History Literature / JadeCity

''Jade City'' is a 2017 gangster fantasy novel by Fonda Lee. It won the World Fantasy Award in 2018 and is the first in the ''Green Bone Saga'' trilogy, followed by ''Jade War'' and ''Jade Legacy''.

* BlackSheep: Niko feels this way in ''Jade Legacy,'' due to his ambivalence toward Green Bone culture.

* TheMedic: Anden becomes a doctor after realizing he can use jade to help people in his own way.

* WouldHitAGirl: Hilo, who [[spoiler:murders Lan's ex-wife Enyi in ''Jade War'' when she tries to keep Niko away from Green Bone culture, and later starts beating up Shae when he learns she nearly sent Wen to her death in Espenia.]]

-->''"I despise it when my hand is forced. [...] The man I call my father, the one to whom I owe everything—he ''forced'' my hand. Before his body was cold, I had to kill his closest comrades—Green Bones I valued and respected—for the position that should have been mine without question. With his dying breath my father could have prevented bloodshed, but he didn’t. Such is the cowardice and shortsightedness of even the most well-meaning of men. I’ve offered you an opportunity that you’ve spurned. Don’t worry, you naive and idealistic girl, I won’t kill you now. I want you to remember, when you see your brother’s jade torn from his mangled body, when your clan lies in ashes, that you could have prevented it but didn’t. ''You forced my hand''. You’ll remember."

* TheyDo: [[spoiler:Shae and Woon finally admit their feelings and get married in the third book.]]

** [[spoiler:Deconstructed in Ru's case. As a stone-eye born into the Kaul family his deficiency causes him to develop an inferiority complex, as despite being 'green in the soul', he's seen as someone in need of constant protection by his family and he's fully aware that he'll never be able to give back to the clan the same way his siblings will be able too. When he's deceived in an attempt to reignite tensions between the No Peak and Mountain clans, he challenges the schemer who set him up to a clean-bladed duel aiming to brutalize him to get the message across that he is not the weak link of the family and is not to be seen that way by anyone. But in his rage, he dirties the clean blade by not relenting when his opponent throws in the towel, causing him to panic and stab him in the neck with his own talon knife in self-defense, and without any jade abilities to defend against the weapon Ru dies near instantly.]]

* AlasPoorVillain: Even with everything Ayt Mada is responsible for, it's hard not to feel sorry for her when she's [[spoiler:bleeding out on the floor of the KJA conference room. Either out of fear of Hilo or the realization that they'll profit from her death, nobody in the room moves to help her.]]

** [[spoiler:Deconstructed in Ru's case. As a stone-eye born into the Kaul family his deficiency causes him to develop an inferior complex, as despite being 'green in the soul', he's constantly seen as someone in need of protection by his family and he's fully aware that he'll never be able to give back to the clan the same way his siblings will be able too. When he's deceived in an attempt to reignite tensions between the No Peak and Mountain clans, he challenges the schemer who set him up to a clean-bladed duel aiming to brutalize him to get the message across that he is not the weak link of the fame and is not to be seen that way by anyone. But in his rage, he dirties the clean blade by not relenting when his opponent throws in the towel, causing him to panic and stab him in the neck with his own talon knife in self-defense, and without any jade abilities to defend against the weapon Ru dies near instantly.]]

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler:How Ayt finally falls. Her habit of keeping her clan at arm's length, and making out of necessity rather than loyalty, allows the Kauls to turn the Mountain against her.]]

* TrialByCombat: What a 'death by consequence' amounts to. It's basically one lone fighter pitted against a mob of executioner. Needless to say, almost nobody had survived one. Gont Asch attained legendary status upon emerging victorious from such an encounter. [[spoiler:Hilo also survives his own 'death by consequence' though not without some help from Anden.]]

* DuelToTheDeath: Zigzagged. Duels of this nature in-universe are referred to as 'clean blades' and act a means for Green Bones to settle disputes. The outcome of a clean blade is considered to be incontestable, and when all is said and done the duelists are honor-bound by custom not to act on any feelings of animosity, either those that caused the duel or resulted from it, an obligation that also extends to the duelist's friends, family members, or other associates.

* DuelToTheDeath: Or, as it's called in-universe, 'offering a clean blade'.

* TheEasyWayOrTheHardWay: [[spoiler:After Maik Tar catches up to Tem Ben, he says that he can get what Tem Ben knows about the Mountain's activities "the fast way, or the slow way". When Tem Ben metaphorically spits in his face, Tar picks up the stolen talon knife that the jade carver had just bought, and says that he's chosen the slow way.]]

* SmallNameBigEgo / SmallRoleBigImpact: Deconstructed. [[spoiler:After Bero kicks off the war between No Peak and the Mountain by indirectly killing Lan by forcing the Pillar to overexert his jade abilities to defend himself his sense of self-importance is inflated to ridiculous levels to the points where he robs Lan's grave in order to steal the jade that he sees as rightfully his, following he causes a lot of trouble for both the Mountain and No Peak clans and acts as a catalyst for events that influence all of Kekon, but nobody recognizes the significance of his actions except for him and the few individuals who act as accomplices for his subversive activities, which frustrates him to no end. But despite all of this, over the course of the series he begins to realizes how none of these things distinguish him in a way that makes him any different than what he was at the start of his journey: a selfish, opportunistic wannabe who desires above all else to be seen as a somebody.]]

* SmallRoleBigImpact: [[spoiler:Bero, who kicks off the war between No Peak and the Mountain with his attempt to kill Lan.]]

* RecklessSidekick: Wen is unsatisfied with being merely the Pillar's wife and, without her husband's knowledge and consent and against his wishes, reaches out to Shae to ask for permission to act as a White Rat for No Peak, forfeiting the protection she would naturally be afforded by aisho as a stone eye. While in service to the clan her life is continually pu at risk which reaches a crescendo when she's nearly suffocated to death by members of Skinny Ream's Crew.

* AssholeVictim: Nobody is too upset when bits of [[spoiler:Skinny Reams]] start washing up all over Port Massy.