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bookishmillennial's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews. I enjoy most books for what they are, & I extract lessons from them all. Everyone’s reading experiences are subjective, so I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me on Instagram: @bookish.millennial or tiktok: @bookishmillennial
“She hadn’t gotten to where she was in life by not being thorough. The numbers were on their side. Piracy was, more often than not, a matter of convincing the target of the futility of fighting back.“
The premise of this on StoryGraph paints a much different picture than what I actually read. I think this is more of a historical fiction (with a bit of fantasy and Chinese folklore, with the gods like Ma Zou) character-driven story, rather than an action-packed, fast-paced adventure. Sure, there are pirates but mostly, this is about Shek Yeung’s new partnership after her first husband dies, her pregnancy, and birth of a new child (she already has two children with her deceased husband).
I had such high expectations for this book, and something was off about the pacing and narrative style. We’d get little info dumps about Shek Yeung’s past, and then be transported back to the present, which wasn’t exactly jarring, but it certainly felt out of place at times.
Some of Chang Eppig’s writing worked for me, so I will absolutely give them another shot and read what they write next. However, this book’s pacing and plot simply left me a bit wanting.
cw: death, pregnancy, colonisation, murder, sexual violence
“Women’s life stories were written by their men, messily, elegantly, or in the case of violent men, tersely. Now that Cheng Yat was dead, Shek Yeung finally had a turn at dictating the course of things. She might have been born thirty-one years ago, but her story was only now hers.”
“Maybe you’re imagining chaos, or savagery. That’s not the case. Men need to be governed, or they become animals. But the governing need not fall to the officials. Rather, it should not, because officials are often corrupt and blind to citizens’ needs. Think about their response to the most recent famine. They grew fat while everyone else starved. Then when the poor got caught trying to steal food and money for their families, they executed them. The only proper response to tyranny is insurrection.”
Heaven pities no one. If you must cry, then cry for everyone in the world. In the end the only thing a person can be promised in life is suffering.
Animals turned against their owners slower than men turned against women in the face of the slightest dissatisfaction.
How full of nothing all humans are, Shek Yeung thought absently, just bits of substance drawn and held stubbornly together by will, animal habit, and the fear of what comes after.
Was this what Ma-Zou had intended for her all along? Was fate always driving her in this direction, or did she bumble her way here, surviving by her stubbornness, wits, and refusal to dwell too deeply on the cost of survival?
“She hadn’t gotten to where she was in life by not being thorough. The numbers were on their side. Piracy was, more often than not, a matter of convincing the target of the futility of fighting back.“
The premise of this on StoryGraph paints a much different picture than what I actually read. I think this is more of a historical fiction (with a bit of fantasy and Chinese folklore, with the gods like Ma Zou) character-driven story, rather than an action-packed, fast-paced adventure. Sure, there are pirates but mostly, this is about Shek Yeung’s new partnership after her first husband dies, her pregnancy, and birth of a new child (she already has two children with her deceased husband).
I had such high expectations for this book, and something was off about the pacing and narrative style. We’d get little info dumps about Shek Yeung’s past, and then be transported back to the present, which wasn’t exactly jarring, but it certainly felt out of place at times.
Some of Chang Eppig’s writing worked for me, so I will absolutely give them another shot and read what they write next. However, this book’s pacing and plot simply left me a bit wanting.
cw: death, pregnancy, colonisation, murder, sexual violence
“Women’s life stories were written by their men, messily, elegantly, or in the case of violent men, tersely. Now that Cheng Yat was dead, Shek Yeung finally had a turn at dictating the course of things. She might have been born thirty-one years ago, but her story was only now hers.”
“Maybe you’re imagining chaos, or savagery. That’s not the case. Men need to be governed, or they become animals. But the governing need not fall to the officials. Rather, it should not, because officials are often corrupt and blind to citizens’ needs. Think about their response to the most recent famine. They grew fat while everyone else starved. Then when the poor got caught trying to steal food and money for their families, they executed them. The only proper response to tyranny is insurrection.”
Heaven pities no one. If you must cry, then cry for everyone in the world. In the end the only thing a person can be promised in life is suffering.
Animals turned against their owners slower than men turned against women in the face of the slightest dissatisfaction.
How full of nothing all humans are, Shek Yeung thought absently, just bits of substance drawn and held stubbornly together by will, animal habit, and the fear of what comes after.
Was this what Ma-Zou had intended for her all along? Was fate always driving her in this direction, or did she bumble her way here, surviving by her stubbornness, wits, and refusal to dwell too deeply on the cost of survival?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Pregnancy
Minor: Colonisation, Sexual violence, and Sexual content
nicoleisalwaysreading's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
2.0
my book club and I agreed this is marketed incorrectly - it's not an action-packed pirate adventure! it's a detailed and well-researched historical fiction account of a real Chinese female pirate and so has a lot more to do with strategy, politics, gender, and the generational effect of violence.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Kidnapping, Sexual violence, Violence, Xenophobia, and Trafficking
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts
beautifulminutiae's review against another edition
Content Warnings
Graphic: Trafficking
Moderate: Sexual content
deedireads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
All my reviews live at https://deedispeaking.com/reads/.
TL;DR REVIEW:
Deep as the Sky, Red as the Sea is a lush, poignant dramatization of the life of legendary pirate queen Zheng Yi Sao. It’s very interior, more about her than her adventures. I liked it a lot.
For you if: You like quiet historical fiction about strong women steeped in folklore.
FULL REVIEW:
As soon as I heard about Deep as the Sky, Red as the Sea (two words: PIRATE QUEEN) I knew I had to read it. It turned out to be a different book than I expected (or was quite in the mood for), but I still ended up liking it a lot.
This book is a dramatization of the life of Shek Yeung (better known as Zheng Yi Sao), a woman who led a massive, legendary pirate confederation during the Qing Dynasty in the early 1800s. She’s has been called the most successful pirate in history (they even put her in one of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies). It starts when her husband, the former leader, is killed, and she very quickly moves to secure her leadership by marrying his chosen heir.
But this novel is much more of a character study than an adventure — it’s not about her conquests, it’s about her interiority throughout it all. Throughout the book, we see her fight to protect her fleet and her position — a struggle between survival and hope, ruthlessness and love, freedom and roots. It’s a fascinating exploration of how gender roles and power dynamics persist even in places where those things are already so different from the rest of the world.
I’d also add that I think “for fans of The Night Tiger” is pretty accurate — not for plot, but for vibes. This is billed as a fantasy, but I wouldn’t call it that. Maybe historical magical realism: the “magic” is more like folklore. Plus, it follows a more literary-fiction-eque approach.
Anyway, this was a lush, beautifully rendered, carefully imagined novel. As long as you don’t go in expecting a swashbuckling badass pirate adventure, I think you’ll like it a lot.
TL;DR REVIEW:
Deep as the Sky, Red as the Sea is a lush, poignant dramatization of the life of legendary pirate queen Zheng Yi Sao. It’s very interior, more about her than her adventures. I liked it a lot.
For you if: You like quiet historical fiction about strong women steeped in folklore.
FULL REVIEW:
As soon as I heard about Deep as the Sky, Red as the Sea (two words: PIRATE QUEEN) I knew I had to read it. It turned out to be a different book than I expected (or was quite in the mood for), but I still ended up liking it a lot.
This book is a dramatization of the life of Shek Yeung (better known as Zheng Yi Sao), a woman who led a massive, legendary pirate confederation during the Qing Dynasty in the early 1800s. She’s has been called the most successful pirate in history (they even put her in one of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies). It starts when her husband, the former leader, is killed, and she very quickly moves to secure her leadership by marrying his chosen heir.
But this novel is much more of a character study than an adventure — it’s not about her conquests, it’s about her interiority throughout it all. Throughout the book, we see her fight to protect her fleet and her position — a struggle between survival and hope, ruthlessness and love, freedom and roots. It’s a fascinating exploration of how gender roles and power dynamics persist even in places where those things are already so different from the rest of the world.
I’d also add that I think “for fans of The Night Tiger” is pretty accurate — not for plot, but for vibes. This is billed as a fantasy, but I wouldn’t call it that. Maybe historical magical realism: the “magic” is more like folklore. Plus, it follows a more literary-fiction-eque approach.
Anyway, this was a lush, beautifully rendered, carefully imagined novel. As long as you don’t go in expecting a swashbuckling badass pirate adventure, I think you’ll like it a lot.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Pregnancy, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Rape
Minor: Sexual content
thewordsdevourer's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
2.0
*Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC
I had expectations for this book, unfortunately Deep as the Sky, Red as the Sea is a disappointment. One would expect a novel about a legendary Chinese pirate queen to be quite explosive or at least have some thrilling action - as touted by its blurb - but that is in fact hard to find here, and it has been a while since I have felt so distanced from a story and its characters.
I love the novel's concept and premise, but in Chang-Eppig's hands, the story flounders dully and never really finds its footing: the writing truly more of a 'telling not showing' and scenes are rarely given proper room to breathe, the book so focused on Shek Yeung's character study it renders everything that makes her a pirate - the action and emotional impact most readers expect going in - almost inconsequential. And while the themes of power and being female in a patriarchal society are valid and very much relevant, they are hammered in so constantly while offering nothing new, and there is annoyingly little character development.
My biggest peeve about the book, however, is how distant the story and characters feel to the reader. For a book so focused on a main character, it is alarming how indifferent I feel to Shek Yeung despite knowing her backstory and both internal and external struggles. I declined to indicate here on The Storygraph whether I find the characters loveable, as after some deliberation, I realized it was neither yes nor no because I am wholly indifferent to them. Reading this book was not an immersive experience, so removed I felt from the action, development and characters, and as I am someone who highly values emotional impact in my reading, this greatly hinders my enjoyment of the novel.
To sum up, this book has a great premise that is unfortunately hampered by its execution, making it unable to fully reach its full potential.
I had expectations for this book, unfortunately Deep as the Sky, Red as the Sea is a disappointment. One would expect a novel about a legendary Chinese pirate queen to be quite explosive or at least have some thrilling action - as touted by its blurb - but that is in fact hard to find here, and it has been a while since I have felt so distanced from a story and its characters.
I love the novel's concept and premise, but in Chang-Eppig's hands, the story flounders dully and never really finds its footing: the writing truly more of a 'telling not showing' and scenes are rarely given proper room to breathe, the book so focused on Shek Yeung's character study it renders everything that makes her a pirate - the action and emotional impact most readers expect going in - almost inconsequential. And while the themes of power and being female in a patriarchal society are valid and very much relevant, they are hammered in so constantly while offering nothing new, and there is annoyingly little character development.
My biggest peeve about the book, however, is how distant the story and characters feel to the reader. For a book so focused on a main character, it is alarming how indifferent I feel to Shek Yeung despite knowing her backstory and both internal and external struggles. I declined to indicate here on The Storygraph whether I find the characters loveable, as after some deliberation, I realized it was neither yes nor no because I am wholly indifferent to them. Reading this book was not an immersive experience, so removed I felt from the action, development and characters, and as I am someone who highly values emotional impact in my reading, this greatly hinders my enjoyment of the novel.
To sum up, this book has a great premise that is unfortunately hampered by its execution, making it unable to fully reach its full potential.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Pregnancy, and Violence
Moderate: Child death, Death, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Death of parent, Kidnapping, Rape, Sexual content, Torture, and Pedophilia
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