Category: Alternative history fantasy fiction

Review:  Jade City (The Green Bone Saga Book 1) by Fonda Lee

Rating: 4.5⭐️

Jade City is the first book I’ve read by Fonda Lee, a book and series very well known for being so remarkable in its wonderfully detailed world building and raw, yet powerful characters of the Kaul family. 

I came across it by accident, as someone who was recommending it in their all time top fantasy series. Then it looked at the types of recommendations it had received. 

Remarkable for a series and book that is hard to quantify. Here it’s called a fantasy novel, but alternative reality or universe, that works as well. 

This is about a solitary island, Kekon, that has fought for independence from an outside country (white) and finally won, at a high cost. Its main source of wealth is jade, which can for certain individuals increase their human strength and abilities to something incredibly inhumane and frighteningly dangerous and powerful. Those people, the Green Bones, named after the Jade which gives them power, is now divided into two warring clans who control the island. 

One of them is the Kaul family, the focal points of all the books. 

This is an epic story, Asia-inspired tale of two crime dynasties, the Kauls and the Ayts.  Its constant political manipulation and maneuvering, as well as traumatic physical, emotional, and psychological mental battles over Jade and territory. Often leading to death. 

Added to this main fight between the clan giants are the smaller groups and those who covet the power they are physically unable to have. Those now trading in a new drug that has a high that gives the user Jade like ability. 

All of this threatens to destabilize the Kaul family’s base of power and business. And each sibling will have to deal with their plans and place within the clan to see if and how they can make the Kaul clan survive.

It’s bloody, realistic, political, magical with the Jade being the basic element of the system that boosts their power. 

And the characters are so strong, each well defined and beautifully developed. 

This is only the first one and it’s so compelling and heartbreaking. 

It deserves all the accolades.

It’s a World Fantasy Award winner and has been named one of TIME’s Top 100 Fantasy Books of All Time. 

Cover design by Thomas Walker Cover copyright © 2025 by Hachette Book Group, Inc. Maps by Tim Paul

The Green Bone Saga

Jade City

Jade War

Jade Legacy

Buy link

 Book 1 of 3: The Green Bone Saga 

Blurb 

In this World Fantasy Award-winning novel of magic and kungfu, four siblings battle rival clans for honor and power in an Asia-inspired fantasy metropolis. 

*Named one of TIME’s Top 100 Fantasy Books Of All Time* 

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.

Now, the war is over and a new generation of Kauls vies for control of Kekon’s bustling capital city. They care about nothing but protecting their own, cornering the jade market, and defending the districts under their protection. Ancient tradition has little place in this rapidly changing nation.

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—and of Kekon itself.

Praise for Jade City: 

“An epic drama reminiscent of the best classic Hong Kong gangster films but set in a fantasy metropolis so gritty and well-imagined that you’ll forget you’re reading a book.” —Ken Liu, Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Award-winning author

“A beautifully realized setting, a great cast of characters, and dramatic action scenes. What a fun, gripping read!” —Ann Leckie, Hugo, Nebula, and Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning author

“An instantly absorbing tale of blood, honor, family and magic, spiced with unexpectedly tender character beats.” —NPR

The Green Bone Saga

Jade City

Review: Dark Running Exile of the Winter Court By BR Kingsolver 

Rating:  4.75⭐️ 

Books with fae characters and/ or fae realms are prevalent in current fantasy and romantasy genres, so much so that I sort of look for stories with elements outside of this genre. But Kingsolver, a gifted author who’s novels I don’t read enough of, has written a fabulous novel of adventure, fae privateers, complex fantasy political betrayal, royal scheming and fiery battles on land and sea, set on alternate historical landscape. 

This is a world where one event, wherein King Charles II, in 1680, kidnaps the fae daughter of the Summer King has catastrophic consequences. The fae invade England across the very Veil erected to keep the races and realms separate , destroying multiple European cities and England’s empire forever.  Leaving the human landscape, political parties and governments changed. 

These aren’t your typical Fae, the ones that are human coded as written by other authors. Kingsolver has created fairies and a variety of different fae that are as alien to humans as I would like and hope to read. Even the fae courts look and act differently to humans and to each other. Not that any human being would ever want to willingly go to either court or the Fae realm. 

From their physical appearance to their personalities and perspectives on the human race and humanity’s ideas of emotions, from love to empathy, it’s clear they are a complex, and clearly defined older race. Apart and superior. 

Which makes Alanis Nightshade, the fairy pirate and trader, a fascinating character. A high born daughter of the dark Winter court, she’s the owner and Captain of the unique magical Fae ship, the Merry Prankster, who sails the seas through both sides the Veil in search of cargo to sell and profit to make. 

It’s her ship that makes her a target of political scheming and hidden enemies.  It’s a ship that is prized by more than one group of individuals who have their own agendas. 

The fabulous tale of intrigue and high suspense and survival is nerve wracking, complex, and highly entertaining. It’s beautifully detailed with Edinburgh’s landscape, imaginative creatures and wildly appealing designs of the Fae Realm. And the indescribable beauty and horror of the fae who rule there.

The only reason this doesn’t have a 5 star rating is that i wanted the ending to have been fully executed, more details and the drama that was expected given everything that came before. 

And honestly? I wanted to see those fae on their dangerous unicorns riding into battle, obliterating the army before them. What an amazing scene! My mind is still engaged with their wild journey. 

Highly recommended, the author included. 

No romance. All action and suspense. 

Love this cover. 

Cover art by Heather Hamilton-Senter

Buy link

Amazon.comhttps://www.amazon.comDark Running: Exile of the Winter Court eBook : Kingsolver, BR

Blurb 

When Charles II kidnapped a Sidhe princess in 1680, her father didn’t send diplomats—he sent armies. The Fae stormed through the Veil, leveled cities, and rewrote history. Centuries later, Humans and Fae still share the Mortal Realm uneasily… and England never recovered its empire.

Alanis Nightshade, Winter Court Fairy, smuggler, and occasional pirate, prefers to stay far from royal drama. She flies under the radar, smuggling rare goods between worlds and minding her own business. But when she’s stranded in Edinburgh during a coup, she’s dragged straight into the kind of trouble she tries to avoid.

A new Sidhe king has seized Scotland.

He’s hungry for conquest, and he wants what Alanis possesses—

a ship that can cross the Veil and carry an army straight into Faerie.

If she doesn’t outwit him, outrun him, or outright kill him, both realms may pay the price.