 Love's welcome back. I hope you're all well. So this is episode two of series wipe out which is a series, a video series I'm gonna be doing about book series. Once a month for this year because one of my biggest goals is to finish the amount of series I'm currently reading because it's a lot. It's a lot. It's a lot. It's a lot. So we did episode one with some series that you voted for for me to read. Over the course of the year I'm sometimes gonna be finishing individual book series and I'm sometimes gonna be finishing a few different series that I maybe have one book in. This time we're gonna be finishing a whole series in this vlog and that series is going to be The Green Bone Saga by Fondly. Now let's just... That was fucking scary. My heart's going pitter-patter. I feel sick like I could throw up. Let's just talk about how this is the longest book on my TBR and like the sixth longest book on my TBR and we're reading them this week. And I have to Jade War. The reason that we're starting with this series is I agreed to co-host a read-along for it, and the live show for Jade Wars tomorrow night. So the audio book is 24 hours long. It was great! If you don't know this is an adult high fantasy series where we're following kind of like mafia families where there's a substance called Jade that gives people their power, it gives people their special abilities, magic if you will, and we're following particularly one family, the cool family, who are basically in charge of the area they're in, their clan, they've got like, you know, people who are loyal to the clan, who live in their area, and the kind of clan wars that are happening at the moment. I'm trying not to spoil anything from the first book, but I really enjoyed the first book and I'm excited to finish this series. I don't know if this would have been the first series I would have picked to pick up for this vlog had I not agreed. I was like, yeah, I'll read Jade War by then. Why do my past decisions always come to bite me in the ass? But anyway, we have to finish Jade War by tomorrow. I've looked and at the speed I listened to the audio book, I think it'll take me about eight and a half hours of solid reading to read this, so that's what we've got to try and do. It's a bit scary, but I'm excited. I really love this series. It has its roots in Asian culture and customs, but it's obviously a fantasy world. I really love a lot of our characters and our family dynamics in this series. In fact, let's hear a little bit from Pals Megan when I've logged it before of what I thought about Jade City. It's been a long time since I've read like a detailed layered fantasy like this. I haven't been reading a lot of fantasy at all the past couple months and this just feels like the perfect thing to be reading. The one thing is that it is like a long book. It's not for main park. I feel terribly ill all of a sudden. I don't think I've read a book this long in a hot second. I do tend to read shorter books. I feel like nowadays. So I am struggling about 12 full length of it. I'm not gonna lie to you. I keep switching between oh my god I'm really enjoying this and oh my god I'm bored. I think I think I'm gonna give this a 3.5 rounded up to 4 in good read. So you think okay that's fine, but I wanted to love this even more. And the biggest problem is I cannot put my finger on why I was a bit disappointed by it. I can't put my finger on why it's not getting a 4 or a 4.5 or a 5 because I was going and looking at reviews right? And I saw my friend Mina's review and she's one of the biggest reasons that I picked this book up that I wanted to read this book. And I was reading her review and I agree in principle with everything she's said. There's just a little something, a little thing that wasn't it for me. That is my thoughts. We're gonna read these books. I am actually gonna take a bit of a breather in between them. I'm gonna read Not Happy Family by Sherylapina, not in this vlog. I'm reading this for my Patreon book club and vlogging it over there in between the books as a little breather. But other than that we're gonna be reading Jade War and Jade Legacy in this vlog. So I'm gonna go ahead and go start Jade War and I'll probably talk to you once I've read like the first 100 pages maybe. Okay so I am just over 100 pages into Jade War. My goal is tonight to get to like page 300. I don't know how well it's gonna happen but like listen we can dream because if I if I do that then I'm over halfway and I have less than a half to read tomorrow which I feel like we can do. So anyway I'm yeah 100 pages in and I'm really enjoying it. I was saying to my patrons I feel like when I have given the first book in a series four stars I kind of don't imagine that I'm gonna give the rest of the series anything more than that. I feel like the tone has been set. When I given the first book in a series five stars it could go down but when it's been less than that I kind of don't see it changing that much but I'm trying to go into this book with an open mind that it could because I'm really enjoying the start of this. Keep saying it. Just keep saying it. Keep saying it out loud and maybe you will convince hope. Don't worry none of these vlogs will have any spoilers just like none of my vlogs ever have spoilers so I'll try really really really hard not to spoil anything from Jade City but it is not easy because a lot happens in these books but I'm gonna try my best. So I'm really enjoying just the political maneuverings being back in this world where there's so much complexity. Like I haven't read an adult fantasy. I don't know when the last time I read an adult like a properly adult fantasy like complex high fantasy kind of stuff. Just being back with all of the family and how the dynamics have been left after the end of the last book is very interesting. Hilo as a character I found a bit difficult in the first book. I don't really want to say why but he's just like he's a bit of a different kind of character and I didn't dislike him but I just didn't love him. Like everyone tweets like oh my god Hilo. I love him. And I like didn't feel that way but this book I'm really enjoying seeing him in the role that he's in within the family and like him maneuvering that and him kind of working at his best or not working it as best. Like seeing where his his what sort of people skills lie and where his flaws lie. I think is really interesting. Anton is one of my favorite characters within the series. He is like a adopted kind of brother of the family and he's just been one of my favorite characters and I think he went on a really interesting kind of character arc at the end of Jane City and again I'm really loving seeing where his story goes in this one and I just kind of feel like in the first 100 page of this it's like a little bit of a step up. I don't know. I'm really enjoying it. I'm pleasantly surprised by how much I'm enjoying it right now. Morning! So last night I did not get as far through Jane Dwarf as I wanted. I really set myself up to fail today. I think I got to page like 190 but I am now on page 319 so I've read that much. Got that much left to read. And I'm still really really enjoying it so I think sometimes middle books in series often critiqued for being boring, for being a bit more slow but I actually like slow books if they're done well so I'm really enjoying all the political maneuverings and negotiations and and planning and plotting in this book. You already know the characters right? You already know this family so so well and so you immediately can kind of jump into that kind of political maneuvering and like figuring out where the clan goes from here and I just think I don't I don't know. I'm not minding that it's slow and it's obviously building us up in ways that I can't figure out because this you know adult fantasy as clever as this or you know I think of N.K. Jemisin or Robin Harp. Like you know all the adult fantasies require a bit of a brain. I just I just sit back and enjoy the ride. I'm like whatever you're doing just do it okay. I can't remember what tangent that was going on but regardless what I'm saying is I don't mind that it's a bit slower. I actually really enjoy that. I'm really enjoying the aspect of this book but whilst it is slow things keep happening where something suddenly comes out of nowhere and it fucking feels like a punch to the gut because you're like oh my god like you're kind of lured into a full sense of security with it and then it just goes off in a completely different direction and I'm just I don't know you guys I'm really enjoying it. I actually don't think I'm gonna have a break. I don't think I'm gonna read Not Happy Family between the two. I think I'm just gonna go straight into Jade Legacy because I don't know maybe I'm like becoming like Aaron. Like wishful thinking. You're a dreamer. You dream a lot and you're asleep. No not really. Aaron Marathon series and I've just been like could never be me. Could never be me but I'm immediately like I'm not even finished the book yet and I'm like I need to go read the next one and just like finish the series like be totally immersed in the world so that's what I think I'm gonna do. Another pro of this series in particular there's so many characters there's so many members of the family that you feel attached to. There's so many different moving parts that no one is ever safe. There's no necessarily main character in this book. Like if like any main character were to die other characters would step up and feel that whole. So unlike with other fantasy series where like if the protagonist the main protagonist is in trouble you're like well bitch you know you're gonna be fine. Like there's no sense of anxiety around that with this there is because a bitch could be gone in a moment and the story could flip on its head. Like you really don't know where it's gonna go. So I feel like that really does keep you on your toes and they're not with other fantasy books. I'm not like yeah sure Jan like you'll be fine. Like with this I actually get nervous. So I've got about three and a half hours left of the audiobook at full speed. I'm listening to a 3.2 sped up. They need to go eat. They need to put make-up on. So I'll still listen to the audiobook for that but obviously much slower. It's currently 20 past 11 so I feel like I'm gonna finish this with plenty of time. The live shows at six my time I think. So I think I'm gonna finish this with plenty of time. Okay. I feel the bits I need to do today but I'm feeling fine about finishing some time and I'm really enjoying it. I'm I'm actually shocked at how easy I'm finding it to read. I'm by myself. Wish I could solve your problems. They're stuck on my wall like me on paintings and I'm so tired of being honest to everyone by myself. I do it so well. We were so good at flying but we can't keep flying. We keep getting stuck on the wrong side of the mountain. We were so good at trying but we can't keep trying. I'm gonna finish this on Saturday evening and I take some time to decompress because this the ending of this was a fucking lot. I think you saw me reading it. Oh my god. Like fondly I'm suing for emotional damages. I'm suing. I'm suing. The most hideous experience for me to go through how warm I'm feeling. It was horrific. It was horrific. I really enjoyed this. I can you believe I'm giving it 4.5 stars. I really enjoyed it. The reason it's not a 5 is there are moments where I think it's a bit slow. Like we could've edited a little bit, Miss Fonda. We could've cut a few scenes but on the whole I just think this was absolutely marvellous. The big pro of this book for me was how the world building was expanded. I love this infantasy when the world expands a little bit in each book, you know? Each book has a marked increase in the scope of our interest. So the first book we're very just much focused on like the country that we live in. This book it's very much about Kcon and this country called Espenia and diaspora communities in Espenia and the relations between Kcon and Espenia and the clans and I get a feeling in the last book we're gonna get even bigger and kind of there's been rumblings of this war that's going on but like I haven't really been paying attention to that. I love the characters. I was talking obviously on the live about with Mel and Aaron about this. I love the characters like I love Wen. Listen she's a bit like idiotic sometimes but I love Wen. Justice for Wen. Justice for Wen. I love her. She's an icon. She's a legend and she is the moment. Now come on now. Andan though his scenes and his story lines out this book I think was my favourite and I hope like listen the thing with this book is like I said anyone can go. No one's safe. The characters that you think and the lead characters in this book could get the chop in a second like literally in half a page. Oh they're dead. Oh they're dead you know like that could easily happen so but I'm hoping andan isn't gonna die and um I'm hoping that he will play a big role in the in the third book and um yeah listen the writing is different. I think it's another reason it's not a five staff meme. It's different than my favourite type of writing. Like I can recognize it's great writing but it's very like matter-of-fact writing and like in a perfect world my favourite writing is kind of like beautiful. I like pretty writing you know. Whether that be like like Terjin can read right it's not flowery writing but I feel like her writing is very beautiful and very poignant or fairy prose is kind of you know beautiful writing. My kind of thing this writing almost feels scientific it feels very to the point so that isn't my favourite but I can I can recognize the prose of it if that makes sense and I just loved it. I really enjoyed it and I was like I said I was gonna read a book in between the two but now I'm not. I am just gonna dive straight into Jade Legacy tonight. I'm terrified. I don't know how it's gonna go like I feel like it could not like you know it's there's gonna be a lot. Aaron was already telling me like this book like it spans a long amount of time and a lot of shit happens. Be ready. I'm not ready but like you know so yes I'm gonna go start this. Oh my god you guys it's so big. The audiobook this is 28 hours long. I don't know when I check in with you when I'm a bit of a way through. I'm going out tomorrow so I don't know if I'll I don't think I'll read up to this point like up to a point I can check in with you tonight but probably after I've read will I'm out tomorrow I will be able to check in with you so I'll see you after that. And I'm thinking out loud we won't need nothing else for the rest of our time. Hey! Okay so what did you tell them like a mess? Sorry then I looked like a mess. It's a bit a few days later um I've actually been crazy busy the first the last I'm tired we'll get into it. I've been crazy busy the last couple days so basically it's Thursday night now. Tuesday night I went out to an award ceremony in London with Tom's work and then last night I live in Essex and I used to go uni in Leeds and I was nominated for an award a Royal Television Society Award in Leeds um so me and my family drove up and back in the same day which we don't know it's like a someone between a four and five hour drive all all things considered we drove them back in the same day like this hour long award ceremony um I didn't win so we don't need to talk about it um but we didn't get into like two in the morning last night so I we've all been fucking knackered today but I'm actually 150 pages into Jade Legacy I could have been further through because I probably should have read more of this in the car yesterday but I was just in the mood to listen to music which very really happened so I I honored my intuition I listened to myself no okay anyway I'm 150 pages in and I'm loving it here's the thing this is the longest book on my tbr currently longer than Wolf Hall longer than anything else it's how long 713 pages it's a chunky boy and you know the font the font is small but I'm I'm really enjoying it and I don't feel intimidated of it diving into it straight after Jade War I feel like I'm like amped up ready I needed a few days I think to like separate the books in my mind because that's the thing with like marathoning series I do then find it difficult later on down the line to differentiate my feelings between the books so I feel like having a few days you know it gave me a little bit of a breather I just think listen Miss Miss Fondely she no she she writes characters and she writes them well here's the thing he loved this other book I was ready I was pissed at this man we were not on speaking terms right because he'd done something that is always you're done in my book at that point you are done in my book I was fuming I was mega mega mega fuming but suddenly 150 pages later he's turned it around doesn't he he's turned it around and I don't think as many characters or authors that can do that for me when I'm like I'm done with you we're done you're going down a route I don't like and then all is forgiven all is forgiven and usually like even if say I won't get too into spoilers but like say stuff was forgiven in the book right I would usually not still forgive I hold grudges but forgive him I've forgiven him and I'm just like you know we're at the start of the book we're not very far in but I know it's all gonna kick off and I'm a little bit scared but I'm also excited I'm also excited I've enjoyed the start we we've only had a few but I can't speak we've already had a few curfews chucked in there feel like whoa whoa didn't see that coming and I know it's just gonna get worse and we've just skipped five years suddenly I was pretty warned that this spans a lot of time but literally from the chapter I'm about to read I'm just starting we're suddenly five years in the future so I'm like what is the situation what's happening someone is for me so I'm gonna try and I want to ideally get like halfway through this tonight I don't know if that's gonna happen but I would love that so we'll see we'll see how far I get okay so I am halfway through Jade Legacy listen this book is long it's a long boy like it's over 700 pages but it is readable like I am really enjoying the experience of reading this series wonderly I haven't I think I have a greater experience um excuse me a greater appreciation for reading this series for this series I can't speak whoa I have a greater appreciation for this series because of my experience of reading it all together like the second and third book all together this book tackles a lot a lot is happening so much is happening it constantly keeps you going reading around like the 250 yeah 200 to like 250 to 300 page mark there was like an event that happened that I was shook like I was like I could not stop reading I didn't plan to Karen reading I plan to do some other stuff but a bitch gotta read sometimes a bitch gotta read like it kept me hurt this is a place for legend okay I really love just the route that this is taking and the time we're getting to spend these characters like I obviously don't finish series that often and particularly not series that have so many like important characters and so much lore and history for the characters and it's just a really enjoyable reading experience and I haven't read you know adult fantasy a long time it's just making me feel like a lot less intimidated into reading the bigger books the more intimidating books on my tbr I will say I mean in this book in the first 360 pages we've already spanned I think about 13 years in this book yeah 13 years already and I will say perhaps although I enjoy the route that is taking us down with this slower war this more drawn out conflict these more like long-term decision-making and the way that maybe something you did back then which was good is now bad you know what I mean like the weighing up of all these factors but in terms of the characters sometimes it you feel like I don't know them as well now I feel like I don't know our main characters as well as I did in Jade war because we haven't been spending as much time with them so that is something that I'm not enjoying as much of this book but I think this book is more readable like it's I think it's better I think it's objectively amazing but yeah I just I just think you have pros and cons I think the story needs to be told in that kind of drawn out time scale but there are cons to doing it in that way that are difficult to avoid so I am still really enjoying it the world is just completely incredible like I think this is one of the biggest masterpieces of writing I've ever read I think it's absolutely amazing I kind of don't want to finish it like it's crazy to me but I'm gonna try and get as far through it as tonight as I can I would like to get maybe to page 500 tonight it's like another 130 ish pages um but we shall see but yeah it's just it's incredible how fondly has come up with all of this in her brain a few moments later oh no please stop it so listen to me right listen listen I need everyone's attention I need everyone's attention the crying you just saw was nothing nothing in comparison to what you know occurred after that I was screaming I had my headphones on listening to a book I was like screaming crying Tom took my headphones off he was like listen like you're loud listen to how loud you are I was like I know a bitch like everyone needs to know what I'm going through I'm not trying to be quiet here it's not funny get out if you're gonna continue to laugh and be fun of me and turn it in my heart was broken I'm like actually like miss fondly miss fondly like I no no one can speak to me for five days like genuinely I need to be left alone I just ripped out and like stomped on you guys this book is a masterpiece this series is a masterpiece fondly is a genius like the way suffering book one you know comes back and the way this is just I mean like how can a human plot this how can a human come up with this I actually refuse to believe it how can you be that clever how can you be that much of a genius that much of a genius like not possible actually not possible I'm giving it five stars giving it five stars five stars I absolutely loved it it's crazy to me that I went from being like pretty disappointed with jade city I only gave it I gave it 3.5 I didn't even realize that then gave jade wall 4.5 then gave this five I'm absolutely I feel broken I feel broken I have been cheating myself by not the coming on with series like what why have I been doing this to myself because like the way by this book you're so attached to these characters and you've been through so much with them and you know them so well like you know them like the back of your hand and you want them to like be safe and be okay and be happy like it's I'm so sad like this is one of the best fantasy series I have ever read in terms of its masterpiece like masterfulness master mother I don't know it's amazing it's amazing I feel like everyone needs to go read this I agree the best maybe the best in the entire world and like I will say I think the reason I rated jade city lower is because it did take me that book to like get used to all the different characters we have and get to know them and like the setting and like the pace of the book whereas with these books I was kind of used to it by then and that's why I was able to love them so much more so if you've read jade city and you kind of weren't sure whether you wanted to carry on with the series or kind of paying it off like carry on with it it's it's actually genius actually actually genius actually genius I don't know how she's done it it is incredible actually Miss Fonda miss what are you calling her miss Fonda I just feel like she's so amazing that it's like you know I have to be respectful she tweeted yesterday which I thought you know perfect timing she tweeted I'm gonna say it the green bird saga is far too often sold as action yes the fight scenes are some of my favorites but readers who aren't big on a lot of chewy world building political machinations and family drama should probably look away and it's like so true yes the action seems good but like they're sprinkled it's not the main plot the main plot is that political maneuvering and the family the family drama the family relationships like it's genius the way that each character like had their moment had their moment no matter who your favorite character is they have their moment in the kind of ending of this book and I just want to say it I'm putting it out there I'm putting it out there when is my favorite character anyone who says she's stupid anyone who says they don't like her decisions can get fucked me when I see any when haters in the comments oh he's not meant to be in here as he got in here get out I love when when I haven't described this if you don't know you probably won't know but when is Hilo's partner and when is a stone eyes that means that she can't have jade powers she doesn't get any powers from jade and her journey from being a stone eye which is very looked down upon in society to getting where she gets at the end of this book is incredible and the way that she is a woman navigating a man's world and using her role as a woman in the family to get where she needs to be and to do what she needs to do for the clan is I love her like I won't take criticism I won't take it not listening and in this second then I don't know who's third I can't decide who's third but they're my they're my you know they're my fave so anyway I loved this I would absolutely recommend you go and pick this series up and what a great start to like marathoning series which is going to be my life a little bit for the next year to try and get through series I love it I feel like this is a new me I love that so yeah let me know if you've read any of the books in this series down below what you thought of them if you now need to get to jade war jade legacy because you do if you go to the end of this video leave a green heart down below thank you so much for watching you guys I love you so much and I'll see you very soon in another video bye