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
adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No
adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
adventurous emotional medium-paced

This started slow but about half way through picked up and I found myself flying through to the end. A delightful remix
adventurous inspiring mysterious reflective tense 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: Complicated

I loved this! This is part of the Remixed Classics series and spins the story of Treasure Island to highlight the real historical influence of China's renowned female pirate Zheng Yi Sao (familiar to readers of Deep as the Sky, Red as the Sea). Sea adventures, sapphic pining, betrayal and revenge and lots of family drama and twists. This was perfect on audio, and even included a narrated author's note and language note (these are read by the author). The author tells the story of their mother's flight from Vietnam on a refugee ship boarded by pirates. And they take such great care to address their language choices throughout. This was so much fun.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous emotional mysterious 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: No
adventurous challenging emotional reflective tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
adventurous funny hopeful inspiring mysterious relaxing fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No
adventurous emotional tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No
adventurous emotional informative mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

I really enjoyed this. Mostly for the adventure and cultural aspects. Basically the plot. I did enjoy the characters and the romance but not as much as I would've liked to. I just think I'm too old to not cringe a bit at some of the dialogue and relationship dynamics. As individuals I felt for them and I surprised myself at crying for one secondary characters death towards the end. Also I really appreciate the authors note, pronunciation guide and historical notes in the back. I did listen to the audiobook a bit and that helped with pronunciations as well. But it also made me fully realize the age range this is meant for. Not me, lol. Overall, a great book.