Unfortunately this book wasn't for me. The overall premise is interesting, but based on the description I was anticipating a more action-oriented adventure story. There was a lot of "showing not telling", and it felt somewhat like a research paper. It's quite cerebral and gives a lot of internal insight, but just wasn't as action-packed as I was hoping and expecting.

I love finding books that I've read through NetGalley in real life. I recently found A Tiny Upward Shove by Melissa Chadburn and Deep as the Sky, Red as the Sea by Rita Chang-Eppig (both of which I really enjoyed) at Owl's Nest Books in Calgary.
.
Deep as the Sky, Red as the Sea is a pirate novel about Shek Yeung that starts with her witnessing her pirate husband be killed and then having to act quickly to secure her place as leader of half the pirate fleet. This is a novel about motherhood and strategy and cutthroat piracy. I expected this to be more of an adventure novel, but it's more of a portrait of a pirate queen in a specific political context than a story of swashbuckling and treasure. But absolutely read this one if you like books like The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang and books with really richly detailed historical settings.

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 AND TRIGGER WARNINGS:
Violence and murder; Pregnancy and childbirth; Indentured prostitution; Sexual content (minor)

Ahhh I wanted to love Deep As The Sky, Red As The Sea but I wasn’t as invested in the book as I wanted to be. There were parts of the book that were really intriguing… female pirates? Yes, please! But I just wanted more from this book and the characters. It was a little more slower paced than I would like for a pirate book. Overall, this was still a good read and worth adding to your summer reading list!

DNF. At 31% I just wasn’t invested. I usually really enjoy East Asian folklore books, and this one really just didn’t have enough folklore for me. It had very similar vibes to The Night Tiger. I don’t think it was bad, but I didn’t care enough to finish it. Too many books in the world.

The premise of this book was really interesting to me.

Fierce Female Pirates?! Let's go!

However, it just DID NOT deliver. I lost interest quickly and it was hard to remain invested. Idea was great but it just fell short on execution

An interesting tale of a Chinese pirate queen. It covers just a couple years of her life, but that time is full of adventure, betrayal, triumph and defeat. Historical fiction is not something I read often, but this was engrossing. The protagonist being a female in a massively male dominated "profession" is addressed very effectively, with proof as to why she's a queen. There are political machinations as well, things you don't necessarily think about in piracy. The various characters were well developed too.

SO MUCH to grapple with inside this book, and I am so glad I got to be apart of it's early readership. DEEP AS THE SKY, RED AS THE SEA is novel of forgotten history, fragile alliances, and insurmountable grief and guilt. I gobbled it up.

Deep as the Sky, Red as the Sea is an admirable debut novel. The strength of the story is definitely Shek Yeung. She is a ruthless female pirate who Chang-Epigg does a wonderful job humanizing. Throughout the story, Shek Yeung struggles with ideas of power, greed, survival, and remorse in unique ways. I also found the history and politics of China and Europe within the story to be quite interesting. Finally, the ending of the novel ended on a somewhat ambiguous note, but also felt hopeful at the same time.

However, there were some flaws with the story. Mainly, there were too many characters, which led to underdeveloped relationships. There were also several sections of the novel devoted to a goddess, and these portions of the story felt very unnecessary. Overall, if you enjoy pirate stories, Deep as the Sky, Red as the Sea is worth checking out.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 (3.5 stars)

Female pirates, battles, and a feminist ode to a real life figure? Count me in! Deep as the Sky, Red as the Sea follows Shek Yeung and how she has to fight for control of her pirate fleet after her husband dies.

I was so excited to read this book, it unfortunately it fell flat. I went into this book expecting battles and a female swashbuckling pirate, instead I got a book that was mostly just Shek Yeung scheming. This book began so exciting with a a huge battle, but after that I struggled to stay engaged in the story and had to push myself through. It felt like the same information was rehashed over and over again and the actual battles were lackluster.

With more accurate marketing, I probably would have gone in with different expectations, but as it is, this book was not what I was looking for.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

💪🏻 Shek Yeung, a fierce female keen to survive any circumstance
⚔️ Warrior Pirate Queen
👸🏻 Connection with Ma Zou, ancient goddess
🟰A woman who made herself the equal of any man. She is in the conversation.
📕 Incredible debut- Add this as a great historical fiction read for your summer TBR!

The story of a warrior Pirate Queen who has always had to work to survive her circumstances and outthink her opponents to succeed - this is the fascinating story of Shek Yeung- legendary Chinese pirate queen.

I love a fierce female protagonist and this is such an incredibly well-written & gripping story.

Not much has been shared about this strong warrior woman in the mainstream media. I found one article referring to her presence in media- TV, film and books - it suggested her story was always diminished, but her legendary exploits are now being recognized more often. The Wikipedia page “Zheng Yi Sao” also came up as a result of my search. Will check out when I finish this super debut.

Fantasy and historical fiction readers alike should check this out as it has strong elements of adventure and some mention of the stories of the goddess Ma Zou. The story is compelling and I can’t stop reading.

I feel immersed in this world and I hope we see the legend of Shek Yeung continue to thrive in more stories.

Pirates are not my usual go-tos. . .but I was willing, and found myself interested enough in Shek Yeung to stay with her to the very end. I had empathy for her many losses and griefs, and admired her stubborn determination to stay present and not dwell on the past.

Her life was told in the many changing situations that swept her from one captive existence to another - due to her femaleness or her lack of position, until she was able to wrangle and gain leverage through bold action performed for and permitted mostly by men. Still, she never was the "queen" pirate. . .she had to be aligned with someone male and with whom she was intimate or in a procreating arrangement.

Still, her allegiances felt capricious and self-serving for all her considerations of how her actions would benefit others. Those kind of opposing positions within the characters seemed oddly consistent, and I wondered if the end would reveal some reason - a wonder that remains. The end was calm and thoughtful, and felt more universal than I expected in light of her brutal, remorseless pirating tactics.

I didn't find "fantasy" in this story, but did I particularly enjoy the paranormal aspects: Shek Yeung's conversations and interactions with female ghosts, and the deity Ma-Zou who answered, or seemed to answer her, from time to time. Bravo for the feminine divine, such that it was.

Overall, a good, albeit a tad deliberate (not a lot of "splash") for a pirate tale. And one cannot overlook or dismiss the power of the cover when it comes to this book - it is compelling and demands one check out what it promises. I look forward to whatever the author writes next.

A Sincere Thank you to Rita Chang-Eppig, Bloomsbury USA, and NetGalley for an ARC to read and review. #DeepastheSkyRedastheSea #NetGalley

A fantastic historical fiction novel that explores the life of Shek Yeung, one of China's most notorious pirates. Shek Yeung lived a fascinating life, and this book did a great job of displaying just how fearsome she is. Shek Yeung is known for her cunningness and the way she overthrew societal gender roles in every way known, while still embracing femineity, and wielding it like a knife. The key element of this book is how hard Shek Yeung had to fight for every scrap of power, and then continue fighting to hold onto it. She is neither bad nor good, and makes horrific and honorable judgment calls. We explore her traumatic childhood, and how she was forced into becoming a pirate's wife in the first place. I really enjoyed this book, and the way Shek Yeung was portrayed. If you are a fan of historical fiction, or even just epic pirate adventures, I would recommend this book.

This book made me want to go on a boat and just be at sea - such a wonderful story with an amazing heroine and such a powerful narrative on friendship, power, and ambition.

I really wanted to enjoy this book but it was just too slow to really get into. I think this would be good for someone really interested in reading fantasy right now. It was very well written and entrancing, but just wasn't the right book for me at the time.

The cover for Deep As The Sky, Read As The Sea by Rita Chang-Eppig is EXCELLENT! It says it all, a woman pirate on the high seas. I would have grabbed the book no matter what, so, yes, a cover does have a big influence over me when it comes to choosing books.

I love anything to do with water, and women pirates, well, how awesome is that? They can be just as vicious as the men. Sometimes it’s a choice between fighting or death, and Shek Young chose life. She can birth a baby and behead an adversary. Her life is a strategy, with few she can trust. She suffers losses, but cannot let it show, or those watching on the sidelines, waiting for an opportunity, would see it as a sign of weakness, putting her life in jeopardy.

In the beginning, she had no power over her life. Once she found it, she did everything to keep it. Yes, she had to make compromises, but she was the one making the choice, not someone making it for her. And what waits for her at the end? Will her death be violent?

Deep As The Sky, Red As The Sea by Rita Chang-Eppig is an action packed adventure novel of life on the high seas and how many of those who chose or were forced came to be there, living, loving, fighting, dying.

I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Deep As The Sky, Red As The Sea by Rita Chang-Eppig.

See more at http://www.fundinmental.com

Thanks to Netgalley and Bloomsbury for providing me with an ARC in exchange for a review! I’ll also note that there were a lot of format errors in the e-arc that made reading frustrating 😭 I tried not to let that bias my experience but I figured I would be upfront.

There was a lot about this story that I was soooo hopeful for! But, in the end, it didn’t match my expectations or the tone of the initial chapter that drew me in.

Telling the story of the real Pirate Queen, Sek Yeung, Rita Chang-Eppig brings to life a figure in history who absolutely deserves to have fictional retellings written about her. Inspired to tell the story correctly - and with nuance- by social media posts that #girlbossified Sek Yeung post-2016 (link below), Chang-Eppig's story follows her version of Shek Yeung after the Pirate Queen watches her husband (and captor) die in front of her eyes. Forced immediately to consider how she will maintain control over the fleets of pirate ships Shek Yeung and her husband controlled, the audience watches Shek Yeung grapple with distrust, motherhood, and Chinese patriarchal values.

I was expecting this book to be filled with swash-buckling goodness and morally gray decisions, but instead, I was met with a rather depressing tale of a woman desperate to cling to power in a society that wants her to have none of it. Chang-Eppig writes beautifully and ruminates on important questions that many ambitious women face, but it comes at the expense of real character development and a coinciding plot with a real payoff. Shek Yeung spends so much of the book jumping between her past, her present, and her ever-present paranoia, that it prevents the reader from understanding the real stakes, seeing any robust relationships between characters develop, and having a better understanding of history at the time outside of the glaring fact that women were absolutely fucked.

I'm still interested to see what else Chang-Eppig puts out, but I personally won't be recommending this to my friends - which is disappointing! Because I had high hopes for this one.

Link referenced: https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/books/oakland-rita-chang-eppig-deep-as-the-sky-red-sea-17869244

I really wanted to like this book. A woman pirate on the South China Sea. I expected hijinks and adventures. Then it got more and more political so I thought it’d be like The Poppy War - politics plus adventure. But it just never picked up. I DNFed around 35%.

As a historical fiction lover, this book was spot on for me as I was totally unfamiliar with the legend of the Pirate Queen - it blended a touch of fantasy, rich full-bodied characters, and themes that reflected the values and morals of the culture and era. A widowed Shek Yeung proves to be an intelligent, resourceful, and fierce leader as she battles external and internal foes on the South China seas and the detrimental impact of European colonization and opium trade.

Call me a nerd, but the attention to detail brings to life the characters and culture - these were ruthless times and options were few for women; so I marveled at the strategic power moves and decisions Shek made to preserve her fleet and protect her people. Everyone is flawed and far from perfect, Shek’s internal struggles are examined, and the politics of the day inform character actions and decisions. These factors layer the plotlines with embedded threads and heightens tensions while keeping the story grounded to humanity despite the cruelty and harshness that plays out in this world. Part mythical, rooted in reality with themes that are relatable in modernity, I learned much from this tale and enjoyed my time with this novel.

Thanks to the publisher, Bloomsbury Publishing, and NetGalley for the opportunity to review.

This is less of a swashbuckling adventure and more of a political tale that questions social, cultural, and gender norms, which is fine! Just, you know, market it accordingly. Once I settled into that I really enjoyed the book. The way Shek Yueng's pragmatism and strength play out within the slow-growing conflicts work well here, and the historical context Rita Chang-Eppig establishes is rich and enhances the story.

Again, it has a marketing problem, so some readers may be disappointed. But if you enjoy historical fiction and don't mind a more subtle read then give this a try.