Jade Shards

• Author: Fonda Lee
• Genre: Fantasy
• Publication Date: July 1, 2023
• Publisher: Subterranean Press
• Series: The Green Bone Saga #0.75

Thank you to NetGalley and Subterranean Press for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

CONTENT WARNING: blood, violence, suicide, self-harm, murder

Fonda Lee returns to the acclaimed Green Bone Saga with four prequel short stories that delve into the personal histories of the Kaul and Ayt families.

The Witch and Her Friend. Before she was the ruthless leader of the Mountain clan, Ayt Mada was an orphan without friends at school except for one: Aun Ure, a teenage girl feared and renowned as an assassin but yearning for a simpler life.

Not Only Blood. Before he was the heir apparent of the No Peak clan, Kaul Lan challenged his grandfather and clan patriarch to help a boy who had lost everything.

Better Than Jade. Before they were married, Kaul Hilo and Maik Wen were a young couple facing long odds: the son of a top Green Bone clan in love with a stone-eye girl from a disreputable family.

Granddaughter Cormorant. Before she left and returned to Kekon, Kaul Shae was the apple of her grandfather’s eye…as well as a daring secret informer to a foreign country.

Contains an introduction and story notes by the author.

Yeah, I’m that fan who will read whatever Fonda Lee writes. Especially if it has anything to do with the Green Bone Saga. Since the beginning of book 1, I have been completely pulled into this complex, beautifully created world, with the multifaceted characters and the political and interclan conflicts, as well as the exciting martial arts fight scenes. So when prequel short stories were offered? You better believe I was jumping on that.

Now that I’ve finished reading, I have absolutely no regrets. This was a fabulous bunch of short stories, and it allowed me to get a little more insight into the backstories of some of the major players in the series. I loved reading about the characters, before the series had taken place, but what I really loved most about this was the way Lee offered feedback as to her process—what led her to write these stories and how she feels about the characters and these short stories. Somehow, I always feel bereft when I finish my favorite series, but I’ve never thought about how authors devote years of their lives to writing these books and how it must feel like they’ve lost a family member when saying goodbye to these characters.

The book starts out with a short story centering on Ayt Madashi’s younger years, and it was really intriguing, mainly because we don’t really get any insight into Ayt Mada’s life outside of what other people say. We don’t know much about her early life, so this fills in some information about who she was and what has made her the way she was throughout the series. 

Reading Kaul Lan’s story was unsurprising, because he was much the same way he was in the series. However, he was younger and less confident in his abilities, as well as not being pushed into a leadership role yet. Perhaps the coolest thing about this story was the way the clans overlapped more in the early days, and how Lan went out of his way for the sister of an old friend, leading to events that changed the outcome for the whole clan.

Hilo changed so much over the course of the series, but we’re reintroduced to Loose-Cannon Hilo, the way he was at the beginning of the series. His friendship with the Maik brothers was legendary, but the beginnings of his romance with Wen was never explored in the books … until now. It was beautiful to watch the seeds of their romance bloom.

And at the beginning of Jade City, we already know about Shae’s checkered past, but in this book we get a story exploring her work as an informer for the Espenians. It was really intriguing to see all the differences between how Shae was in this story and how she changed over the course of the series, because she had some massive character development.

This is a fantastic collection of short stories, and it’s the perfect fix for anyone who is missing the exciting world of Kekon and Green Bones. In addition, it’s just the right length for a one-sitting read. However, beware, because this is making me really want to reread the whole series.