I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and the ending was truly terrific, making it one of the best series I've ever read. And to think that I came close to giving up on the series at the beginning of the second book... It's hard to fathom that I almost missed out on all of this. The emotional impact of the book hit me hard, and it felt like I experienced every conceivable emotion multiple times throughout the story. Interestingly, across the seven hundred pages of Jade Legacy and its numerous time jumps, I never once felt bored.
I'm way too overwhelmed by the scope of the series at the moment to write a coherent review. I must emphasize that the ending is incredibly satisfying and, dare I say, poetic. It ranks among the most gratifying conclusions I've ever read. I plan to revisit this series soon, appreciating it right from the start this time.
Well, that was one of the most disappointing continuations of the series. I just can't fathom why there are so many pages for how little happened in this book. I've seen the author's post stating that there will now be six books in the series because she didn't want to cut scenes out of book five. It's a shame, because Glow needed some good editing.
I had a real issue with the pacing of the book. Almost nothing happened for almost the whole book (till 87%, are you for real?). And at that point, I was so tired of all the flashbacks, needless sex scenes, and the repetition of the same things over and over again that I just skim-read the last 100 pages.
I don't like Slade in this book. I do not understand half of the things he does. Why does he need to be king and commander of the army pretending to be two different people? Especially when his brother can't live his life and is there just to be a Fake Rip? Why do they only notice that there is so much wrong with this when Auren points it out? And the funniest thing - it gets resolved so quickly. Slade just issues an order that Ryatt is now in command of the army. That's it. And everyone supports that, even his own army, who has no idea who Ryatt is and why he's suddenly leading the army. But that doesn't even matter because as soon as there is some problem with Auren (she needs time to rest, gets trained, goes on a tour of the Fourth Kingdom, gets kidnapped), they forget all about their kingdom and leave it to I don't even know who.
I also have so many questions about Slade's decisions. He's ready to starve his own people just because he doesn't want to send Auren to trial. I just... He was supposed to be this scary king, who is intimidating not only on the battlefield but also in all things political, but we don't see that at all. He decides that it's a great idea to just ignore other kings and queens when the price of that is the starvation of his own people. Is that a good king in the author's mind? I just can't deal with this.
I was eager to see that trial. I had such high hopes that Slade would be there to help Auren come into her power and guide her in all this political intrigue. Instead, anytime Auren wants to talk with him, he just fucks her brains out and tells her don't worry about people starving on her behalf.
There are also some other POVs. I didn't really care about them and have no idea why they were needed at all.
I don't know if there is any reason for me to continue with this series at all. Disappointment.
Update after finishing Jade Legacy:
I take my rating and my previous review back. I was wrong. I began reading Jade City at an inopportune time and in the wrong frame of mind. I should have waited a few months until I was prepared to delve into something meaningful, instead of using it merely as a distraction.
Original review:
I heard about this book so many good things. So I expected a lot more from this book.
I didn't like this book at all. I found the characters really obnoxious. I was so annoyed by Celeste who is just “not like any other girls” that any man that sees her just can't help falling in love with her instantly. Her POV was really the worst as she never stops mention how “weird” she is and how she's so different from other people. And instalove is so prevalent here. It's like a YA book on steroids.
Maybe I could've at least distracted from all of this by the mystery, but it was really hard to care with so many charecters and their drama.