is the series any good?

not that i have time to start it but from quick read of wiki it seems very black and white...

Jade War- 2nd book in the The Green Bone Saga #1 by Fonda Lee.

Honestly, I think it's hit-or-miss, not for the series as a whole, but also for each book. It really depends on what you like as a reader. I obviously enjoy the series since I am at the eighth book, but I admit there were a couple of individual books that I found rather poor (and and a few scenes that made me roll my eyes). But when it's good, I get hooked and can't stop turning the pages.

I love the worldbuilding and the characters (well, most of them). Their personalities become very polished as the story advances. The way magic works and its own nature is quite unique, and there's a very engaging "big picture" backstory that unravels more and more with each book.

It's a traditional good vs evil story, so the bad guys are really evil and the good guys are presented as very good, although sometimes their actions are very questionable and it's not that easy to tell if they can be called heroes. Some of them walk on the verge, and seeing their evolution throughout the books is very satisfying. Also, the villains sometimes have *kind* of a point, even if their methods are horrible, so that makes them more dangerous and scary.

The author obviously has a fixation with certain topics, which can feel a bit moralist or even obssessive at times (I don't want to spoil anything). On the other hand, the focus on unusual topics turns the series into something refreshing, compared to other fantasy books.

Note that the first book is not very representative of what comes next. It introduces some of the main characters and develops a stand-alone story, but there are a few elements that will be conveniently forgotten in future books (as they don't fit very well with the darker and more down-to-earth side of the story), and many of the key plotlines are not even suggested until the next one. Actually, the second book is where things start to get in line and a bunch of very interesting characters are introduced. If you like what happens in the second book, you will probably get hooked on the whole series.

Plus, the Wizard's First Rule is one of the most useful lessons I have ever learned. ;)

The Warriors by Sol Yurick.

the Dark Portal by Jarvis.

The Dark Portal is the first book in the Deptford Mice Trilogy by Robin Jarvis.

I'm also reading some Discworld books, mainly those around the Ankh-Morpork City Watch !

Coriolanus by William Shakespeare

V.A. - "SNAFU: Survival of the Fittest"

https://storybundle.com/books/1075

Half-Orcs Series by David Dalglish

The Complete Morgaine Saga by C.J.Cherryh. Along with her Ealdwood dilogy, it's one of the best of the best in classic fantasy fiction.

To a God Unknown by John Steinbeck.

Now reading The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye (Mannen som jagade sin skugga), part 5 of the Millenium series, by David Lagercrantz.

Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini for pleasure, and The Tempest for school purposes. I'll pick up some Augustine too every so often.

The Vision by Dean Koontz.