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The One Called Jade
The One Called Jade
In a secluded institution, they call her Jade—quiet, anti-social, drawn only to Lyra Silverman. Lyra vows to rescue Jade from their bleak surroundings and offer her a better life. But accepting Jade into her life brings unforeseen challenges.
As Lyra battles mental illness and confronts her tumultuous past, she discovers a hidden power that could alter her perception of reality. With time running out, she must navigate the blurred lines between sanity and madness, unraveling the mysteries that entwine their fates.
Join Lyra on her journey in **The One Called Jade**, a gripping tale of psychological suspense and the search for clarity and control in the face of haunting revelations.
In a secluded institution, they call her Jade—quiet, anti-social, drawn only to Lyra Silverman. Lyra vows to rescue Jade from their bleak surroundings and offer her a better life. But accepting Jade into her life brings unforeseen challenges.
As Lyra battles mental illness and confronts her tumultuous past, she discovers a hidden power that could alter her perception of reality. With time running out, she must navigate the blurred lines between sanity and madness, unraveling the mysteries that entwine their fates.
Join Lyra on her journey in **The One Called Jade**, a gripping tale of psychological suspense and the search for clarity and control in the face of haunting revelations.
132 pages, Paperback
Published July 13, 2024
4 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 27, 2024
I had a great time with Kaileb's Dream and was very interested to see what the author's next book, recently released, would be like. It's nothing at all like the first, but it would hard to match that other book's level of chaos and super-powered mayhem. The One Called Jade is more serious, more mature, but not without its own surprises.
It opens in a psychiatric institution, where we meet Lyra, a patient there and the first of two first-person narrators, joined in later chapters by her husband Luis. This setting and her account of her experience creates a dreamlike sense of uncertainly about reality for the reader.
The story moves on from there to mundane settings, putting Lyra in the midst of standard daily domestic life as a wife and mother: sending their child to school, preparing meals, visiting their parents, shopping, etc. The specter of mental illness stays in the background, and when strange events occur it's not clear at first whether they are actual extraordinary happenings or merely psychosis.
The kernel of the book— blended with psychiatric illness (this spoiler will be mentioned untagged in a couple more paragraphs, so continue with caution)—is an interesting one. It seemed to have a delayed introduction, though, with additional beats in this particular plot overly spaced out. I don't think I properly grasped the meaning of it all during the climax of that story element's arc and may need to reread it, but in any case it's an intriguing concept.
The prior book had a lot of food scenes and this one does too, but here they were come across much better. For all that the sheer volume of them was a distraction, they were quite appetizing and successfully painted a picture of special fall family meals. I think the book's biggest problem is that what seems to be the main idea gets buried amidst all of the mundane domestic scenes. The degree to which the page count was spent on preparing and eating meals, shopping, chopping wood and managing thermostats and discussing watching football overwhelms the other parts of the book and made me question what the story was actually meant to be about. The prior book had a lot of food scenes also, but here they were presented much better. For all that the sheer volume of them was a distraction, they were quite appetizing and successfully painted a picture of special fall family meals.
Compounding this is a very fragmentary use of commas and periods, making a lot of choppy sentences that force the reader to mentally edit them to clarify the meaning. This and other issues with the writing craft add further confusion and call the book's intention into question in places. For example, there is a scene discussing an Amber Alert when the narrator's child is missing from school, but so many details from that scene didn't make sense and the whole issue is not addressed again. It's possible this was meant as a bout of unreality and part of the main character's experience of mental illness, but the quality of the writing overall leaves me no confidence that this was at all the intent and that it's not just sloppiness. The same issues plagued much of my reading; for every extended, ordinary domestic sequence, I had to ask: is this meant to contribute to some specific aspect of the story, or is it just scenes inserted as happenstance?
One final criticism pertains to the story's heart. When time travel happens (whether real or imagined), it always takes the character to the same time and place: World War II. But not an interesting part of WWII; not a battlefield or a crucial time, it's just some people in tents at the end of the war, with no conflict or danger taking place. This took the book's potentially most wondrous element and made it disappointingly dull. Also, the character gains specialized knowledge and skills through her experience across time, but she never applies those in the story. Between all of this and the book's ending on a note of alarm, I wonder if there is further story planned?
Compared to Kaileb's Dream, the writing craft improved noticeably in many ways, but not enough in others to provide the clarity that I think could have driven this book's intention more fully across to the reader.
It opens in a psychiatric institution, where we meet Lyra, a patient there and the first of two first-person narrators, joined in later chapters by her husband Luis. This setting and her account of her experience creates a dreamlike sense of uncertainly about reality for the reader.
The story moves on from there to mundane settings, putting Lyra in the midst of standard daily domestic life as a wife and mother: sending their child to school, preparing meals, visiting their parents, shopping, etc. The specter of mental illness stays in the background, and when strange events occur it's not clear at first whether they are actual extraordinary happenings or merely psychosis.
The kernel of the book— blended with psychiatric illness (this spoiler will be mentioned untagged in a couple more paragraphs, so continue with caution)—is an interesting one. It seemed to have a delayed introduction, though, with additional beats in this particular plot overly spaced out. I don't think I properly grasped the meaning of it all during the climax of that story element's arc and may need to reread it, but in any case it's an intriguing concept.
The prior book had a lot of food scenes and this one does too, but here they were come across much better. For all that the sheer volume of them was a distraction, they were quite appetizing and successfully painted a picture of special fall family meals. I think the book's biggest problem is that what seems to be the main idea gets buried amidst all of the mundane domestic scenes. The degree to which the page count was spent on preparing and eating meals, shopping, chopping wood and managing thermostats and discussing watching football overwhelms the other parts of the book and made me question what the story was actually meant to be about. The prior book had a lot of food scenes also, but here they were presented much better. For all that the sheer volume of them was a distraction, they were quite appetizing and successfully painted a picture of special fall family meals.
Compounding this is a very fragmentary use of commas and periods, making a lot of choppy sentences that force the reader to mentally edit them to clarify the meaning. This and other issues with the writing craft add further confusion and call the book's intention into question in places. For example, there is a scene discussing an Amber Alert when the narrator's child is missing from school, but so many details from that scene didn't make sense and the whole issue is not addressed again. It's possible this was meant as a bout of unreality and part of the main character's experience of mental illness, but the quality of the writing overall leaves me no confidence that this was at all the intent and that it's not just sloppiness. The same issues plagued much of my reading; for every extended, ordinary domestic sequence, I had to ask: is this meant to contribute to some specific aspect of the story, or is it just scenes inserted as happenstance?
One final criticism pertains to the story's heart. When time travel happens (whether real or imagined), it always takes the character to the same time and place: World War II. But not an interesting part of WWII; not a battlefield or a crucial time, it's just some people in tents at the end of the war, with no conflict or danger taking place. This took the book's potentially most wondrous element and made it disappointingly dull. Also, the character gains specialized knowledge and skills through her experience across time, but she never applies those in the story. Between all of this and the book's ending on a note of alarm, I wonder if there is further story planned?
Compared to Kaileb's Dream, the writing craft improved noticeably in many ways, but not enough in others to provide the clarity that I think could have driven this book's intention more fully across to the reader.
March 27, 2025
Once again, Kaileb Varney graces the world with a travesty of literature that everyone needs to read. Seriously, give this man lots of money to write books like this because I want to read them. If there’s anything to compare this book to, it’s the “Twilight Zone.” That’s not me trying to be clever, it’s in the book:
“This entire situation seemed to come from an episode of the Twilight Zone. the good one from the fifties and sixties. Nothing compared to a recent reboot by the same name.”
You can tell a book is very immersive when it pauses so the author can speak directly to the reader.
Those who are big fans of “Kaileb’s Dream” will be happy to know that many of the same problems in that book are still alive and well in this book. That said, dear I say it… there are improvements. Credit where it’s due, when there’s a character perspective shift, it doesn’t just come out of nowhere, there’s actually a break to let you know there’s a change. Perhaps the best improvement is that the book is only 128 pages long. It feels four times longer, but still not as taxing as “Kaileb’s Dream.”
That said, the story itself remains insane. Every chapter feels like it could be its own individual novel. He also, for some reason, has the first few words at the start of each chapter ALL CAPITALIZED. I don’t know why.
As for the story itself, it begins in a mental asylum, with one of our main characters, Bella Swan. No wait, sorry, I mean, Lyra.
Based on her subtle description, forgive me for mixing up the two:
“Here inside these walls of gray, I feel only sorrow, and pain, and I long to again breathe fresh air. I’ve been in this world for far too long. All I wish to do is escape… I do remember exactly how long it’s been since I got here; exactly two years and 15 days. I was 19 years old then. I cannot recall the reason I was put in this hell… I promised myself to him; never would I harm him. It’s now two days away from our anniversary; our second. Yet, since I have been here the only thing, I’ve lost is my soul, without him, I am a mess. I crave his touch, his kiss, to again feel the warmth brought by his smile.”
We also get introduced to the title, Jade, AKA Julie:
“She has been here since she was five, brought in for something minor. Her parents have never come back for her.”
That minor thing she did is never clarified, so I can only assume she stole candy and her parents were like, “You are no daughter of mine!” In retrospect, this is fixed later, but in going through it the first time, it’s so weird to read.
The one thing that doesn’t get fixed is Lyra’s fiancé, Luis. If the above passage wasn’t clear enough, Lyra is cripplingly dependent on this guy for her emotional stability. He sounds like quite a guy, a professor in Maine, overly calm, and optimistic. By the end of chapter one he comes like her knight in shining armor, freeing her and Julie from the asylum. We also find out, Julie, is Lyra’s daughter! What a twist in the first twelve pages.
Luis gets them both out and vows:
“I already lost you two once; never again. I’m going to be watching you both like a hawk.”
Keep that in mind because in the next paragraph Lyra has this huge outburst of anger that is not without justification, considering they’ve been in the asylum for over two years. Her outburst boils down to, “What took you so long,” that is fueled by Emperor Palpatine whispering, “Strike me down with all your hate.”
After this one outburst, he leaves them for three months. Yep, this guy is a piece of work. Although, I couldn’t find anyone in the book who agrees with me. As Lyra puts it:
“I acted out of desperation and spoke out of anger, so yes, it is my fault.”
Then Julie disappears. When that happens, Luis returns to help. Now you might be wondering, what took him so long:
“I know I left, I didn’t know what else to do. I was so angry and afraid I would resort to physical violence that my only option was to take leave of both of you.”
Are you telling me, it took you three months to get over being yelled at for less than thirty seconds? Fuck you! At this point this guy was dead to me and I’m only sixteen pages in.
Don’t worry about Julie though, she’s found after a few days. She just fell into a well. That sounds dumb, but not as stupid as Luis and Lyra staking out a warehouse, they think kidnappers have their daughter held up inside. Now you’d think that they would run in to confirm anyone was in there, but no. They stake it out for days and play the waiting game for no reason. These people are so stupid.
The stupidity continues when Luis finally proposes, and Lyra says yes… because he’s so dependable, I guess. He takes full advantage of his wife’s crippling depression, and they have another child. And that is the end of chapter one. Yes, everything above takes place in the first nineteen pages. Do you understand now what I mean when I said that every chapter could be its own individual novel?
The pacing and nonsense only get worse as the book goes along. In chapter two we get introduced to the idea that Lyra might actually have a mental disorder. She might have schizophrenia, as evident by episodes of going back to World War II as an Army Nurse named Vivian, who’s present during the Normandy invasion. Don’t worry though, there’s a cure in the shape of a pile, as explained by Doctor Ademar:
“… we can simply prescribe a pill and send you home… Many of my colleagues disagree with me on this manner of treatment as they find patients with this form of psychological history to be too unpredictable.”
With such a stellar endorsement, they obviously sign up. Things don’t exactly improve, but enough of that, we need to have a scene where Luis verifies that his father-in-law isn’t stealing wood from his neighbor’s land. He isn’t, they have a contract stating he can chop wood from his neighbor’s land. This goes on for several pages and happens because Luis wants to keep his conscience clean. I mean, maybe he should have thought of that when he abandoned his wife and child for months.
Skipping through a bunch of boring crap, we arrive at the moment the book becomes amazing. We learn that an important figure in Lyra’s episodes, Petty Officer Teague, is dead in Lyra and Luis’s backyard. Not like he’s buried there, his dead body, still fresh, just appears out of nowhere. How could this be? Time travel. Which results in… you guessed it, all our characters traveling back in time to France in World War II. Obviously, that’s where the story was going from the start.
Now, in any normal book, this plot point would be, the book, but it only lasts a chapter and it’s unbelievably stupid. Which only adds to the hilarity.
Keep in mind, they are now in World War II, have no idea where their newborn daughter, Jade, is, and need to find a way back home. Yet, they are quite relaxed:
“Occupying our time, were a few books, most were older than me. Followed by a hand or two of poker, or rummy. I was quite good at the former. The weather was pleasant, and this close to France wine readily available.”
GO FIND YOUR DAUGHTER YOU UNBEARABLE ASS!
Jade is eventually found, not because our characters did anything to find her, she’s just discovered by other people. The people we are following feel like extras in other people’s stories.
Still, they have to get home, but not before reading a book and the morning paper:
“I settled into a book while lying in the tent, which I shared with Martin and three others. Martin sat beside me, going over some newspaper. Marveling at all the articles and getting to read history firsthand.”
I would hope after reading all the slurs in the articles that Martin feels disgusted. I’m just saying they seem way too comfortable in this time.
Despite Luis’s dream of using a typewriter, he has to go back to the present. Which they achieve because their newborn daughter, Jade, has time traveling powers. Don’t ask me how or why.
That is not the end, but you’ll have to read the book to find out.
In the so bad it’s good genre, this book satisfies every craving. Poor punctuation, insufferably stupid characters, a plot that makes no sense, at best, and a pace that transitions from fast to slow in a heartbeat. Anyone with a sense of humor who just wants to have fun, give this book a read. Five stars.
“This entire situation seemed to come from an episode of the Twilight Zone. the good one from the fifties and sixties. Nothing compared to a recent reboot by the same name.”
You can tell a book is very immersive when it pauses so the author can speak directly to the reader.
Those who are big fans of “Kaileb’s Dream” will be happy to know that many of the same problems in that book are still alive and well in this book. That said, dear I say it… there are improvements. Credit where it’s due, when there’s a character perspective shift, it doesn’t just come out of nowhere, there’s actually a break to let you know there’s a change. Perhaps the best improvement is that the book is only 128 pages long. It feels four times longer, but still not as taxing as “Kaileb’s Dream.”
That said, the story itself remains insane. Every chapter feels like it could be its own individual novel. He also, for some reason, has the first few words at the start of each chapter ALL CAPITALIZED. I don’t know why.
As for the story itself, it begins in a mental asylum, with one of our main characters, Bella Swan. No wait, sorry, I mean, Lyra.
Based on her subtle description, forgive me for mixing up the two:
“Here inside these walls of gray, I feel only sorrow, and pain, and I long to again breathe fresh air. I’ve been in this world for far too long. All I wish to do is escape… I do remember exactly how long it’s been since I got here; exactly two years and 15 days. I was 19 years old then. I cannot recall the reason I was put in this hell… I promised myself to him; never would I harm him. It’s now two days away from our anniversary; our second. Yet, since I have been here the only thing, I’ve lost is my soul, without him, I am a mess. I crave his touch, his kiss, to again feel the warmth brought by his smile.”
We also get introduced to the title, Jade, AKA Julie:
“She has been here since she was five, brought in for something minor. Her parents have never come back for her.”
That minor thing she did is never clarified, so I can only assume she stole candy and her parents were like, “You are no daughter of mine!” In retrospect, this is fixed later, but in going through it the first time, it’s so weird to read.
The one thing that doesn’t get fixed is Lyra’s fiancé, Luis. If the above passage wasn’t clear enough, Lyra is cripplingly dependent on this guy for her emotional stability. He sounds like quite a guy, a professor in Maine, overly calm, and optimistic. By the end of chapter one he comes like her knight in shining armor, freeing her and Julie from the asylum. We also find out, Julie, is Lyra’s daughter! What a twist in the first twelve pages.
Luis gets them both out and vows:
“I already lost you two once; never again. I’m going to be watching you both like a hawk.”
Keep that in mind because in the next paragraph Lyra has this huge outburst of anger that is not without justification, considering they’ve been in the asylum for over two years. Her outburst boils down to, “What took you so long,” that is fueled by Emperor Palpatine whispering, “Strike me down with all your hate.”
After this one outburst, he leaves them for three months. Yep, this guy is a piece of work. Although, I couldn’t find anyone in the book who agrees with me. As Lyra puts it:
“I acted out of desperation and spoke out of anger, so yes, it is my fault.”
Then Julie disappears. When that happens, Luis returns to help. Now you might be wondering, what took him so long:
“I know I left, I didn’t know what else to do. I was so angry and afraid I would resort to physical violence that my only option was to take leave of both of you.”
Are you telling me, it took you three months to get over being yelled at for less than thirty seconds? Fuck you! At this point this guy was dead to me and I’m only sixteen pages in.
Don’t worry about Julie though, she’s found after a few days. She just fell into a well. That sounds dumb, but not as stupid as Luis and Lyra staking out a warehouse, they think kidnappers have their daughter held up inside. Now you’d think that they would run in to confirm anyone was in there, but no. They stake it out for days and play the waiting game for no reason. These people are so stupid.
The stupidity continues when Luis finally proposes, and Lyra says yes… because he’s so dependable, I guess. He takes full advantage of his wife’s crippling depression, and they have another child. And that is the end of chapter one. Yes, everything above takes place in the first nineteen pages. Do you understand now what I mean when I said that every chapter could be its own individual novel?
The pacing and nonsense only get worse as the book goes along. In chapter two we get introduced to the idea that Lyra might actually have a mental disorder. She might have schizophrenia, as evident by episodes of going back to World War II as an Army Nurse named Vivian, who’s present during the Normandy invasion. Don’t worry though, there’s a cure in the shape of a pile, as explained by Doctor Ademar:
“… we can simply prescribe a pill and send you home… Many of my colleagues disagree with me on this manner of treatment as they find patients with this form of psychological history to be too unpredictable.”
With such a stellar endorsement, they obviously sign up. Things don’t exactly improve, but enough of that, we need to have a scene where Luis verifies that his father-in-law isn’t stealing wood from his neighbor’s land. He isn’t, they have a contract stating he can chop wood from his neighbor’s land. This goes on for several pages and happens because Luis wants to keep his conscience clean. I mean, maybe he should have thought of that when he abandoned his wife and child for months.
Skipping through a bunch of boring crap, we arrive at the moment the book becomes amazing. We learn that an important figure in Lyra’s episodes, Petty Officer Teague, is dead in Lyra and Luis’s backyard. Not like he’s buried there, his dead body, still fresh, just appears out of nowhere. How could this be? Time travel. Which results in… you guessed it, all our characters traveling back in time to France in World War II. Obviously, that’s where the story was going from the start.
Now, in any normal book, this plot point would be, the book, but it only lasts a chapter and it’s unbelievably stupid. Which only adds to the hilarity.
Keep in mind, they are now in World War II, have no idea where their newborn daughter, Jade, is, and need to find a way back home. Yet, they are quite relaxed:
“Occupying our time, were a few books, most were older than me. Followed by a hand or two of poker, or rummy. I was quite good at the former. The weather was pleasant, and this close to France wine readily available.”
GO FIND YOUR DAUGHTER YOU UNBEARABLE ASS!
Jade is eventually found, not because our characters did anything to find her, she’s just discovered by other people. The people we are following feel like extras in other people’s stories.
Still, they have to get home, but not before reading a book and the morning paper:
“I settled into a book while lying in the tent, which I shared with Martin and three others. Martin sat beside me, going over some newspaper. Marveling at all the articles and getting to read history firsthand.”
I would hope after reading all the slurs in the articles that Martin feels disgusted. I’m just saying they seem way too comfortable in this time.
Despite Luis’s dream of using a typewriter, he has to go back to the present. Which they achieve because their newborn daughter, Jade, has time traveling powers. Don’t ask me how or why.
That is not the end, but you’ll have to read the book to find out.
In the so bad it’s good genre, this book satisfies every craving. Poor punctuation, insufferably stupid characters, a plot that makes no sense, at best, and a pace that transitions from fast to slow in a heartbeat. Anyone with a sense of humor who just wants to have fun, give this book a read. Five stars.
January 1, 2025
If psychological suspense is your cup of tea, you're in for a treat! The setting for this tale is basically the line between sanity and insanity, and giving up or persevering against challenges you never see coming. Twists you will not see in advance and characters you will never forget. Loved it!
January 1, 2025
Excellent read. There was no way to predict what was coming in this compelling, interesting, and immaculately paced book! Would like to read more from this author!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews