James Nicoll Reviews

Fonda Lee’s 2023 Jade Shards is a collection of prequel stories set prior to the events detailed in Lee’s Green Bone Saga. But then, so many prequels are set before the works to which they are prequels.

The collection comes with an introduction and authorial commentary for each story.

The setting: an island, Kekon, inhabited by warrior clans. From one POV, they are brave warriors who liberated their island from invaders. From another POV, they are merely violent, greedy families who will just as cheerfully betray and murder a supposed ally as resist occupiers. 

There’s a lot of similarity between the Clans and the Mafia. Readers should therefore expect lots of drama, violence, and characters with short lifespans. It’s OK to get attached to the characters as long as you understand that most of them are mayflies.

It’s been long enough since I read the books in the Green Bone Saga that I’d forgotten who most of these characters were. As I didn’t check my old notes until after I read the collection, I can assure readers new to the series that you can enjoy these stories without having read the trilogy first. 

Then I reread the collection after I reviewed my notes. I can assure readers familiar with the series that the prequels cast new light on the Green Bone Saga. A win either way.

Jade Shards is available here (Amazon US), here (Amazon Canada), here (Apple Books), here (Barnes & Noble), and here (Chapters-Indigo).

Jade Shards is available here (Amazon UK) but only as an audiobook. Jade Shards is not available from Words Worth Books.

American readers might want to note the ambitious price asked for the hardcover, to which I link because I get an infinitesimal kickback for Amazon sales and the higher the price, the more I get. A more affordable Kindle edition is also available.

Let’s dive a little deeper.

First, useful background information: in a world much like ours, the island of Kekon is the only known source of Jade, a fantastic substance that can imbue wearers with fantastic powers… or kill them with a syndrome dubbed the ​“Itches.” Or it can do both. Jade-powered freedom-fighters drove the foreign occupiers from Kekon. During the occupation, the clans united. Afterward a great struggle between the No Peak clan and the Mountain clan began. Who will be top clan?

Introduction

Having lived with the cast of the Green Bone Saga¹ for more than half a decade of her life, Lee was loathe to step away forever. Therefore, given a chance to write prequels, she has done so.

The Witch and Her Friend

Under normal circumstances, Ayt Mada would be rejected by Wie Lon Temple School because the thirteen-year-old is too old and of too humble birth. Her test scores and her adopted father Ayt Yugontin’s social status won her a place.

Aun Ure is likewise a prodigy. Aun Ure was killing occupiers with her Jade-conferred powers when she was Ayt Mada’s age. Novice and veteran become friends. Thus, it’s only natural for Ayt Mada to reach out to her friend when Aun Ure’s ill-omened marriage to a foreigner disintegrates. But can a proud warrior accept help?

Not Only Blood

The Aun family’s prodigious Jade-imbued powers are matched only by their terrible misfortune. Aun ​“Noke” Nokemura is the last adult man in the clan, but he suffers from crippling depression. His sister Aun Ure was a war hero, but as a single mother of half-foreign Anden, she is a social outcast.

Noke jumps to his death. Ure succumbs to the Itches. What is to become of Anden? His father is long vanished, his Kekonese relatives want nothing to do with him. Noke’s friend Kaul ​“Lan” Lanshinwan has a bold proposal.

Kekon doesn’t have much in the way of medicine, so someone with mental issues or the Itches is on their own. As well, the Kekonese are not keen on charity for people outside the bonds of blood or clan obligation. But that is only a general pattern. There are exceptions like Lan and Ayt Yugontin.

Better Than Jade

Kaul ​“Hilo” Hiloshudon is fated for great things. His family leads the No Peak clan. If Hilo manages to avoid being murdered in the interminable inter-clan squabbles, he will surely become No Peak’s leader. Therefore, Hilo should be judicious in his choice of friends and more so in his selection of wife.

Astonishingly, Hilo’s best friends are the lowly Maik brothers, Kehn and Tar. Hilo’s romantic tastes are even more unconventional: Maik Wen. Not only has Wen no wealth or connections to bring to a marriage, she is a stone-eye, incapable of using the Jade on which clan influence rests. Wen is an unthinkable bride for Hilo… but Hilo is a very stubborn man.

Granddaughter Cormorant

Kaul Shae is smart and prodigiously talented. She would make a fine wife for some well-connected ally of No Peak. Shae has ambitions beyond her value as a bride. Even in these modern times, when a woman serves as strategist for the rival Mountain clan, Kekon is inclined to overlook women’s potential.

Happily, for Shae, her foreign boyfriend facilitates Shae’s entry into a field worthy of her skills. Kekon is overrun with foreign agents. To her surprise, Shae’s effort to do a little favor for her boyfriend’s associate reveals her talent at covert ops. Violent covert ops.

1: The three volumes of the saga were reviewed here, here, and here. An associated tale was reviewed here.