Book review: Daniel Fox -- Jade Man's Skin

Disclaimer: Daniel Fox is a friend of mine. However, I didn't review the book just because he's a friend -- I whined shamelessly for an ARC because having read the first book in the trilogy, I very badly wanted to read the next one as soon as it was available in edited form, rather than waiting until it was on sale.


Daniel Fox -- Jade Man's Skin
ISBN: 978-0345503046

Daniel Fox keeps up the quality and the pace in the second volume of his fantasy trilogy inspired by mediaeval China. The first volume, "Dragon In Chains", told the tale of the boy Emperor's flight from a rebel army, and the stories of some of those touched by the war. Now the Emperor has reached safety on the remote island of Taishu on the very fringe of the Empire.

Taishu may be remote, but no would-be usurper can afford to leave the Emperor there in exile. The island holds the jade mines that are the source of imperial power -- and in this world, that isn't just symbolic. This volume explores in greater depth the subtle magic that underpins imperial rule. And there is more than imperial magic. There are other intelligences in this world, and the human forces which are arrayed against one another are starting to learn just what it means to tangle such creatures into human battles.

It's hard to review this book in any depth without giving major spoilers for the first one (which I've reviewed previously), because this trilogy really is a single novel in three volumes, not a series of three interlinked novels. But what I can say is that it follows each of the major characters and threads from the first volume, developing each strand of the story in a satisfying way. This is no wish-fulfillment story wherein the Hero is noble simply because he is the Hero, but a careful consideration of the cumulative effects of power -- on those who have it, whether in name only or in reality, on those who desire it, and on those who are simply in its path. And like the first volume, it neither flinches from showing the horror of war, nor wallows in gratuituous gore.

This is a complex story with equally complex characters, which genuinely needs the three volumes to do justice to the tales it has to tell. But it's beautifully constructed, and told in stunningly good prose. If you've not read the first book, don't start with this one. It really is worth your while finding "Dragon in Chains" and reading that first, not least because part of the pleasure is watching how the characters are changing and growing in response to the upheavals in their world. But there's no need to wait for the final book to come out, as "Jade Man's Skin" offers enough intermediate resolution of plot threads to leave a reader feeling satisfied while still wanting to hear the end of the story. Go buy them now -- this series is breathtaking, in concepts, in story and in prose.

LibraryThing entry
Jade Man's Skin at Amazon UK
Jade Man's Skin at Amazon US

My review of Dragon in Chains (volume 1)
Dragon in Chains LibraryThing entry
Dragon in Chains at Amazon UK
Dragon in Chains at Amazon US

November book log

My reading in November was rather erratic. One from October finished, and one complete book, but I also started several without finishing them before the end of the month.

Fred Pohl, editor -- Galaxy Volume 1
First part of a two part anthology celebrating 30 years of Galaxy magazine. Wonderful book, both for the stories and for the short but frequently not sweet essays by the authors on working with the various editors.
LibraryThing entry

Daniel Fox -- Jade Man's Skin
Second part of the trilogy started in "Dragon in Chains". Reviewed earlier today, executive summary "Go and buy this book. Now."


Started but not finished in November:

Robert Silverberg -- To the Land of the Living
Sequel to Silverberg's earlier fantasy "Gilgamesh the King". I hadn't read either for years, and don't own a copy of the first one. My copy of TtLotL has just come out of long-term storage, and I've almost finished re-reading it. I've been enjoying it a lot, but I'm trying to be more ruthless about weeding books that aren't "can't bear to be parted from it", and will probably dispose of it once I've finished it.

John Carnell, editor -- New Writings in SF 12
One of the 1968 volumes in the anthology series. Highlights for me were a Sector General story from James White, and a novella from Colin Kapp that was definitely not an Unorthodox Engineers story, but which pressed some of the same buttons (at least for me).

Terry Pratchett -- Making Money
I've missed the releases in the last couple of years because of General Upheaval. Spotted the hardback on discount in the remainder shop, and grabbed it. Started reading it on the bus on the way home, then exerted some discipline and put it away until I'd finished the other part-read books. Lots of fun so far.

John Barrowman -- Anything Goes
I'm not so much of a fangirl that I'd have paid more than remainder price for this, but well-written actor memoirs can be entertaining in their own right even if you're not a fangirl desperate to know all the details about a specific actor -- the first ones I read were those by David Niven, and at the time I'd never seen anything of his and knew nothing about him other than what was in the memoirs. Barrowman's isn't as good as those, but it's still entertaining. I'm reading it on and off as my light reading book for when I don't want to focus on something that requires the level of concentration that a novel does so not yet finished.