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

adventurous emotional hopeful medium-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? Yes

4.75

a lovingly crafted historical fiction filled with adventure, as advertised. and queer pirates! saw this one as a recommendation at a local book shop, and i'm glad i did. the author did a great job of transporting me back to the right time period with descriptions of the various settings. and though the ship's crew kind of melded together, the central characters were really well fleshed out and i liked them a lot! Xiang's development as a person, a sheltered girl entering adulthood and realizing the truths of a chosen family and a chosen lifestyle, becoming her own individual, was lovely to see. and the development of Anh, someone cynical being able to believe and hope again, was great as well. though i didn't think their was much development between the two to being a romantic pair, i was still happy for it nonetheless. i liked Master Feng a lot, too. 

another big bonus is that this book actually does travel scenes well! a lot of books, especially historical fiction, can turn the periods during which characters are travelling for an extended time into a slog. but in this case, the pacing felt very smooth. 

the twist was very obvious and some of the character motivations very questionable, thus some points off on my star rating, but this is still a novel that i adored. :)
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