JADE CITY

released OUT NOW! 600 pages | Paperback/ebook

Author Fonda lee Publisher Orbit

The fantasy element of Jade City is extremely subtle. The novel is part The Godfather, part Hong Kong action movie, with a single vein of magic running through it. Two mafia-like clans, governed by an accepted code of conduct, and made faster, stronger, and more perceptive by jade operate covertly within the fictional Kekon (which, though it has a very Asian feel, is not analogous to any one real country).

Despite jade being the only magical element in the story, it’s fundamental to everything. On an immediate level it fuels spectacular fights between superpowered, jade-wearing “Green Bones” gangsters; on a slower level it’s led to the clans declaring war; and in the background, moving at an almost tectonic rate, you can feel it affecting the world beyond Kekon as other nations crave jade for their militaries.

Political manoeuvring and courtly shenanigans are staples of modern fantasy but very few manage to weave together the immediately personal, the local political, and the global political in such a way that you can’t see the joins. Fonda Lee manages that here. Yes, there’s flashy, exciting action on the surface, but there’s also genuine depth to the characters and their struggles to maintain control, and a really satisfying, credible world underpinning everything. The magic may make things exciting, but the characters make it believable, and keep you reading. Miriam McDonald