A review by emily_mh
A Clash of Steel: A Treasure Island Remix by C.B. Lee

adventurous lighthearted mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I had a really tough time settling on a rating for this one, but I ended up picking 4 stars because ultimately I would recommend it - albeit with a caveats. I’m going to start with what you might not like about it.

A major issue is pacing. As I recall, we don’t make it to Canton, let alone aboard the ship, til at least 100 pages through. The way the story was set up it made sense for Lee to spend all this time fleshing out the beginning; however, it would have made MUCH more sense for Xiang to have been in Canton from the get go so the actual adventure part of the story had more space. I also want to make it clear, as the blurb doesn’t do this, that the plot is focussed on getting to the island, not finding it, as with the map fragment the pirates have they know where it is. The treasure hunt aspect is limited to solving riddles once on the island, which genuinely took one chapter. I have to admit this was a bit of a let down.

Another aspect you may struggle with is the way the backstory of the treasure is presented. In an effort to make this mysterious, Lee just ends up confusing the reader for much of the story, with things only really becoming clear at the end.

Combined, these two issues were a real barrier to me evaluating the quality of this book to be at even at 4 stars. HOWEVER. I wanted to give it the 4 stars because of the enjoyment factor at play here. And this is where the caveat of my recommendation comes in: you need to be into queer pirates and rich historical settings, as for me, these tropes were well-executed and totally carried the book (and why wouldn’t you be??).

Lee totally nailed the piratey vibes. We do spend a good chunk of this book exploring the “pirate’s life”, where Xiang is learning sailing and boat-related skills, bonding with the crew, and travelling to different ports. As the action starts to ramp up, we get events like storms and sea encounters, as well as gun fights, tavern brawls, and duels. Lee also evokes the legendary aspect of piracy by including stories about Zheng Yi Sao, and of course the map leading to her fabled treasure. I am a huge fan of the pirate trope and I was fully satisfied here in that regard.

The only way you can make this trope better is by making the pirates queer, and this is the case in this story. Not only are Xiang and her love interest Anh queer, but a couple of their crewmates are too, and there is easy queer acceptance among the pirates (as was historically accurate). While the romance between Xiang and Anh was admittedly average, they were very sweet together and it warmed my heart that two historical queer girls got their happy ending.

I adored the historical setting. So often pirate media focusses on those in the Caribbean, so this is probably the first time I’ve taken a deeper dive into those on the South China Sea. It was so intriguing learning about pirate history through the figure of Zheng Yi Sao, how intertwined it was with the political history of the region. Also, the way Lee crafted time and place was incredibly immersive, full as it was of wonderful descriptions.

I also want to note that just because I don’t love the quality of this book, doesn’t mean it is bad quality BY ANY MEANS. Clearly the pirate trope, queer rep and historical setting have been executed well to the point where I enjoyed myself a lot. Also, the pacing was better towards the end and Xiang’s character development was super solid. So you can see why I had a difficult time rating!

I’ll say it again: ultimately whether you should read this book comes down to whether you’ll enjoy what’s on offer here: queer pirates in 19th century China travelling to an island, hoping to find treasure.

Rep: sapphic Chinese MC, sapphic Vietnamese LI, Chinese SCs, Vietnamese SCs, Muslim (?) Nepalese SC, Thai SC, Korean SC
Expand filter menu Content Warnings