It is also possible to encode JSON documents directly as a serialized B-tree. Then you can construct iterators on it directly, and query internal fields at indexed speeds. It is still a serialized document (possible to send over a network), though now you don't need to do any parsing, since the document itself is already indexed. It is called the Lite³ format.
Disclaimer: I am working on this.
https://github.com/fastserial/lite3