JADE LEGACY

Became one of my favourite series with this amazing sequel. I was afraid I would be disappointed by things would end but this book had made me happy, cry and cheer for these characters.

Great series-a fitting finale. Along the lines of the old tai pan series with a bit of jade thrown in.

The story keeps going forward by many years just every few chapters, feels like we are just getting small parts of the story that happens every few years. The book has much less action and more of just planning.

To follow up the one-two punch of Jade City and Jade War is no mean feat even on its own terms, so I would have understood if Fonda Lee had played it safe, wrapping up the story of the ongoing struggle between the No Peak Clan and the Mountain Clan for power and even survival in a neat, tidy way. It would have been a little surprising, mind you – after the way that Lee expanded so much on her story in Jade War, exploring the ramifications of a world in which true jade can give exceptional powers, but it’s controlled tightly by family clans that mix the honor code of wuxia with Mafia-like tactics – but I would have understood it. Instead, Fonda Lee sets herself a difficult task: not just to wrap up the story of the Mountain/No Peak conflict, but to truly give closure to this series and the characters, delivering a final book that spans multiple decades and multiple generations of the clans, grappling with the ramifications she had started to explore in the second book and following them into the obvious next question: is this system, in fact, something that should continue? It’s not a surprise that Jade Legacy deals with questions about the very nature of the clan system that Lee has created; even if the title didn’t hint towards that, the book’s prologue sets a tone that makes it clear that we are in the final volume of this saga, and that something – be it one of the clans, the Kaul family, or something larger and more existential – is beginning to fade away. The question is merely what that something will be. That’s a lot to take on, especially when what’s made the Green Bone saga is the focus on characters, but that doesn’t go anywhere in Jade Legacy. Indeed, if anything, Lee does her finest work here, as the larger scope of the novel allows her to track the scars and damage dealt to these characters and chart the long term effects as they grow, mature, and change. Characters rebel against the fates chosen for them. Others make choices that are both coldly logical and yet utterly shocking and unexpected. Power dynamics stay in flux, and relationships wax and wane. (I know all of this is vague, but Jade Legacy is a book to be enjoyed and savored, and that includes the way that Lee so often zigs when you expect her to zag.) Jade Legacy doesn’t just feel like the concluding novel of the series; it feels like the logical endpoint, as though so much of this was mapped out before a word of Jade City was written. There are shocks aplenty here, but there aren’t “twists” – instead, everything that plays out here feels inevitable and even tragic, the unfolding of events that started during that desperate jade theft that kicks off Jade City. But the scope of those events is something to behold. Given the novel’s more ambitious timeframe, you can understand Lee being able to do more, but it’s still impressive to see just how much she’s juggling here. Rising international tensions, shifting dynamics within a country questioning the clans, the constant striving for power between the Mountain and No Peak, the diversification of clan interests – Jade Legacy is a behemoth, as the clans stretch their power far beyond the boundaries of the city and find themselves involved in international affairs and even the governance of the country – to say nothing of determining the future of a world where jade is available. It would be simple for Lee to fall into easy parallels here, but every time you think to yourself, “oh, this is a reference to American policy” or “okay, we’re commenting on the drug war,” Lee will change things, always avoiding the easy correlation in favor of complexity and imagination. Her world is informed by ours, make no mistake, but it’s wholly her own, and just because we have something doesn’t mean hers does. All of this comes together to make a book that doesn’t just satisfactorily end the Green Bone saga; it absolutely nails it and then some, delivering a juggernaut of a book whose momentum rips along even through its length and ambition, and one whose richness and complexity pulls together all of the ideas of the series into a conclusion that draws everything into focus, elevating all of the previous entries as you see how it all fits together. Jade Legacy blew me away, and that’s even with how much I loved the first two books – I’ve seen so many great series that stumbled near the finish, but not many that succeed as well as this one does. But for all of that, what I’m left with after finishing the Green Bone saga isn’t awe at Lee’s action sequences (though I have that) or admiration for her incredible world (ditto) or love for her plotting (again, ditto). No, what I’m left with is a cast of characters who will go down as some of my favorite I’ve encountered in a book in a long time. Hilo, Shae, and Andy alone – but when you add in Bero, or Ayt, or Wen…and let me tell you, that list can go on. Fonda Lee brought this world to life, and she’s left me wanting more. And while that’s the best way to leave a reader, let me tell you, if she returned to this world tomorrow, I’d be there within seconds.

Książka była tragicznie zapakowana przez co latała w dużo za dużym pudle jak szalona. Rogi są pozaginane, a jeden zagięty wręcz do połowy okładki. Paczka była zwyczajnie źle zapakowana, a i produkt sam w sobie zostawia wiele do życzenia. Niby nowy a wygląda jak używane. Nie wiem o co chodzi...

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. I liked the book enough to buy it from Amazon after reading it. I had already bought the first two books and was waiting for book 3 to start reading them. When the opportunity to review Jade legacy came out, I read all three books back to back. You need to read the first two books before reading legacy. Each book builds upon the character development and worldbuilding of previous books. To me, these books remind me so much of the Godfather trilogy. Just as the Godfather trilogy showed us an expanding world over time, with the cast growing over generations, beginning, ending and living their lives, so too do the cast of the green bone saga. The worldbuilding increases with visits to more countries as the impact of previous actions, the lives and deaths and decisions in the earlier books continue to play out. Relationships grow and evolve as the consequence of earlier generations changes the world around them. As in the Godfather, the Codes of conduct, business practises, the old ways fade as a new reality arises. The ramifications of Jade wars ending emerge and develop. We see the fruits of seeds planted in the earlier books come to life. I usually prefer faster, action-packed books. The Green Bone Saga is slower, and I still enjoyed them all. I kept finding myself reading until the early morning hours by accident. Plotlines flowed around my mind as I drifted off to sleep, and I would wake, looking forwards to reading a bit more before work and in lunch. There are still action scenes and still long, quieter parts as the story develops. Legacy ties up the last two books saga perfectly. Fonda Lee has achieved something many find difficult, a satisfying end. Highly recommended.

There was is much heartache and loss being part of the Greenbones but also honour and pride. Spanning so many generations it’s was hard to keep track of the twists and turns the family’s take. Thoroughly enjoyable and rewarding, and I love the way it the story flows through the years and always finding it’s place in the changing world. You won’t walk past Jade in the jewellery story and look at it the same way again.

Una delle migliore saghe fantasy di sempre: la storia di un’intera generazione che arriva al suo termine. Bellissimo libro e bellissima saga