I think the reason I gave this 4 stars, not 5, is because, sometimes, the plot seems quite coincidental. She’s just a lot of fun to read about, and her journey and development is the best in the book. And it’s offset by Ahn, who has to be among my favourite YA protagonists. Mostly because there was some definite character development happening (and also, I suppose, that his narrative isn’t self-loathing). Altan feels at the start a little like he might turn out to be broody and mean, especially to Ahn, and overly focused on vengeance over all else, but it was all put together in such a way that I didn’t really mind it. It helps, too, that the characters were great. And the action meant that it was a fun read. There weren’t massive and pointless info-dumps. Okay, so maybe I did, from time to time, want the worldbuilding to go a bit more in depth, but that was, overall, well-judged and well-integrated into the story. And it’s all woven together effectively in the narrative. Their paths cross and, for the avoidance of spoilers, Things Happen.įirstly, what I liked about this book was the fact that there’s a lot of action, but at the same time, there’s sufficient worldbuilding that you don’t feel like everything’s left to the imagination. The story follows two narratives: Altan, the rightful heir to the throne, alone and, honestly, somewhat bitter, looking to get revenge on the family members who wronged him (and also searching for a way to avoid death at the hands of his foe), and Ahn, struggling with money to look after her grandmother and fearful of her life in an empire that doesn’t look kindly on magic.
I didn’t have either of those issues here. In the past couple of years, or so, I’ve struggled to get along with YA fantasy, finding it alternatively with not enough worldbuilding, or dragging too much in the middle section. Jade Fire Gold was, above all, a fun read. Rep: Chinese coded cast & setting, sapphic side characters, achillean side characterĬWs: implied torture, violence, blood, gore, death of a parent
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