Unlike Jade City, the first novel in the series, this installation is less insularly focused on the clans of Janloon and much more interested in the way that Janloon interacts sociopolitically with the rest of the world around it. If you thought Fonda Lee's worldbuilding was impressive when she was only focusing on one nation, just freaking wait until you see how she handles the global politics of an entire world. Like, genuinely the way she writes these countries interacting with each other and the delicacy of the meetings and politics made me Google to find out whether she holds a degree in international relations.

(In case you were curious, it doesn't seem like she does -- she does have an MBA though!) 

I'm writing this review from the perspective of someone who's already finished the series, and in hindsight it's really clear to see the way that Fonda Lee was guiding the establishment of setting across the trilogy. Jade City was all about Janloon; Jade War now allows the reader's viewpoint to expand outside that nation and see how the clans and jade warriors are received and perceived in other nations around the world. While Jade City made it seem like the war between No Peak and the Mountain might be something that could be won solely on Kekonese soil, Jade War makes it clear that this won't be the case -- that both clans will need to expand their worldviews if they want to have a hope of staying relevant and overcoming the challenges that face them.

It really is such an impressive talent for a writer to be able to craft a narrative that spans so many different countries as well as so much time and still keep the reader engaged and not lose them along the way. Even though Jade War spans a longer time period and is much more expansive than Jade City, because Fonda Lee spent so much time in Jade City making sure the readers were intimately familiar with her characters, the second installation is equally easy to follow and in my opinion lost no intrigue from the expanded viewpoint.

Far from being a "weak link" in the series (as second books often are), I found Jade War to be a necessary building block and interesting all on its own merits.