This review is spoiler-free. Content warnings for the book are listed at the end.

@ everyone hyping this book up: y’all were right. This book is freaking fantastic, and it singlehandedly renewed my interest in adult fantasy.

Lee built an incredibly complex yet easy to understand world, and it was so easy to get lost in. Even though the pacing in the first half was a bit too slow for my tastes, the second half more than made up for it. Politics and war and family dynamics—I’m here for all of it. I also liked that Hilo and Wen were already together, and aside from their relationship, there was no romance. That allowed the focus to stay on the Kaul family and tension between the clans, and rightfully so.

The last fifty pages were so much more stressful than I expected and I don’t appreciate it. Anden is about my age, everyone else is older than me, but I’m attached to these characters and I DON’T WANT ANYTHING BAD TO HAPPEN TO THEM. I love Hilo, Shae, and Anden, and I WANT TO PROTECT THEM. But everyone talks about how devastating these books are and this is only the first, so..... to say I’m scared is an understatement.

Also, I legit can’t find the second book anywhere, at the library physically or digitally, and I am sad. I have so many other books I’m excited to read but I also lowkey only want to read Jade War.

If you’re on the fence about reading this, do it, and stick with the book even if you’re kind of bored at first. I was, and now I’ve got yet another book I’m obsessed and in love with.

Representation:
• One of the protagonists is queer