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This turned out to be one of my favorite series outside of Brandon Sanderson. I got recommended Jade City through booktube (book-YouTube). After trying out Storm Front - book one of the Dresden Files - I thought that urban fantasy was not for me. But I was wrong. I’ve written a non-spoiler summary of the first book and the series as a whole to give you an idea on what the Green Bone Saga is. I waited a couple of days after finishing Jade Legacy to write the summary. If I had done on the same day, I’m sure you’d be reading a sob story right now. I’m still recovering.
If you’re wrung out from non-fiction books, want to explore a new genre, or just want a Mafia/Godfather vibe with an element of magic present, I highly recommend Jade City.
The Green Bone Saga is a trilogy of books: Jade City, Jade War and Jade Legacy. It’s about two clans in a small island country called Kekon, which is the only place in the world where jade is available to mine. We follow the Kaul family who run the No Peak clan. There is the rival Ayt family, though only one member of it remains: Ayt Madashi who is the Pillar of the Mountain clan. Pillar is the role given to the head of a clan. Kaul Senington is the Pillar of No Peak. Multiple other roles exist under the Pillar’s.
A person wearing jade on them is called a Green Bone. Green Bones are granted supernatural powers depending on the amount of jade they hold and their training with the techniques. Of course there are limits to how much they can hold and for how long. Exceptions exist as some people don’t have any effect to jade.
Coming to the story itself: it’s mostly character driven. Even though it’s a high fantasy series, the premise is urban. There is no evil God or king that needs to be overthrown, neither is the world in danger and the Chosen One has to save everyone. Cars, telephones, aero planes and other technologies exist. Consider it late 80s to early 90s period.
The politics, whispering of names, characters are all that makes the Green Bone Saga one of my favorite series. The core human emotions are well captured. Characters have a ton of depth in their thoughts. And of course, the deaths of your favorite characters, assures you that no one is safe.
Some of the in-world quotes which I liked: