Jade Fire Gold: review

June CL Tan grew up in Singapore where she was raised on a diet of classic books and wuxia movies, caffeine and congee. After obtaining three degrees, she decided she had enough of academia. Thankfully, those degrees were somewhat related to telling stories and now, she resides in New York City, writing under the watchful eye of her crafty cat. Jade Fire Gold is her debut novel.

TITLE: Jade Fire Gold

PUBLISHED: October 12th 2021

PUBLISHER: HarperTeen

PAGE COUNT: 464

GENRE: YA fantasy

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In an empire on the brink of war...

Ahn is no one, with no past and no family.

Altan is a lost heir, his future stolen away as a child.

When they meet, Altan sees in Ahn a path to reclaiming the throne. Ahn sees a way to finally unlock her past and understand her arcane magical abilities.

But they may have to pay a far deadlier price than either could have imagined.

Ferocious action, shadowy intrigue, and a captivating romance collide in June CL Tan’s debut, a stunning homage to the Xianxia novel with a tender, beating heart, perfect for fans of The Bone Witch and We Hunt the Flame.

Huge thanks to Edelweiss and HarperTeen for the e-galley.

Personal rating: This book did not stand out among the hundreds of others before it. The first half was good, but then it fizzled.

Reasons to read: Chinese-coded reps, pretty cover, queer reps

I stand on the precipice of a great revelation that I hope will not come to pass. I love YA books, I truly do, but there are times when I think readers like myself are being looked at like we have amnesia. How often have you read a book and thought, geez, this is EXACTLY like a book I read last year or even last month? Sure, the names are the same, but the concept? Done. It's like we're getting the same formula-the same SAFE formula-and I'm finding myself disappointed more often than not.

The story started off with the pheasant girl spirited away to a palace because of some sudden and fantastic magic. This here is what I'm talking about. We've seen this before, MANY TIMES, but this one reminded me so much of Shadow and Bone that I couldn't get past it.

"Heart beating fast, I examine myself in the bronzed mirror. Dressed in these beautiful clothes, the poor girl-thief from the desert is nowhere to be found. I don't recognize myself. Somehow, it feels like I've lost something."

Yes, yes, as expected.

Altan is out other POV and he is my angry boy and I love him. Reading his chapters were probably my favorite part of this book which then made me realize that perhaps this could have been a story about Altan ONLY with Ahn as a side character and I would have been OK with it. This whole book felt like Altan's story anyway with Ahn as a supporting character, which sucks because we need our females to step it up and not be there simply to support the males in the story.

The romance was non-existent, so I would have been just fien with it not even being part of the story at all. The large time gaps between chapters allowed me to feel distant from Ahn and Altan's relationship (and the story in general). I did not see a specific moment when their feelings began to bloom organically. It just sorta happened and gave me whiplash because I felt nothing between these two. They bickered so much I thought maybe they were secretly siblings, but alas.

The positive thing about the book is June's writing and I see potential in her future as an author.

To recap: boring romance, uneven pacing, formulaic, but well-written. I think readers new to the genre will enjoy it, but for seasoned readers like myself, this was surely a miss.