Jade City

Jade City is an epic fantasy set on Kekon, a small island whose economy and politics revolve around jade, a green stone that gives trained fighters, called Green Bone warriors, extraordinary speed and strength. Two rival clans, the Kaul and the Mada, control much of the trade in the stone, running businesses that blur the line between legitimate enterprise and organized crime. The novel follows the Kaul family as old rivalries, a shifting political order, and an outside power's interest in the island test their hold on power.

Lee writes in dense, close third-person narration that moves among several family members, so the same events land differently depending on whose loyalties you are sharing at the moment. The fight scenes are physical and precise, but much of the tension comes from negotiations, debts, and the question of who gets to decide. The world feels built from the ground up, with its own customs, slang, and history that the book introduces gradually rather than explaining in a lump.

Reading it is an immersive and sometimes demanding experience. Expect a large cast, shifting alliances, and a slow-building opening before the stakes come into focus. It works best as the first volume of a longer story, and it ends having set up more than it resolves. Its emotional core is siblings, duty, and inheritance, which keeps it grounded even when the magic and violence are at their most spectacular.