts under their protection. Ancient tradition has little place in this rapidly changing nation. When a powerful new drug emerges that lets anyone -- even foreigners -- wield jade, the simmering tension between the Kauls and the rival Ayt family erupts into open violence. The
Themes & atmosphere
What you might want to know about Jade City
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
On the island of Kekon, jade gives clan-trained warriors enhanced senses and reflexes. Two great clans control the supply, and the next generation of the No-Peak family is about to inherit a war.
Jade City was written by Fonda Lee and published in 2017. It is the first book in her Green Bone Saga, an Asian-inspired epic fantasy that won the World Fantasy Award.
Fonda Lee's Green Bone Saga has three books: Jade City, Jade War, and Jade Legacy. The trilogy is complete and won multiple major fantasy awards.
Jade City is 512 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Jade City takes most readers 8 to 11 hours to finish.
Jade City is a standalone novel by an unknown author, not part of a series.
Jade City is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.