Jade City
by Fonda Lee
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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.
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 outcome of this clan war will determine the fate of all Green Bones -- from their grandest patriarch to the lowliest motorcycle runner on the streets -- and of Kekon itself.
Jade City is the most familiar fantasy book I’ve ever read. Growing up in mainland China meant that my access to the world at large was heavily censored. Hong Kong was the only access point we had to contemporary western culture. (Emphasis on ‘contemporary’. We can read Shakespeare and Victor Hugo just fine.) The hope is that after after a cultural wave arrives on the shore of Hong Kong ten years after its peak, we on the mainland will get a glimpse of it ten years later still. (Translation: my early 2000s were your 80s). For this reason, I adored imported films from Hong Kong. They not only were the epitome of cool and representatives of low-stake counter-culture, the hurdles we had to jump through in order to get our hands on them only added to their appeal.
The Guwak tsai franchise (which is fittingly translated as “Young and Dangerous” in English) in particular had an outsized influence on my generation. Being the straight-A, goodie-two-shoes kid, albeit a little moody, I secretly dreamt of the gangster life. Just imagine how cool it would be, zigzagging through Kowloon on a motorcycle 30 miles over the speed limit, wearing dark shades exclusively at night, chain-smoking through life-or-death situations all for the glory of the clan!
I digress.
Jade City honors the tradition of crime and gangster films from the 90s and early 2000s with some Jade magic dusted in. One prominent element of the story is that of fate, especially the power it exerts on the people who try to resist it. (The next section contains spoilers.) Lan is put in a position of the leader but circumstances made it such that he became ill-suited, for which he and his clan paid a dear price; Hilo thrived in his role as the Fist before fate thrusted him into the unenviable position as the war-time pillar; Shae tried to breakaway from the family and live a life of her own choosing. However when fate beckons, her sense of duty and honor as a clansman demanded that she betrayed herself as a person; Anden desired to serve his clan above all else but in the end it was the one thing that he could not do…
Jade City features a well balanced cast of female characters: Kaul Du’s widow drifted further and further away from the world; Shae tried to fight against the pull of her family legacy; Wen, fierce and loyal, but was a stone-eye, unable to fulfill her own ambitions ; Ayt Madashi, the rival pillar, was mysterious, decisive, and ruthless. Their personalities and struggles were as complex and contradicting as those of their sons, brothers, and lovers. None of them was concerned with being liked.
The clan members operated within the bounds of their own morals. There is a recklessness and danger as they toe the line between criminals and protectors of their fiefdom in the void of official governance. They lived and died by their own code of conduct. The plot twist in the middle of the book shocked me. It was ruthless but in a way a realistic reflection of the dog-eat-dog nature of the world. There were real stakes and catastrophic consequences when mistakes were made.
I recommend Jade City and will definitely continue with the trilogy. The story is engaging, the pacing is tight, the writing is efficient, and the characters are well fleshed-out. I do find myself wanting more political intrigue. Perhaps that will come in the second book.
