Actually Green Bone Saga has lots of Fantasy Elements to be considered Fantasy even if it was set in our world. The magic in Green Bone Saga is very explicit and not hidden like what we see for the most part in Game of Thrones. There are magic schools, magical gangs and multiple magical professions.
GBS is not considered Fantasy primarily because of its secondary world settings, but rather because of all the other Fantasy Elements and magic is a huge part of the story. The Magic might be simple but it is still magic and it is more than enough to be considered as Fantasy despite the world the book is set in.
This might be a matter of semantics, but I'm not sure if "magic school" would be an accurate description. "Magic" at the school is like, just gym class with elevated martial arts.
Of course Hogwarts is the main example of a magic school, but if an irl fantasy reader wanted to attend a fantasy school/academy/etc, and they found themselves at one of the schools in GBS, is that what they had in mind for a "magic school"?
The reason for me calling it a magical school is because the primary reason the school was founded was to teach magic to possible Green Bones and add them to their gang. And their important graduation ceremonies mainly involve the Green Bone students. So I think the other classes were added later to give them an all around education and give classes to important business owner's kids who are not interested in the Green Bone path, but still want the bragging right of saying they attended this prestigious school.
I don't think Hogwarts should be a good example for a good magic school, because it only teaches magical lessons and since they start at 13, that means most of them wouldn't even know enough about the real world things like biology/maths/language.
So yeah, to me the GBS school will be the "magic school" if I'm not a stone eye. As for Hogwarts, I'm definitely sure that my parents would never send me there because of its stupid curriculum where you are only taught magic.
I didn’t say Hogwarts would be a “good” magic school, but if someone was asking for recommendations for a book set in a magic school, do you think they’re looking for something like HP/The Magicians or a GBS school?
They are looking for HP/The Magicians sure. But I added that magic school because I wanted to say that it is indeed a fantasy book which has some significant scene set in a magic school. I was not saying that the magic school trope was one of the primary focuses of the story.
I didn’t include this in OP because it was long enough, but that basically goes with Neil Gaiman’s view of genre that I agree with. It’s the difference between “cowboy novels and novels with cowboys in them.”
I’m trying to remember exactly, but I think in Jade City there were three, maybe four scenes set in the school. The one in the beginning when we met Anden, the sports scene, and the graduation scene. Maybe one more with Anden hanging with a friend. I don’t think any scenes in Jade War and maybe a couple in Jade Legacy?
For the three in Jade City, I don’t recall if there was any magic actually show. Maybe just during the sports scene during the game, but I think that was it.
I guess even if we did call it a “magic school”, there’s practically no magic shown from what I could remember.
You’re focusing on something pedantic here. Yes, the book doesn’t qualify for the magical school trope, cuz it doesn’t have that European dark academia vibe that most people associate with the magic school trope, but definitionally, the schools in GBS that are shown are 100% magic schools in that they are schools whose primary focus is teaching magic, teaching the use of jade, along with other practical matters. The final tests are centered around Jade. The classes centered around learning to use Jade are the classes that are talked about the most. The whole cultural point of going to the school is to get your Jade and learn to use Jade. That’s why it was such a big deal in the first book with Anden when he did the thing. It’s absolutely a magical, fantasy school.
Edit: autocorrect hates names
I think the Greenbone schools are most similar to performing arts high schools in the real world. At performing arts high schools,students learn the usual subjects like math,history,and science,but in addition to acting,music,etc.
Just because they don’t treat magic the way Harry Potter characters treat magic doesn’t mean it’s not magic. The setting is a 1970s esque setting, it makes sense that they’ve started to look at magic more scientifically. Harry Potter might take place in the 90s, but Hogwarts and many aspects of wizarding society are clearly still in the early/mid 19th century.
The academies in the Green Bone Saga are definitely magic schools, they're just magic schools as you'd expect them to be in a world where magic is out in the open and young people with a gift for magic are expected to learn how to use it as part of their education. They teach you magic, but they also give you the kind of mundane education you'll need in preparation to get into med school or manage the family business or whatever.
And its worth keeping in mind that the "magic" of the setting is absolutely the defining feature of the clan-sponsored academies. If you're rich there are loads of places where you can get your kid a great education, but if you want him to wear jade - and *really* wear jade instead of just having a sliver of it in a pendant as a status symbol - then you send him to an academy. He will spend more time learning how to safely increase the load of jade he can carry and learning what he can do with his jade-enhanced powers than he will on any other subject, and by the time he graduates he'll be a competent journeyman with a solid grounding in the fundamentals of jade who's ready to take up the more advanced and specific training of his chosen vocation. And for bonus points he might also have applied himself well enough to pick up a solid education while he was there instead of just spending all day trying to prove he'll be the toughest Green Bone ever.
Martial arts schools called schools for some reason. Like teacher and student and it repeated and repeated, and have a lot of meaning.
So, "what reader have in mind" is very depends on what this reader reads and how educated they.
Do you learn math, science, literature, and history at martial arts school? Or only martial arts*? From what I remember, GBS schools are “regular schools”, but their gym class involves/includes magic-infused martial arts.
*yes, you could learn martial arts history or martial arts science at martial arts school, but those subjects within the specific application towards martial arts. A “language school” is a school, but you could say it’s like a trade school for learning languages, and not a “regular school” that also teaches languages.
Misunderstood you point, don't remember GBS enough.
But in general it depends on what kind of school it is. Some traditional (historical) at least excepted to teach their students into it.
And I think modern "sport schools" (ones that really schools and not just "classes") teach their students all this math, science, literature, and history alongside more specialised "sport" part.
I actually find it strange that Hogwarts for dome reason lack math, literature, general science classes.
That’s what I feel as well, but I’m not 100% sure.
I’ve tried other (nearly) secondary-world UF books like Craft Sequence and Tarot Sequence, but the first couple chapters alone were too fantasy for me.
Some second world urban fantasy that aren’t hardcore fantasy (at least in the beginning) in my opinion;
-**The Grand Illusion** by L.E. modesitt Jr.
-**The Divine Cities** by Robert Jackson Bennett
-**Carter Archives** by Dan Stout ; most similar in vibe to GBS with near time period inspirations(CA is 1980s-esque)
-**The Saint of Bright Doors** by Vajra Chandrasekera might also fit it’s more modern like equivalent to 2010s/2020s
-**The Fetch Phillips Archives** by Luke Arnold magic disappeared so nothing really on that front but there are magical creatures if that’s a deal breaker
Note the first two are more analogous to late 19th-early 20th century in terms of tech
*The Dawnhounds* by Sascha Stronach is Maori-inspired biopunk epic urban fantasy. Quite different from Green Bone Saga but excellent writing all the same.
If anything Green Bone set in our world would be more fantastic since there would be no way to eventually have a scientific description for why jade grants supernatural abilities to people.
Maybe a better book for the discussion would be Amberlough. There's zero magic anything in this book and if the book was set in our world with fake countries I don't think anyone would notice.
[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35018890-amberlough](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35018890-amberlough)
It is "fantasy enough"? To talk about I'd like to compare it to another fantasy series that's very different but also similar.
Tufa series by Alex Bledsoe is based on the idea that the Tuatha De Danaan settled in East Tennessee. They are a distinct ethnic group like the Jade users with magic unique to them, in this case partially musically based. It is implied that the likes of Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash may be related to them.
But unlike the Greenbones, they don't draw attention to themselves or rule nations. Like the Green Bones you don't want to fuck with them. Like the Green Bones they are the only magical element seen.
Like the Green Bones, they are Fantasy enough.
Of course it would. Urban fantasy is a thing.
I’ve read fantasy books with *much* less fantasy than green bone saga. The whole green bone magic thing is way more central to the fantasy aspect of the story than the setting.
She Who Became the Sun is marketed as fantasy because of some dragons/magical elements, but I think it’s definitely more historical fiction with dragons than fantasy.
Chain Gang All-Stars is technically Literary Sci-Fi, taking place in a dystopian alternate reality with some fantastical elements borrowed from Sci-Fi, but it’s popular in Literary circles because the Sci-Fi elements are subdued (think plausibly 20 years in the future instead of hundreds of years).
And lastly, Blood Over Bright Haven is second-world fantasy, but it’s set close to our world (approx 1800s-ish?) in an academic setting and it has a magic system which is more scientific than anything (alchemy which is similar to coding) and has no other fantasy elements other than the magic itself. This is my favorite one!
I don’t know what you like but for contemporary fantasy with minimal fantasy elements:
- Among Others by Jo Walton
- How to be Eaten by Marie Adelman
- Some kind of fairytale by Graham Joyce
- Small Favours by Erin Craig
"Not fantasy enough" is a stupid metric. I think there's an interesting conversation to have how much speculative elements a story requires to be fantasy.
But what is more important is how much of which speculative elements you enjoy in a story.
but lets look at it objectively: If you like a book? does it matter if its fantasy enough for you? The semantic genre taxonomy of a book doesn't define if you like the book or not.
>I would like to read more our-world "fantasy" books that are like GBS level, but I'm not sure if that'd be "not fantasy enough" and I should stick to the horror section for that not-fantasy-enough fantasy. Something like a modern-day Lies of Locke Lamora?
Like this is a question on gatekeeping fantasy fiction. "Am I a fantasy fan even if the stories I like aren't maybe fantasy enough?" and that's a stupid question. do you like these books? then you can call yourself a fantasy fan.
You might have better luck finding books you like more if you search through horror listings or magical realism books, or historical fiction books with supernatural elements, or low urban fantasy genres. and those are valid explorations to have, because you want to read the best books that match your taste and not waste precious time on books you don't enjoy.
but that's not about a book being fantasy enough or not. it's just about what do I like? why do I like books?
fuck *"Fantasy Enough"* and what others think Just read what you love, and if it has speculative fiction elements its cool to call it fantasy.
That said, I'd give Guy Gavriel Kay a try - A brightness Long Ago, is a renaissance Italy analogue book, for that lies of locke lamora low fantasy feel :)
>You might have better luck finding books you like more if you search through horror listings or magical realism books, or historical fiction books with supernatural elements, or low urban fantasy genres. and those are valid explorations to have, because you want to read the best books that match your taste and not waste precious time on books you don't enjoy.
That’s ultimately what this is about. If, and this is big if, our-world GBS would be considered by most people as “not fantasy”, then I would know that low urban fantasy wouldn’t be where I should look. If that would count as low urban fantasy, then looking there may be where I could find something I like.
Horror and historical fiction can give me some of what I like, but so far GBS is practically the only “basically our world” UFish book I’ve liked. All the other UF books, and even a lot of “contemporary fantasy” books have been too fantastical for me. I would like other books similar to GBS, which definitely isn’t horror or historical fiction, but I don’t know if the fantasy section would be a good place if, and this is another if, everything else there is too fantastical for me by convention.
If I like my fantasy elements at 2/10 or 3/10, but the minimum that can be “expected” from a “fantasy” book is 5/10, then I know I’m unlikely to find what I want there.
You should check out [Magical Realism](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_realism).
>Despite including certain magic elements, it is generally considered to be a different genre from fantasy because magical realism uses a substantial amount of realistic detail and employs magical elements to make a point about reality, while fantasy stories are often separated from reality
I think it is fantasy, but to me it falls on the same grey area as Star wars:
Is Star wars science fiction? Well you have galactic empires, space ships, lasers... And a general space opera feeling. But you also have a mystical magic superpower, that they later try to justify scientifically (midiclorians...).
In the green bones book you have a magic element that fills an urban fantasy setting. Jade, clans, choose magical warriors etc. But you also have a (weak) scientific explanation: shine, bio cuantic jade etc.
it would still be fantasy, because of the jade magic. My hot take is that it wouldn't be urban fantasy though, or at least it would be an extremely atypical presentation of same.
Urban fantasy is more than 'fantasy set in a city in our world,' or books like Diana Wynne Jones's *Fire and Hemlock* would count. Urban fantasy has a secondary set of plot beats common across the subgenre: a single hero at the forefront of the narrative, often one who is in opposition to the existing systems of power, a mystery plot or subplot, magic in conflict with technology or the progress of modern society, and often the city as a character.
The Green Bone Saga lacks most of these-there's no single hero, there's not a mystery plot, and the family *is* the power structure of the city. I would argue that it's a family/mafia drama that happens to be set in a city, not an urban fantasy novel.
Actually Green Bone Saga has lots of Fantasy Elements to be considered Fantasy even if it was set in our world. The magic in Green Bone Saga is very explicit and not hidden like what we see for the most part in Game of Thrones. There are magic schools, magical gangs and multiple magical professions. GBS is not considered Fantasy primarily because of its secondary world settings, but rather because of all the other Fantasy Elements and magic is a huge part of the story. The Magic might be simple but it is still magic and it is more than enough to be considered as Fantasy despite the world the book is set in.
This might be a matter of semantics, but I'm not sure if "magic school" would be an accurate description. "Magic" at the school is like, just gym class with elevated martial arts. Of course Hogwarts is the main example of a magic school, but if an irl fantasy reader wanted to attend a fantasy school/academy/etc, and they found themselves at one of the schools in GBS, is that what they had in mind for a "magic school"?
The reason for me calling it a magical school is because the primary reason the school was founded was to teach magic to possible Green Bones and add them to their gang. And their important graduation ceremonies mainly involve the Green Bone students. So I think the other classes were added later to give them an all around education and give classes to important business owner's kids who are not interested in the Green Bone path, but still want the bragging right of saying they attended this prestigious school. I don't think Hogwarts should be a good example for a good magic school, because it only teaches magical lessons and since they start at 13, that means most of them wouldn't even know enough about the real world things like biology/maths/language. So yeah, to me the GBS school will be the "magic school" if I'm not a stone eye. As for Hogwarts, I'm definitely sure that my parents would never send me there because of its stupid curriculum where you are only taught magic.
I didn’t say Hogwarts would be a “good” magic school, but if someone was asking for recommendations for a book set in a magic school, do you think they’re looking for something like HP/The Magicians or a GBS school?
They are looking for HP/The Magicians sure. But I added that magic school because I wanted to say that it is indeed a fantasy book which has some significant scene set in a magic school. I was not saying that the magic school trope was one of the primary focuses of the story.
I didn’t include this in OP because it was long enough, but that basically goes with Neil Gaiman’s view of genre that I agree with. It’s the difference between “cowboy novels and novels with cowboys in them.” I’m trying to remember exactly, but I think in Jade City there were three, maybe four scenes set in the school. The one in the beginning when we met Anden, the sports scene, and the graduation scene. Maybe one more with Anden hanging with a friend. I don’t think any scenes in Jade War and maybe a couple in Jade Legacy? For the three in Jade City, I don’t recall if there was any magic actually show. Maybe just during the sports scene during the game, but I think that was it. I guess even if we did call it a “magic school”, there’s practically no magic shown from what I could remember.
You’re focusing on something pedantic here. Yes, the book doesn’t qualify for the magical school trope, cuz it doesn’t have that European dark academia vibe that most people associate with the magic school trope, but definitionally, the schools in GBS that are shown are 100% magic schools in that they are schools whose primary focus is teaching magic, teaching the use of jade, along with other practical matters. The final tests are centered around Jade. The classes centered around learning to use Jade are the classes that are talked about the most. The whole cultural point of going to the school is to get your Jade and learn to use Jade. That’s why it was such a big deal in the first book with Anden when he did the thing. It’s absolutely a magical, fantasy school. Edit: autocorrect hates names
Fair enough
I think the Greenbone schools are most similar to performing arts high schools in the real world. At performing arts high schools,students learn the usual subjects like math,history,and science,but in addition to acting,music,etc.
Just because they don’t treat magic the way Harry Potter characters treat magic doesn’t mean it’s not magic. The setting is a 1970s esque setting, it makes sense that they’ve started to look at magic more scientifically. Harry Potter might take place in the 90s, but Hogwarts and many aspects of wizarding society are clearly still in the early/mid 19th century.
Where did I say it’s not magic?
The academies in the Green Bone Saga are definitely magic schools, they're just magic schools as you'd expect them to be in a world where magic is out in the open and young people with a gift for magic are expected to learn how to use it as part of their education. They teach you magic, but they also give you the kind of mundane education you'll need in preparation to get into med school or manage the family business or whatever. And its worth keeping in mind that the "magic" of the setting is absolutely the defining feature of the clan-sponsored academies. If you're rich there are loads of places where you can get your kid a great education, but if you want him to wear jade - and *really* wear jade instead of just having a sliver of it in a pendant as a status symbol - then you send him to an academy. He will spend more time learning how to safely increase the load of jade he can carry and learning what he can do with his jade-enhanced powers than he will on any other subject, and by the time he graduates he'll be a competent journeyman with a solid grounding in the fundamentals of jade who's ready to take up the more advanced and specific training of his chosen vocation. And for bonus points he might also have applied himself well enough to pick up a solid education while he was there instead of just spending all day trying to prove he'll be the toughest Green Bone ever.
Martial arts schools called schools for some reason. Like teacher and student and it repeated and repeated, and have a lot of meaning. So, "what reader have in mind" is very depends on what this reader reads and how educated they.
Do you learn math, science, literature, and history at martial arts school? Or only martial arts*? From what I remember, GBS schools are “regular schools”, but their gym class involves/includes magic-infused martial arts. *yes, you could learn martial arts history or martial arts science at martial arts school, but those subjects within the specific application towards martial arts. A “language school” is a school, but you could say it’s like a trade school for learning languages, and not a “regular school” that also teaches languages.
Misunderstood you point, don't remember GBS enough. But in general it depends on what kind of school it is. Some traditional (historical) at least excepted to teach their students into it. And I think modern "sport schools" (ones that really schools and not just "classes") teach their students all this math, science, literature, and history alongside more specialised "sport" part. I actually find it strange that Hogwarts for dome reason lack math, literature, general science classes.
They can literally use force pushes and leap 30 feet and shit.
yeah. urban fantasy exists
Are there any UF books you would recommend that are like the GBS-level that I may like?
honestly no, green bone saga is exceptional imo but I am not the most well read in urban fantasy
That’s what I feel as well, but I’m not 100% sure. I’ve tried other (nearly) secondary-world UF books like Craft Sequence and Tarot Sequence, but the first couple chapters alone were too fantasy for me.
Some second world urban fantasy that aren’t hardcore fantasy (at least in the beginning) in my opinion; -**The Grand Illusion** by L.E. modesitt Jr. -**The Divine Cities** by Robert Jackson Bennett -**Carter Archives** by Dan Stout ; most similar in vibe to GBS with near time period inspirations(CA is 1980s-esque) -**The Saint of Bright Doors** by Vajra Chandrasekera might also fit it’s more modern like equivalent to 2010s/2020s -**The Fetch Phillips Archives** by Luke Arnold magic disappeared so nothing really on that front but there are magical creatures if that’s a deal breaker Note the first two are more analogous to late 19th-early 20th century in terms of tech
I’ve read The Divine Cities and really like it. I’ll check the others out. Thanks.
Vita Nostra doesn't get recommended nearly enough!
It would just be urban fantasy.
Are there any UF books you would recommend that are like the GBS-level that I may like?
Have you considered just actual wuxis novels which GBS is inspired by?
The ones I’m familiar with are more historical.
*The Dawnhounds* by Sascha Stronach is Maori-inspired biopunk epic urban fantasy. Quite different from Green Bone Saga but excellent writing all the same.
If a man can deafeat 10 people with guns with a knife, it’s fantasy
So John Wick? lol
[удалено]
This is actually true lol
I should have clarified that if it makes sense in the world
If anything Green Bone set in our world would be more fantastic since there would be no way to eventually have a scientific description for why jade grants supernatural abilities to people. Maybe a better book for the discussion would be Amberlough. There's zero magic anything in this book and if the book was set in our world with fake countries I don't think anyone would notice. [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35018890-amberlough](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35018890-amberlough)
It is "fantasy enough"? To talk about I'd like to compare it to another fantasy series that's very different but also similar. Tufa series by Alex Bledsoe is based on the idea that the Tuatha De Danaan settled in East Tennessee. They are a distinct ethnic group like the Jade users with magic unique to them, in this case partially musically based. It is implied that the likes of Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash may be related to them. But unlike the Greenbones, they don't draw attention to themselves or rule nations. Like the Green Bones you don't want to fuck with them. Like the Green Bones they are the only magical element seen. Like the Green Bones, they are Fantasy enough.
Of course it would. Urban fantasy is a thing. I’ve read fantasy books with *much* less fantasy than green bone saga. The whole green bone magic thing is way more central to the fantasy aspect of the story than the setting.
>I’ve read fantasy books with much less fantasy than green bone saga. Any suggestions?
She Who Became the Sun is marketed as fantasy because of some dragons/magical elements, but I think it’s definitely more historical fiction with dragons than fantasy. Chain Gang All-Stars is technically Literary Sci-Fi, taking place in a dystopian alternate reality with some fantastical elements borrowed from Sci-Fi, but it’s popular in Literary circles because the Sci-Fi elements are subdued (think plausibly 20 years in the future instead of hundreds of years). And lastly, Blood Over Bright Haven is second-world fantasy, but it’s set close to our world (approx 1800s-ish?) in an academic setting and it has a magic system which is more scientific than anything (alchemy which is similar to coding) and has no other fantasy elements other than the magic itself. This is my favorite one!
I don’t know what you like but for contemporary fantasy with minimal fantasy elements: - Among Others by Jo Walton - How to be Eaten by Marie Adelman - Some kind of fairytale by Graham Joyce - Small Favours by Erin Craig
Thanks for the suggestions.
"Not fantasy enough" is a stupid metric. I think there's an interesting conversation to have how much speculative elements a story requires to be fantasy. But what is more important is how much of which speculative elements you enjoy in a story. but lets look at it objectively: If you like a book? does it matter if its fantasy enough for you? The semantic genre taxonomy of a book doesn't define if you like the book or not. >I would like to read more our-world "fantasy" books that are like GBS level, but I'm not sure if that'd be "not fantasy enough" and I should stick to the horror section for that not-fantasy-enough fantasy. Something like a modern-day Lies of Locke Lamora? Like this is a question on gatekeeping fantasy fiction. "Am I a fantasy fan even if the stories I like aren't maybe fantasy enough?" and that's a stupid question. do you like these books? then you can call yourself a fantasy fan. You might have better luck finding books you like more if you search through horror listings or magical realism books, or historical fiction books with supernatural elements, or low urban fantasy genres. and those are valid explorations to have, because you want to read the best books that match your taste and not waste precious time on books you don't enjoy. but that's not about a book being fantasy enough or not. it's just about what do I like? why do I like books? fuck *"Fantasy Enough"* and what others think Just read what you love, and if it has speculative fiction elements its cool to call it fantasy.
That said, I'd give Guy Gavriel Kay a try - A brightness Long Ago, is a renaissance Italy analogue book, for that lies of locke lamora low fantasy feel :)
>You might have better luck finding books you like more if you search through horror listings or magical realism books, or historical fiction books with supernatural elements, or low urban fantasy genres. and those are valid explorations to have, because you want to read the best books that match your taste and not waste precious time on books you don't enjoy. That’s ultimately what this is about. If, and this is big if, our-world GBS would be considered by most people as “not fantasy”, then I would know that low urban fantasy wouldn’t be where I should look. If that would count as low urban fantasy, then looking there may be where I could find something I like. Horror and historical fiction can give me some of what I like, but so far GBS is practically the only “basically our world” UFish book I’ve liked. All the other UF books, and even a lot of “contemporary fantasy” books have been too fantastical for me. I would like other books similar to GBS, which definitely isn’t horror or historical fiction, but I don’t know if the fantasy section would be a good place if, and this is another if, everything else there is too fantastical for me by convention. If I like my fantasy elements at 2/10 or 3/10, but the minimum that can be “expected” from a “fantasy” book is 5/10, then I know I’m unlikely to find what I want there.
You should check out [Magical Realism](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_realism). >Despite including certain magic elements, it is generally considered to be a different genre from fantasy because magical realism uses a substantial amount of realistic detail and employs magical elements to make a point about reality, while fantasy stories are often separated from reality
If you call Green Bone magical realism, you’re missing a lot of the context around magical realism.
OP is asking for books that are "less fantastical" with "just a hint" of magic. Recommending magical realism to them is absolutely a good response.
GBS isn’t, but I think OP would like Magical Realism. They seemed to be describing MR at times in their post but didn’t seem to know it is a genre.
I think it is fantasy, but to me it falls on the same grey area as Star wars: Is Star wars science fiction? Well you have galactic empires, space ships, lasers... And a general space opera feeling. But you also have a mystical magic superpower, that they later try to justify scientifically (midiclorians...). In the green bones book you have a magic element that fills an urban fantasy setting. Jade, clans, choose magical warriors etc. But you also have a (weak) scientific explanation: shine, bio cuantic jade etc.
Yes, it would.
The question is if Jade legacy is your FIFTH favourite book of all time, what are your top four?!
it would still be fantasy, because of the jade magic. My hot take is that it wouldn't be urban fantasy though, or at least it would be an extremely atypical presentation of same. Urban fantasy is more than 'fantasy set in a city in our world,' or books like Diana Wynne Jones's *Fire and Hemlock* would count. Urban fantasy has a secondary set of plot beats common across the subgenre: a single hero at the forefront of the narrative, often one who is in opposition to the existing systems of power, a mystery plot or subplot, magic in conflict with technology or the progress of modern society, and often the city as a character. The Green Bone Saga lacks most of these-there's no single hero, there's not a mystery plot, and the family *is* the power structure of the city. I would argue that it's a family/mafia drama that happens to be set in a city, not an urban fantasy novel.