12 must-read September YA releases to pair with your PSL
By Lacy Baugher
September 2021 release: A Clash of Steel – C.B. Lee
A Clash of Steel is the second September release in the new YA Remixed Classics series, alongside So Many Beginnings from Bethany Morrow. This new franchise, which aims to give authors from marginalized backgrounds a chance to reinterpret familiar stories through their own unique cultural lens, encourages readers to deeply examine the history of the works they read, and question why a particular text may have been deemed a “classic” in the first place. (Who wrote it? Whom does this story serve? And what groups does its telling erase?)
Lee’s novel offers up a new spin on the Robert Louis Stevenson classic Treasure Island, giving us a adventure on the South China sea featuring queer Chinese and Vietnamese teens and a reimagining of the historical figure Zheng Yi Sao, who was one of the most successful pirates in history – and also happened to be a woman.
Xiag has grown up on the stories of the legendary Dragon Fleet and its ruthless female leader. She desperately wants a chance to explore the world in her own right – and to prove herself to her often-absent mother. She gets her chance when her beloved locked is stolen by a girl named Anh, an event that eventually sets them both off on a search for a mythical lost treasure.
The official synopsis offers more detail below.
"1826. The sun is setting on the golden age of piracy, and the legendary Dragon Fleet, the scourge of the South China Sea, is no more. Xiang has grown up with stories about the Dragon Fleet and its ruthless leader, a woman known only as the Dragon Queen, all her life. Xiang desperately wants to set sail and explore—mainly to find her father, a presumed dead crew member of the Dragon Fleet. Her only memento of him is a pendant she always wears, a simple but plain piece of gold jewelry. But the pendant’s true nature is revealed when a mysterious girl named Anh steals it, only to return it to Xiang in exchange for her help in decoding the tiny map scroll hidden inside. Rumor has it that the legendary Dragon Queen had one last treasure—the plunder of a thousand ports—hidden away on an island shrouded in mist that only can be seen once in a blue moon. Xiang is convinced this map could lead to the fabled treasure. Captivated with the thrill of adventure, she joins Anh and her motley crew off in pursuit of the island. But the girls soon find that the sea—and especially those who sail it—are far more dangerous than the legends led them to believe."
A Clash of Steel is available on September 7.