--- description: Find out why Jade City by Fonda Lee is on TIME's list of the best fantasy books of all time title: 'Jade City' Is on TIME's List of the 100 Best Fantasy Books image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf0790ef5bd2e46ae/698a1330457a5209b5d64823/Jade-City-Fonda-Lee-100-best-fantasy-books.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Oct 14, 2020 # Jade City by Fonda Lee by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  On the island of Kekon, jade is everything. But it’s no normal mineral—this jade enhances the superhuman abilities of the Green Bone warriors who have long protected the island from invaders. The jade market is controlled by two clans who exist peacefully until a shake-up in the leadership of one leads to an aggressive campaign for control by the other. Violence erupts and a clan war follows, coalescing into a saga that is part fantasy, part mob thriller. Beyond the thoughtful intricacies of the geopolitics surrounding jade and its powers, Fonda Lee creates a world so layered and deep in history and ritual, it’s easy to forget that it doesn’t exist in our reality. With its seamless mixture of styles, _Jade City_ becomes an essential text in the crime fantasy genre. —_Annabel Gutterman_ **Buy Now:** _Jade City_ on [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/4973/9780316440882 "undefined") | [Amazon](https://amzn.to/2GDo3nQ "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-best-fantasy-books/5898513/jade-city/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-best-fantasy-books/5898513/jade-city/"},"headline":"'Jade City' Is on TIME's List of the 100 Best Fantasy Books","datePublished":"2020-10-14T19:49:06.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-02T23:42:50.673Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/100-best-fantasy-books/5898513/jade-city/","keywords":["Books","list"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf0790ef5bd2e46ae/698a1330457a5209b5d64823/Jade-City-Fonda-Lee-100-best-fantasy-books.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf0790ef5bd2e46ae/698a1330457a5209b5d64823/Jade-City-Fonda-Lee-100-best-fantasy-books.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-best-fantasy-books/5898513/jade-city/","name":"'Jade City' Is on TIME's List of the 100 Best Fantasy Books"}}]}] ```