Spoiler warning: This recap covers the ending of Jade City. It stops before the events of Jade War.
Kaul Lan drowns after Bero attacks him, Hilo takes over No Peak, and Shae returns to the clan as its Weather Man. By the end of Fonda Lee’s Jade City, the Kauls have killed the Mountain’s Horn, but Ayt Mada still leads their rival clan. The young man who made No Peak’s victory possible, Emery Anden, has publicly refused his jade.
If you’re opening Jade War after a break, start with the two people who walk away from jade in book one. Shae begins the novel determined to live without it and ends up wearing it again. Anden spends years training to earn his and turns it down when the clan expects him to accept it. Their choices tell you as much about the state of the Kaul family as the outcome of the war.
The Kaul family and their rivals at a glance
| Character | Where they stand by the end of Jade City |
|---|---|
| Kaul Lan | The eldest Kaul sibling and No Peak’s Pillar when the novel opens. He drowns after Bero attacks him. |
| Kaul Hilo | Lan’s younger brother and former Horn. He takes over as Pillar and marries Maik Wen. |
| Kaul Shae | Lan and Hilo’s sister. She puts her jade back on and becomes No Peak’s Weather Man. |
| Emery Anden | The siblings’ adopted cousin. He helps kill Gont Asch and refuses jade at graduation. |
| Maik Wen | Hilo’s wife and a stone-eye, someone who cannot sense jade. She helps Shae deal with Espenia in secret. |
| Ayt Mada | The Mountain’s Pillar. She survives the fighting and remains No Peak’s most powerful rival. |
| Bero | A young thief whose pursuit of jade puts him in Lan’s path and ultimately takes him to Lan’s grave. |
The Pillar leads the clan. The Horn commands its fighters. The Weather Man handles its business and finances. Ayt Mada and Gont Asch are the Mountain’s Pillar and Horn, respectively, when the book begins.
Why No Peak and the Mountain go to war
The opening theft at the Twice Lucky restaurant gives the Kauls an early hint that something has changed in Janloon’s jade black market. Bero and Sampa try to steal jade from a Green Bone. After they’re caught, Sampa tells the Kauls about a new black-market jade cutter. What looks like a botched robbery leads into a dispute over who can get jade, who can sell it, and who gets to make those rules.
On Kekon, trained Green Bones use jade to sharpen their senses, strengthen their bodies and perform feats that ordinary fighters can’t match. The drug SN1, known as shine, dampens jade’s effects and lets people who would normally be overwhelmed by it wield it. That opens a market far beyond Kekon. Ayt Mada sees the advantage in selling jade abroad. Lan wants to keep it from leaving the island.
Lan asks Shae to look into the Kekon Jade Alliance’s records. She finds evidence that jade is being diverted and that No Peak’s own Weather Man, Yun Dorupon, is implicated. This is why the feud grows beyond a fight over Janloon’s districts. Whoever controls the supply can turn Kekon’s jade into money, foreign alliances and military leverage.
How Kaul Lan dies and why Hilo takes over
After a failed Mountain attack on Hilo, Lan duels the Mountain fighter Gam Oben. Lan wins, but he’s badly injured. He wears the jade he took from Gam to project strength even though his body is struggling with the additional load. He starts taking shine to manage it.
Lan takes too much shine the night Bero comes after him. The drug dulls the abilities he needs to survive. Lan falls into the water and drowns. Remember Bero’s role here: he attacks Lan, while the overdose leaves Lan vulnerable. Hilo and Shae hold the Mountain responsible and strike back.
Hilo inherits a job Lan approached very differently. As Horn, he could press for retaliation. As Pillar, he has to decide when a fight is worth what it will cost the clan. Shae puts her jade back on and takes over as Weather Man. When Ayt Mada offers her a way to supplant Hilo and unite the clans, Shae backs her brother. She also arranges a secret jade deal with Espenia with Wen’s help, giving No Peak funds to keep fighting. The foreign trade Lan resisted becomes part of the clan’s plan to survive him.
How Jade City ends: Gont Asch dies and Anden refuses jade
The Mountain has the advantage when Gont Asch offers Hilo a fight he’s expected to lose. Hilo is nearly killed, but Anden uses jade to overpower Gont, and the two of them kill the Mountain’s Horn. The reversal gives No Peak room to reclaim territory. Ayt Mada remains in power.
At his academy graduation, Anden refuses the jade he’s earned. He’s afraid of how killing felt and of following the path of his mother, whose life was destroyed by jade. Hilo publicly rebukes him. Anden has just saved the clan’s leader, and accepting jade would commit him to the life he’s just learned to fear.
The epilogue goes back to Bero. He and Mudt dig up Lan’s grave for the jade buried with him. Lee opens the novel with a thief going after a stranger’s jade and closes it with that same thief going after the former Pillar’s. For the Kauls, the jade in the grave belongs to Lan. For Bero, it’s a chance to take some of the power that Janloon’s clans guard so fiercely.
What to remember before Jade War
- Hilo and Shae now run No Peak together. Hilo has the title of Pillar, while Shae manages the money and political relationships the clan needs.
- The Mountain lost its Horn. Ayt Mada is alive and still leads the rival clan.
- Anden’s future with the clan is uncertain. He survived the fight with Gont and refused the jade that would make him a Green Bone.
- Wen and Shae already have a secret. Wen helped Shae secure money from Espenia through a jade deal Hilo didn’t know about.
- Shine makes jade an international issue. Foreign buyers and governments now have a reason to care who controls Kekon’s supply. Bero’s theft is a reminder that the clans also have trouble keeping jade in their hands at home.
Where to read next
Jade War is book two of the Green Bone Saga, followed by Jade Legacy. The sequel picks up the struggle for Kekon’s jade as foreign governments and criminal networks take a greater interest in it.
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- Ready for book two? Fonda Lee’s Jade War in hardcover on Amazon
- Going back to Janloon from the beginning?Find Fonda Lee’s Jade City in hardcover on Amazon.
For more series you can read from start to finish, see our guide to completed fantasy trilogies.
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