Jade City

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2018

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-12

Chapters 13-26

Chapters 27-36

Chapters 37-46

Chapter 47-Epilogue

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

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Discussion Questions

Themes

The Bonds and Tensions of Sibling Relationships

The interactions and relationships of the Kaul siblings influence the actions of No Peak throughout its battle with Mountain. Despite disagreements and grudges, as the clan conflict worsens, they draw closer together, striving for a stronger relationship.

The notion that siblings, no matter how strong their bonds, struggle with personal tension is integral to Kekon culture. Deitist religion believes that human progress is irreversibly tied to sibling relations:

All earthly conflict, so the Deitist philosophers say, stems from the original offense of the children against their parents and of siblings against one another. All human progress and virtuous striving is like-wise an attempt to achieve familial forgiveness and a return to the spiritually and physically divine state (151).

Siblings fight, hold jealousies, and provoke each other at opportune moments, but these petty feuds often pale in comparison to their strong love for each other—a dynamic most apparent with Hilo and Shae, whose relationship fundamentally shifts in the face of family tragedy and clan crisis.

Shae and Hilo, who grow up in the shadow of their older brother Lan, are lifelong rivals. The two are close in age, so they attend school together, where they compete for academic and social success. Their unequal treatment at the hands of their grandfather, who sees Shae as a favorite while criticizing Hilo, exacerbates the tension between them. Shae’s decision to leave the family, Green Bone culture, and her jade to go to college abroad and date an Espenian man infuriates Hilo. On her return, as Hilo makes his disapproval of her life choices clear, Shae struggles to reshape their relationship: “She itched to do it—to hurt him, to reject him, to provoke him—but she was tired of their old rivalry. Fighting Hilo was a crutch, an addictive bad habit she’d had all her life, one she’d tried to leave behind along with her jade, and did not want to return to” (59). It is easy for both to fall back into their hurtful routine, and their unique knowledge of each other makes it easy to lash out.

However, when Lan dies and their family must close ranks, this same knowledge is used to strengthen their bond. When Hilo becomes Pillar, he asks Shae to be his Weather Man, one of the most powerful positions in the clan, knowing that she is most equipped to help him and the clan succeed. Shae recognizes that her skills are ideal for the position: “If No Peak held any hope of surviving, the Pillar needed a Weather Man he could trust. Who else could stand up to Hilo? Who else could moderate him, could keep him from getting himself killed and taking the clan down with him?” (293). Their longstanding rivalry creates a relationship in which they can challenge each other and not fear a power imbalance. While Hilo may not like what Shae suggests, he has faith in her judgment and motives. Their rivalry and the tension that fuels it equip them to share power, showing how the bonds between the Kaul siblings are stronger than any disagreements they may have.

The Power of Image

In Kekon, jade gives its users super human abilities and elevated status—things that it also makes visually obvious, since jade has to be publicly worn for its magic to be accessed. The presence of jade thus informs how the Kekonese imagine power in general—as something that needs to be displayed at all times to be wielded. The Kaul family is skilled at projecting and manipulating the image of strength, using it to influence their clan and their rivals in Mountain. For example, Lan understands that wearing less jade than his rival Pillar, Ayt Mada, is perceived as weakness: “[P]eople were superficial. According to old timers, the great Kaul Du had carried more jade than any other warrior in his day. When his son’s rival, a woman Pillar, showed off conspicuously more green, it was talked about. It was whispered as if it was a personal failing” (148). The role of Pillar may be complex, and jade alone might not make a good leader, but the sexism inherent in Green Bone honor culture puts Lan in a difficult position: His rival is a woman who can handle more jade than him, which impugns not only his importance but even his masculinity. In response, his self-doubt in his abilities as a war-time Pillar influences his actions throughout the novel.

Lan’s desire to appear strong forces him to wear jade he shouldn’t, creating a dangerous imbalance. With the conflict between the clans growing and public perception clearly favoring the larger and stronger Mountain clan, he suppresses his better judgment to risk the reward of projecting power:

If it weren’t for the immense importance of public perception right now, Lan would’ve resisted wearing all the acquired jade. The injury he’d sustained from absorbing and repulsing Gam’s Channeling attack lingered and made it hard to bear the heavy load (216).

Lan decides that the public spectacle of power is the most important aspect of being Pillar, so he refuses to recover his health before donning Gam’s jade. The jade overload leads to Lan’s SN1 abuse disorder, although Lan sees his actions as defense against Ayt Mada and Mountain and a way to reassure No Peak’s Lantern Men and supporters: “Every day, I meet with people—councilmen, Lantern Men, Luckbringers, Fists and Fingers—all of them looking for assurances and evidence that No Peak can stand up to the Mountain. Meanwhile, our enemies are searching for any sign of weakness” (242-43).

The decision is a costly mistake, creating a dependence that leads directly to Lan’s death: Unable to run from an assassination attempt mid-overdose, he falls into the harbor and drowns. However, the novel does not fully condemn his decision-making: In Janloon, people pick sides and give loyalty to the side that looks most poised to win, so hiding weakness is a politically savvy move at any cost, despite its fatal consequences. The power of image leads to Lan’s death not through faulty decision making, but because of a cultural system that demands he value image above his own wellbeing for the people he cares about.

Leadership Reflects Identity

The clans of Janloon are led by Pillars, who make decisions with a cascading effect for the clans. In Jade City, the reader encounters three Pillars—Ayt Mada of Mountain Clan, and Lan and Hilo of No Peak—whose different styles of leadership reflect their unique identities, life experiences, and interactions with others. The novel argues that nothing expresses a person’s true character better than their actions and decisions while in charge.

Ayt Mada, the adopted daughter of the former Mountain Pillar, is a trailblazer. When she gained command, she swiftly consolidated power through brute force, solidifying her position as Pillar and earning respect in a culture that discounts her abilities because of her gender. These experiences inform her leadership style—she is not hidebound or tied to the Green Bone honor code in the same ways as her male counterparts, which allows her more flexibility in expanding Mountain reach and control: “[M]y father never allowed anyone with foreign blood to train at Wie Lon, but times are different now. I’m not like my father. I break from tradition when I see that there is cause to do so and when there is gain to be had” (94). Motivated by shrewd ambition, Ayt Mada seeks to change the way her clan operates to capitalize on any opportunities, such as selling jade to non-Kekonese, as well as the SN1 they will need to wield its powers, or offering Anden the chance to join Mountain despite his being from a rival family.

While Ayt is an aggressive master strategist, Lan is a Pillar meant for peace time. Lan inherited his role at a time of little conflict, unlike Ayt, so he is less ambitious and expansionist, instead preferring to focus on preservation of Green Bone ways; his efforts are primarily spent checking Mountain schemes and seeking to maintain a balance between clans through the Kekon Jade Alliance. When his Weather Man Doru defects, betraying No Peak, Lan struggles with the ruthlessness that leadership seems to call: “But betrayal so close, and at such a high level of the clan—it could not be forgiven. Was it possible, Lan wondered, to be both a strong leader and a compassionate person, or were those two things opposing forces, pushing each other away?” (265). To Lan, punishing Doru would be tantamount to throwing away his past, since Doru was his grandfather’s Weather Man as well. As a man deeply beholden to tradition and family, Lan seeks a path to coexistence and peace—almost to his clan’s ruin.

Hilo is in many ways a foil to Lan—rash and quick to violence. When Lan dies and Hilo takes over as Pillar, he brings this sensibility—typically more suited to the position of Horn—to his leadership style. Hilo has been a successful and respected Horn, and the relationships he has built with his Fingers and Fists are strong. Now, he uses this past paramilitary experience to bring a new approach to the position of Pillar:

You didn’t need to speak sweetly and offer patronage at every turn to these people. You had to be honest with them and show that they had more to gain from your friendship than your enmity. Did she think his Fists obeyed him because they were rewarded with favors or cowed by threats? No. Mutual survival was the basis of brotherhood and loyalty, even of love (398).

To see his clan through the conflict with Mountain, Hilo frames the situation as a war, rather than the diplomatic puzzle that Lan saw. Using tactics similar to those that his Fists and Fingers see in the streets, Hilo earns loyalty and trust by casting even the non-fighting arm of No Peak as combat comrades. At the same time, he trusts the advice of his Weather Man Shae—unlike Lan, whose reign as Pillar was marked by the need to temper his lieutenants. Her strengths—strategic, long-term thinking and patience—complement Hilo’s weaknesses; they make a solid leadership unit that in some ways becomes a co-Pillar arrangement, a new approach to leading No Peak into the future.