Reviews with content warning for Violence - Jade Legacy

A fantastic last book in a great trilogy! We continue with the characters we have come to know and love. There are large time skips in this book which was disorienting at first, but Fonda Lee does a good job of naturally mentioning the ages of characters so we have some idea how old everyone is now. There are quite a few "oh shit!" moments and a one or two moments where I had to take a breather because it was so intense

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alicelalicon's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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shortstackz's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The clan is my blood and the pillar is it's master. A beautiful conclusion to the green bone saga, I have loved following the Kaul family across this decades long story and seeing how family dynamics and country politics can change over generations.

Fonda Lee did an excellent job of leaving just enough breadcrumbs to believe the choices, but really decided that all is fair in jade and clan war. Often times I find endings to be pretty neutral, this is one that I think wrapped up beautifully.

Kaul Hiloshudon is my pillar.

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elizas's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

This is the final book in the trilogy, and covered a long span of time. The first book was less than a year. The second was a little over 2 years. This one covered 20 years in the same page length. I gave 5 stars to the first two, but marked this down a bit because I found it dragged a little in places. But I didn’t mark it down much because the exciting bits were REALLY exciting. Lee is one of these authors who is willing to kill off sympathetic characters, so you can never be sure if a character is going to survive the current ordeal. When somebody was kidnapped at one point, I stayed up 2 hours late to find out whether they’d escape or not.

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rnbhargava's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This final book in the Green Bone Saga is quite the feather in the cap. It takes place across multiple decades, showing our characters age and come into their fates, making choices that put them at odds with each other, showing long time plans come to fruition and falter. I particularly like how this final instalment shows the begrudging respect between rival clan members and how military industrial complex and international governments impact Kekon. I can’t recommend this series enough

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praaliine's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

i have a lot more to say about this but i need to let my thoughts stew for a while before i can properly express myself. however, i will say this: this was a truly unique read. and looking back on everything, i think i get it now.

*added March 12*
after letting my thoughts stew for weeks i’m finally ready to review this properly. well, as properly as i can articulate myself right now because i wanna cry just remembering this book. this was wildly immersive and and unexpected new favourite of mine. the beginning of the series was pretty good but there were a lot of parts that i had to really power through, but from jade war, the payoff starts almost immediately. and then this. this saga was incredibly masterful, like i had to just sit back and really look over the whole picture and oh my gosh, wow. the overarching plot was a movie, every end was so neatly tied up throughout that it left no room for plot holes or confusion. this story had not only social and political intrigue but history and lore about Kekon, jade, and green bone warriors. the world building…oh my gosh, THE WORLD BUILDING. even minuscule details like the names of car models were so well thought out.

the characterization is truly unique, these characters were so realistic and felt so alive to me, their emotions and pain were all so raw and did i mention how alive they felt to me? every character (whether they appeared just once or on every page) had a distinct role that had to be played to drive the story forward. there were several moments where seemingly insignificant thoughts and actions of these characters changed the entire trajectory of LIVES. the characters also grew and developed physically and psychologically, i’m talking GENERATIONS of growth and change. plus family was at the core of this story, i’m such a sucker for found family so you can imagine what a story about biological family would do to me. and i believe it’s because of this very reason that it hurt so bad when some of these characters died, devastating i tell you. this was my first taste of urban fantasy and this story was an interesting blend of older/historical things (objects and practices) and modernity, for example how moon blades (which if i’m not mistaken, resemble katanas in some way) exist alongside firearms and are often used interchangeably.

the greenbone saga ripped some guttural and ugly sobs from my chest, it had me smiling, screaming, and sometimes having a whole argument with the the words on the page. definitely deserving of every literary award. shoutout to my twitter girlies for forcing this one down my throat (you know who you are).

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spellbindingtomes's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

𝘎𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴. 𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘸𝘦 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘦𝘴.

•

𝘞𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘒𝘦𝘬𝘰𝘯, 𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘵𝘺𝘱𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥. 𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘉𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘯-𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘉𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴. 𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵.

I'm honestly struggling to find the right words to convey my love for this trilogy. I went through the stages of grief with this book repeatedly, but I would read this series again without hesitation.

Jade Legacy is a heart-wrenching, emotional, gripping conclusion to the Green Bone Saga.

Much of my thoughts from Jade War can be carried over to this book but tenfold, so I won't repeat myself and I also don't want to spoil it for those who haven't read this series yet.

Fonda Lee is a masterfully cruel writer. I had to take long breaks in between chapters to process events, but even then I found myself going to sleep thinking about these characters.

I cried. I smiled. I cried some more. I got anxious and scared. I laughed. I hoped. I sobbed uncontrollably by the end.

𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘥𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘫𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘴. 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘯, 𝘸𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳.

Jade Legacy is a story about love, family, life, and death, but most of all it's about promise, hope, and legacy.

Though this book absolutely wrecked me, it was such a compelling finale. I am eternally grateful to Fonda Lee for writing this masterpiece and for bringing these characters into my life. If you read this trilogy, please let me know what you think!

𝘍𝘢𝘳 𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘦, 𝘒𝘢𝘶𝘭-𝘫𝘦𝘯, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘥𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘯 𝘕𝘰 𝘗𝘦𝘢𝘬.

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