reviewed by Jennifer Kahng
A secret society of female warriors, a feisty leading woman who kicks butt with kung fu, a dashing archaeologist, the mysterious power that flows from a set of jade animals, and a little bit of romance thrown in for good measure. What more could you want from an action novel?
In Jade Tiger, Jenn Reese brings us Shan Westfall, a half-Chinese, half-American young woman determined to find the remaining pieces of the Jade Circle she saw fifteen years prior when the sanctuary where the keepers of the Jade Circle trained were attacked and the pieces scattered. In the midst of the chaos, as she fled with her father, Shan’s mother was also lost. As an adult, Shan finds a hint of the remaining pieces and embarks on an adventure to bring the Jade Circle together and finally find out what happened to her mother.
First stop? Well, a university in New York, where she runs into Ian Dashell, a young, handsome archaeology professor caught in the middle of a night raid. Seems Shan isn’t the only one looking for the jade figures and a seemingly innocent photograph of someone in Ian’s study with the jade crane in the background throws his entire world upside down.
To say the book’s pace is fast would be a bit of an understatement. Things happen rapidly without a clear sense of just how much time has passed between events. But then, what would you expect from what amounts to an action packed movie in text form?
Shan kicks ass. The fight choreography is described in great detail allowing the reader to visualize exactly what it is Shan is doing and seeing. The fights are also quite painful. Such is the reality of hand to hand combat.
What of the dashing archaeologist? Well, there is a bit of romance, of course. From the moment they meet, Shan and Ian seem to be drawn together, likely due to the nature of the jade animals they possess. Shan is the tiger and she embodies the fierce hunter the tiger represents. Ian is the crane, calm and balanced, but ready to take flight when the time comes. In the face of the whirlwind that is Shan, Ian doesn’t flinch and provides a perfect complement to her personality.
A little too perfect, perhaps. Ian is not only smart and handsome, but he also comes from a wealthy family. Add in the fact he isn’t intimidated by Shan’s obvious superiority in physical skill and you’ve got the kind of man most women dream about. Did I mention he also speaks Mandarin Chinese? Which also happens to be the dialect spoken in the region where the Jade Circle was? He’s an archaeologist, after all. Different than most.
At times, the book seems a little off in atmosphere. Reese interjects witty comebacks and observations throughout but they somehow give parts of the book a juvenile feel. In the end, however, the reader is taken through a fast-paced, action-packed adventure with an ending that has nice closure for just about everyone.
Well, except for me. My only real complaint is that Reese keeps the pace so fast even the ending flies by. Don’t get me wrong, everything and everyone ends up right where they should be, but I wanted more. What’s going to happen next? Maybe Reese will deliver a sequel, else, I’ll just have to be content with my own musings.
