After powering through the first 50 pages, the story takes off like a rocket. Instead, he is more worried about succeeding in the Academy, the safety of his adopted family, and their tenuous grip of power in Janloon, because he knows if they’re not in power, they’ll be dead.Īnd here is where the book really shines. I definitely appreciate that there is a gay character where his being gay isn’t the only personality trait he has (although would it have killed Fonda Lee to give poor young Andy a boyfriend? Or even someone to kiss? Maybe that’s something to look forward to in the next book!). It certainly informs who he is, and how he interacts with others (especially with family), but it’s not the main thing that defines him. And his sexuality is a relatively minor aspect of his character. If there is a hierarchy among the 4 characters above, he is definitely fourth, but still plays a major and critical role in the story, with multiple chapters from his point of view. It’s the last, the cousin, who is the gay character. And then there’s an adopted cousin who is studying at an academy to learn how to use jade. A sister who studied abroad for a while and renounced her jade comes back to live in the city, but tries to stay away from her family and resist the lure of using jade.
His hot-headed younger brother runs the muscle. There’s the older brother who is the head of the gang, newly appointed to the role. In Janloon, there are two main gangs that control the source of jade, and the book follows the family that runs one of those gangs, the Kauls. It took me a little while (about 50 pages or so) to land on the author’s wavelength, but once I did? Wow. When I first started reading it, I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. That price isn’t just the cost of doing business and running jade and doing what it takes to consolidate power in the city it also exacts a price if you use it wrongly.Įven for those who are used to it, when they take off their jade, and put it back on later, they’ll have a brief moment of nausea, where it takes them a few minutes to get their bearings. On Janloon, the Jade City in question, jade isn’t just a piece of jewelry, but a source of magic - magic that comes, of course, at a price. Are there LGBT characters? Yes, a principal point of view characterīrief summary / book review: Picture a noir gang story set in the 1940’s, in a city that’s Hong Kong-ish, and you get the general atmosphere of the book (note: I am way underselling it, but this is just meant to give you the gist).
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