It's impossible to convey how excited I was for A Clash of Steel. C.B. Lee plus queer Asian pirates? And this has to be my favorite pirate story period. It's not only because of the sapphic storyline, or because I've never seen Asian pirates before, it's because Xiang and Anh are so detailed, nuanced, and endearing. The ways that Xiang just wants to be her mother, not marry some wealthy man, or live in a teahouse. All the times when she realizes that her life, dreams, and vision of the world was so small.
Only to have an experience, or a person - *cough* Anh *cough* - help show her more to the world? Be still my beating my heart. Xiang's character evolution was fantastic as she blooms in front of our eyes. Lee unfolds the beginning of the book slowly not only to create a sizzling and descriptive world, but also to show us who Xiang thinks she is. The world she thinks she sees. And don't even get me started on how I fell in love with Anh when I first met her.
Only to have an experience, or a person - *cough* Anh *cough* - help show her more to the world? Be still my beating my heart. Xiang's character evolution was fantastic as she blooms in front of our eyes. Lee unfolds the beginning of the book slowly not only to create a sizzling and descriptive world, but also to show us who Xiang thinks she is. The world she thinks she sees. And don't even get me started on how I fell in love with Anh when I first met her.