Fonda Lee

I really want to give 4.5 stars but because of early struggles cannot bump it up to 5 stars.

It took me until about 1/3 into this book before I started to feel invested. I am very much a character-driven reader, but world building and atmosphere are also important. I am not going to dwell on why it took until around page 190 to become engrossed, but it wasn't that it was unenjoyable up to that point - just hadn't yet pulled me in.

From chapter 22 on, however, I was fully immersed. The characters are real and complicated. Their flaws play a role as much as their strengths but in a very relatable way. Sometimes books can make flaws a jolt to the senses when characters jump between flaws and strengths. This book's flow of that struggle was very realistic. In other words, Fonda Lee's characters were all marvelous.

I loved the end. Okay, I cried a bit in the final chapters. I can't wait to move on to book 2, Jade War.… (més)

After reading Jade City, I was completely hooked on the characters/story and ready to dive right into this 2nd book of The Green Bone Saga, I had read and was told by some that this book suffered from 2nd-book syndrome and was just meh, but equally read and heard the opposite from others. I ended up falling hard into the latter camp.

The way Fonda Lee writes her characters has me drawn tightly into their perspectives, and I feel it all. Granted, there really aren't any good guys (so far) in this story, but I absolutely care about them - laughing and crying throughout. If you have ever watched the series The Sopranas, it is a very similar dynamic.

Normally, I would insert a light and quick read in between books with this type of heavy and somewhat dark plot line, but I am jumping right into the 3rd book - Jade Legacy.… (més)

Jade Legacy is quite a different style book than its two predecessors. As the story expanded to a more international setting, there were a lot of government, military, and commerce narratives which at times seemed to stretch this story thin. In the first half of the book, I felt that this expansion came at the expense of deep character connections that were present in the first two books. My expectations were more of the same so the first half felt like a bit of a trudge - not bad; just wanting more.

However, I was already completely invested in the Kaul family and by the end of this very long final book I was bawling like a baby -- honestly, this is rare for me. I may tear up at some stupid, sappy TV commercial, but I rarely cry for book characters.

I do not regret any of the many hours spent reading these three books, and I predict reading them again - which is a rarity for me as well.

Bravo Fonda Lee! I look forward to immersing in your other stories.… (més)