Ben > Recent Status Updates

Is there such a thing as reader's hubris? Just as the plan for Thera's crew is coming along perfectly, things fall apart a piece at a time, and now I'm too nervous to keep reading. I'll call it a night. Make no mistake, I'm enjoying the Veiled Throne a lot.

Quite reminiscent of the theater trick in Inglorious Basterds! Will the city-ship turn out to have the same ending?

In the first six chapters, the viewpoint is given to an entirely new character, and is set chronologically before the previous book (Wall of Storms) left off. And... these chapters are a success. Goztan is already a character that I've formed a complex picture of, and while I may not be rooting for her, her inclusion in here will be interesting and something to look forward to. Well done.

While I stopped giving updates after a while, I have finished Jade Legacy, and it was indeed great. It's fulfilling in both a dramatic and emotional sense. I may write a longer review.

I need to take a break for the day. The last chapter (a long one) was good, but very gritty and a bit grim.

Chapter 25. This is the one. Going through several emotions at once. No spoilers.

This advertising deal seems appealing to No Peak, but I believe it's a mistake. No Peak may get some good publicity for jade in Espenia and new business opportunities, but because it involves a whole new definition of Jade, that will seem like a defacing of something sacred in Kekon. With Mountain already beginning a public campaign of jingoism and anti-foreign sentiment, this will only add fuel to the fire.

Speaking of characters I don't like, Hilo is heavily in this chapter. Here, he reveals to Niko the true backstory of his parents and how he killed Niko's mother, because he "had to". This is a good chapter for seeing the paradoxes of Hilo. He actually is pretty good with interacting with kids, sticking up for his adopted son's dignity and feelings while being honest with him... while defending a toxic honor culture.

Bero remains an idiot that somehow continues to fail upwards. It's still interesting to read his chapters because he is the biggest force of true chaos in this epic story. But, not a guy I like.

Well then... these last couple of chapters have been quite surprising. After first expecting that the offer from the Six Hands Unity clan would be a straight-ahead trap for No Peak, this was different - Six Hands Unity ends up betrayed from within, and Shae makes it out (but not without the death of others).

Eight chapters in, and the book continues to deliver. Much of the tone and plotlines are similar to earlier in the series, so I'm trying to pick out what themes are new to this book. One that's rather striking is how we are starting to see some resistance to the brutal methods that Kaul Hilo uses in his leadership of No Peak. Dauk Losun is worried that Jade will be tainted by the blood shed by its wielders.

The first two books of the Green Bone Saga have been great to read; for reading this third and final book, I'm going to try to document my thoughts as I go through.

Just like the first two books, Jade Legacy begins from the perspective of Bero, a character who is mostly peripheral but who has done some highly consequential actions. Now, as part of a social revolution group, we'll see how he keeps doing this.

Excellent so far. I'm especially liking:
* The political aspect of worldbuilding
* The exposition: it's done efficiently, yet with a natural flow rather than the "data dump" that hampers some books.
* Baru is a compelling character. Her internal monologue is interestingly calculated, and her motives are both sympathetic and clear to the reader.
* Less than 20% finished, and already one very stressful scene.