A solid ending to the series. I appreciate that the author was able to end it nicely, because she could easily have drawn it out into more and increasingly disjointed books. Instead, the series stands as a unique work of modern fantasy, which most fans of the genre are likely to enjoy. ( )

Jade Legacy is quite a different style book than its two predecessors. As the story expanded to a more international setting, there were a lot of government, military, and commerce narratives which at times seemed to stretch this story thin. In the first half of the book, I felt that this expansion came at the expense of deep character connections that were present in the first two books. My expectations were more of the same so the first half felt like a bit of a trudge - not bad; just wanting more.

However, I was already completely invested in the Kaul family and by the end of this very long final book I was bawling like a baby -- honestly, this is rare for me. I may tear up at some stupid, sappy TV commercial, but I rarely cry for book characters.

I do not regret any of the many hours spent reading these three books, and I predict reading them again - which is a rarity for me as well.

Bravo Fonda Lee! I look forward to immersing in your other stories. ( )

This final book in the trilogy covered a lot of territory. It is written as a series of vignettes over an extended period of time telling the reader what happened to the No Peak clan. I believe it was longer than the others, maybe a bit too long, but if I had to pick one of the three books in the series as a favorite, it would probably still be this one. Probably my favorite thing about the whole series, as well as this book, is the magic system and the kinds of skills that it gives those with the proper training. I thought that the story elements related to Perception and its use were particularly interesting, and Channeling was used very effectively as well. I had trouble finding a favorite character or two through the first two books, but I finally found one among the secondary characters in this book, and came to like some of the older characters more as well. I enjoyed the political and economic machinations as a means of competition among the clans, but I wouldn't have minded trading two or three of those stories for a bit more depth about the characters from the younger generation. This series seems to be a darling of much of the booktuber community, and I did not personally love it as much as many of them seem to, but it was still an enjoyable read and a series worth checking out if you like fantasy. And if you like urban fantasy featuring a mostly sympathetic organized crime family, you will probably love it. ( )

(note: did not actually finish in April; I assume that was a misclick)
A solid ending to the Greenbone Saga, with my only quibble being just how much time passes in the third installment (which I do understand, as a narrative choice to truly show the legacy of decisions- I feel like the alternate title is still "the longterm repercussions of Hilo's decisions reverberating across decades").

The worldbuilding continues to shine. I do think reading via audiobook means I missed out on some world maps, but you can guess the comparative context for Espenia, Egutan, and the Uiewan Islands (again, because audiobook my spellings are likely inaccurate). Jade goes global, and with it lines of commerce, alliances, and backroom dealings.

My husband thinks Anden should've ended up as Pillar for No Peak, but I think he's happy doing his own thing. I do wish we'd spent more time lingering with the next generation as we really saw them in snapshot vignettes as time went on, but I guess that's fertile ground if Fonda Lee ever wants to do a short story or novella about say, Ru's high school years or Niko abroad. ( )

I could go on forever about Fonda Lee’s The Green Bone Saga. It is most definitely one of my favorite series. And each book in this series stayed consistently amazing to me. I feel like in a lot of series, I can usually pick out a favorite book or books that I didn’t like quite as much as the others but this one, it just told a consistent story that was amazing from beginning to end. But man oh man, this final installation brought alllll the feels. It had me crying on multiple occasions, which isn’t normal for me when reading. I even went back and looked, and out of all the over 600 books I’ve read, only like 9 have made me tear up and less than that have made me actually cry. And if I actually cry at a book, I’ve formed a true connection with it.

In fact, after reading each of these books I went through a little bit of a book hangover. The world, lore, story, dialogue, just all of it, I love it so much, but most of all, the characters make this series to me. The character development in this series is some of the best I’ve read. We get to see some of these characters throughout most of their lives. When I first met Hilo, he was just so impulsive and seemed brash and little annoying, but by the end of the series, he is my favorite character, I can fangirl so hard about Hilo. Shae and Anden are other character favorites and seeing how all these characters developed across this series has undoubtedly been my favorite part. They are such complex characters, you feel like you know them like you know people by the end.

The series is an Asian inspired fantasy mostly set on the island of Kekon. It has been likened to godfather but with more martial arts and blades and less guns and I can agree with this. Kekon is the only place in this world where a rare form of Jade can be mined that gives powers (heightened abilities) to those who wear it. But the catch is that not everyone can wear it and survive. Those Kekonese who have the ability to wear and use the Jade are called Green Bones. The indigenous people of the island, the Abukei, do not gain powers from handling Jade, but they also are not harmed in any way. If anyone else besides these two groups tries to use the Jade however, it will slowly make them loose their minds and die.

So when a drug called SN1 is created that can let anyone use Jade without bad effects, other countries get a lot more interested in Kekon’s Jade. But SN1 is dangerous in its own right and the Green Bones are forced to consider whether they want to share the Jade that is a huge part of their culture and has a very symbolic importance to them with the rest of the world who just see it as a way to gain power. Conflict over this issue breaks out between the two major Green Bone clans of the island, the No Peak and the Mountain clans. The Kekonese have a long history with Jade and with other countries trying to colonize their island. When Green Bones fought back in the last attempts, it made the other countries wary about encroaching into Kekon, until SN1. Now one of the clans wants to keep power in kekon’s hands (cough, cough their clan’s hands) by being in charge of sales overseas. But the other clan seems like they would rather keep Jade in Kekon. The ups and downs of this conflict carry across the series with a whoooole lot more getting wrapped up into it.

The No Peak clan’s leaders are all from the Kaul family, with Lan becoming pillar (the executive position) at the beginning of the first book, his brother Hilo becoming Horn (the militaristic leader of the clan), and the position of the Weather Man (the business leader of the clan) changing between different people at the beginning but staying within the family or friends of the family. The relationship between the family members as they are also depending on one another in their clan roles can get very complex and complicate things within the family. It’s so interesting to see how the different characters approach handling their clan roles vs. their interpersonal relationships.

As a final note, because again, I could go on and on about this series, I also really love the detailed maps included in each of the books as well as the character lists and the lore of Kekon that is included in the Intermissions. I can’t wait to read The Jade Setter of Janloon now and am also excited that it means I’m not done reading about this world quite yet!

( )