I enjoyed this but I think I would have enjoyed it more had it been marked for what it actually is. 'Swashbuckling adventure' is what caught my eye but it was more of an in depth look at gender and identity. Which was very well written and interesting but not what it was sold as. Still, an enjoyable story with plenty to love, just not what I thought it was/wanted it to be.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury USA for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

DEEP AS THE SKY, RED AS THE SEA tells the story of Shek Yeung, a legendary female pirate during Qing Dynasty China. The novel opens with the death of her husband, the one who introduced her to a life of piracy, and follows her through her efforts to keep power and keep her fleet safe against the Emperor’s enforcers, European war ships, and scheming fellow pirates. It’s a fascinating historical look at the culture of pirates and the lands–Taiwan, Canton, Manila, Vietnam, and more–around the South China Seas. Larger historical events (Dutch colonialism on Taiwan, Koxinga’s liberation of the island, the British opium trade and its coming effect on China) are woven through the novel.

Shek Yeung is a strong and vibrant, fierce and pragmatic–a woman with the wits and internal strength to rule a pirate fleet. Her story is rich with historical detail and texture–bringing alive everything from pirates’ weapons and torture instruments in a Dutch fort to pregnancy at sea, make-up and hair styling among flower boat women (prostitutes), fortune-telling, and Ma Zu worship. The novel is beautifully written, with vivid prose that brings the people and settings alive.

The story is told mainly through exposition, with much historical context and texture. Conflicts build slowly, with various subplots interspersed, so that we never feel pulled along by a compelling central storyline. Those who want dramatic, compelling plots may find the novel frustrating. Those who want beautiful descriptive prose and a richly detailed historical setting will appreciate the novel more.

Overall, an interesting and worthwhile read.

4.5 stars rounded up. DEEP AS THE SKY, RED AS THE SEA by Rita Chang-Eppig is a historical novel based on the real-life legend of Shek Yeung, a female pirate queen in the South China Sea who must overcome power struggles, the Chinese Emperor’s crackdown on piracy, colonial European forces, fragile alliances with other pirate fleets, and dissent among her own crew in her efforts to survive during the 19th century.

This novel reads like fantasy (high seas adventures, battles and skirmishes, interspersed folklore about Ma-Zou, the Chinese goddess of the sea), but is actually historical fiction, which is perfect for readers like me who aren’t always into full fantasy. It shines in its portrayal of Shek Yeung, a complex protagonist who progressively wrestles more and more with the ethics of her decisions, whether it’s beheading presumed traitors or sacrificing some men to save others. While she’s fierce, ambitious, and ruthless, she also has an empathetic and introspective side that makes her intriguing.

Ultimately, the novel asks: What is the price of power? What stories do we tell ourselves to justify our actions? Who’s to say which side is right? Supporting these questions are themes of gender roles, Chinese self-sufficiency, European imperialism, and the opium trade. The plot is propelled by pirate alliance intrigue, Shek Yeung’s power maneuvers, evading the emperor’s forces, and battling European fleets, and it kept me turning the pages till the marvelously pensive ending.

Readers of R.F. Kuang’s THE POPPY WAR or Ken Liu’s THE GRACE OF KINGS will enjoy this riveting, transportive pirate queen adventure with its morally ambiguous heroine. I can’t wait to read whatever Chang-Eppig writes next!

Thank you to @bloomsburybooksus @netgalley @librofm for the early copies.

Deep as the Sea, Red as the Sky had many strong elements but ultimately disappointed me. The concept intrigued me from the start, badass pirates who reign against an entire empire, I mean come on, that sounds amazing!
Beyond the concept, this novel had many solid components. The writing and syntax were very well done. I took note of many beautiful lines and phrases. The pacing and short chapters very much worked for me. In addition, the historical factors were fascinating and made me understand the horrible situations the characters were in.
The root of my issue may be the book’s synopsis. From its description, I was expecting a lot more action and adventure rather than lots of pregnancies, birth scenes, and despair. I found what this novel had to offer interesting, just wildly different from what was expected. About three-fourths of the way into the book I was finally starting to become gripped, but not shortly after, the book was over. I feel like it took the author so long to finally find her flow that a lot of the novel falls flat.
Thank you very much to the publishers and Netgalley for giving me this ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts and opinions.

⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️🌶️

Unfortunately, this book was not really my jam. I had high expectations but just couldn’t get into the story. For a story that was supposed to have a lot of action and adventure, it was kind of slow and meandering. While I personally wouldn't recommend it, someone else may really enjoy it. Thank you NetGalley, Rita Chang-Eppig, and Bloomsbury USA for this Advanced Reader’s Copy in exchange for an honest review of Deep As The Sky, Red As The Sea (coming out May 30th!)


For 2023, I’ll be using this rating scale:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I mourned the ending of this journey 🥹
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ really enjoyed and would recommend
⭐️⭐️⭐️ it was fine
⭐️⭐️ I didn’t enjoy this journey
⭐️ I dnf’d or wish I’d dnf’d
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ this is smutty smutty erotica 🥵
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ medium burn
🌶️🌶️🌶️ slow burn
🌶️🌶️ romantic b plot / closed door / YA romance
🌶️ no romance / nonfiction

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.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for the advanced copy, in exchange for an honest review!

At first, I felt like "Deep as the Sky, Red as the Sea" didn't really deliver what I thought it was going to - a swashbuckling pirate adventure in the South China Sea. I mean, look at that amazing cover! Then I reread this passage of the book's description:

"A book of salt and grit, blood and sweat, Deep as the Sky, Red as the Sea is an unmissable portrait of a woman who leads with the courage and ruthlessness of our darkest and most beloved heroes."

I think this is the heart of what this book delivers.

It is a portrait of woman who is both pirate and mother, captive and leader, ruthless but still human. Deep as the Sky, Red as the Sea was much more internal than I thought it would be. We are privy to Shek Yeung thoughts and fears during the dangerous and uncertain transfer of power after her husband, and captain, is killed in battle at sea. There are a few brutal battles, but for me it was more political/historical focused than action-packed.

The focus really for most of the story isn't on the pirate life so much at all as on Shek Yeung herself. After finishing the novel, I read that Shek Yeung is based on a real legendary Chinese pirate - perhaps one of the most notorious pirates in history. That definitely deepened my understanding, and provided a lot more context, for the historical/informative nature of the novel and gave me a desire to learn more about her after wrapping up Deep as the Sky, Red as the Sea.

Recommend for people with a general love of pirate lore and history, lovers of fiction based on real figures from history, and for those interested in Chinese political history.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury publishing for an eARC to read for review. All opinions are my own.

2.5 stars. Deep as the Sky, Read as the Sea is a book that suffers from mis-marketing. Rather than the swashbuckling high seas adventure that the blurb promises, it is instead a much more cerebral examination of womanhood in the time of Chinese imperialism...and a portrait of one woman who lives a life of piracy rather than fills a traditional female role. I would classify it as feminist historical literary fiction, not an adventure novel, so potential readers should know that going in and temper their expectations.

The protagonist is Shek Yeung, who built her reputation as a legendary pirate queen (although we are never really told what exploits earned her that title) alongside her pirate husband. Together they led a dominant pirate fleet in the South China seas, pillaging European and Chinese imperial ships and amassing large quantities of gold and goods. When her husband is slain, everything Shek Yeung has worked to build is threatened, and she must act quickly to maintain her alliances and her power.

It's clear that lots of research went into writing this novel; it's an immersive glimpse into Chinese history, culture, and belief systems during the 19th century. I also really enjoyed Rita Chang-Eppig's writing style, which was straightforward but still included several thought-provoking, insightful passages. Unfortunately, I just felt like I never engaged with the story she was trying to tell; I kept waiting for the adventures to start, and they never really did. We got lots of battle strategy planning sessions, but very few actual battles -- and therefore not a lot of excitement. The pace just sort of plods along with the tone of a history textbook and although the characters were interesting, I couldn't connect with them emotionally -- not even Shek Yeung.

I can definitely appreciate Chang-Eppig's examination of gender roles and meticulous historical references, but it didn't result in the most compelling reading experience. Thank you to Bloomsbury Publishing and NetGalley for the early reading opportunity.

Deep as the Sky, Red as the Sea was a great story! It was nice to see a strong, smart diverse main character who didn't have an easy life, but used her brains to make it as far as she did. It is a great historical fiction that gave a lot of background into the pirates of China and Europe and how they interacted. I would definitely recommend this book!

Deep as the Sky, Red as the Sea
By Rita Chang-Eppig

This is the story of China under the Qing dynasty. It is a time of great wealth for the few and extreme poverty and starvation for the many. So great was the hunger, in fact, that it heralded the rise of piracy. This was at the same time as the European powers – British, Dutch and Portuguese – were scheming to insert themselves into the lucrative Chinese markets.

Shek Yeung – a young girl captured, sold into prostitution, and ultimately married to a pirate commander named Cheng Yat – has risen in Cheng's confidence to become his wife and his co-commander.

As the story opens, Cheng is killed in battle and Shek is forced into an uneasy truce with Cheng's named heir Chueng Po. In order to keep their alliance of pirates strong, the two marry and continue their piratical exploits. Because of the status – or lack thereof – of females in China, Shek is forced to manipulate the men in her life to gain her ends.

Shek was, in fact, a real person, sometimes known as the Pirate Queen. This is her story - as much about being a woman as being a pirate. If you are looking for a swashbuckler, this is not it. Instead it is a thoughtful look at how the mores of a time and place shaped a young girl into a smart ruthless pirate. It leaves the reader with much to think about.

Happy to highlight this new release in “Global Becomes Local” a round-up of new and notable spring AAPI and Asian Heritage Month reads for the Books section of Zoomer magazine. (see column and mini-review at link)

Deep as the Sky, Red as the Sea follows Shek Yeung’s journey of piracy, loss, motherhood, and leadership.

When Shek Yeung’s husband, a ruthless pirate, is killed by the Portuguese; she knows she must act quickly in order to maintain her leadership within their fleet. As an act of strategy, she marries his second-in-command, promising to bear his sons and provide an heir.

However, the Chinese government is coming down harder and harder on piracy. Can Shek Yeung convince the other fleets to maintain their alliance? Will they be able to outwit and outlast the Emperor’s army? She’s going to do her best to try, all while navigating the difficulties of motherhood, female leadership in a male dominated space, and loss.

I had really high hopes for this one - the description made it sound adventurous, historically accurate, a tad dark, and extremely intriguing. Unfortunately, it missed the mark for me.

It wasn’t a “bad” book by any means. I read it in its entirety. It was interesting in the sense that I do believe it is historically accurate, and it was unlike anything I’ve ever read before. It was full of Chinese culture. The female character is unlikeable, but you can’t help but root for her in many ways.

However, it was SLOW. It was not adventurous, nor did it feel like the plot or characters moved the book along. For example - we would read many, many pages about the alliance and how they needed to gear up for battle; but then the battle would be done in a page or two and didn’t really dig into it. Or, we would go from one scene to another and I couldn’t help but wonder how we got there. It read as more “telling what was going on" than “showing what was going on”.

TLDR: At the end of the day, it read more biographical or even textbook-like/factual rather than fiction. Is this a bad thing? No. Is it how it was described and how I thought it would be? Also no.

I did take a step back to realign myself and say, despite feeling like it wasn’t what I expected, was it still worth a higher rating? My answer was still no, as although it wasn’t what I thought, it still missed the mark for me.


Thank you NetGalley and Bloomsburg USA for the eArc!

A historical fiction set in the South China Sea during the period before the Opium Wars featuring a pirate queen as she navigates life after the husband who bought and forced her into piracy dies. I enjoyed that main character's ruthlessness as she did whatever, and I mean whatever, it takes to remain in control of her fleet.

I deducted one star because the third-person limited point of view used in this book prevents you from fully engaging and making a connection with the main character. The story was fascinating to read, but ultimately by the end of the book I felt I knew the main character as little as I did on the first page. There's also periodic shifts between novel and folklore prose that seemed to break the action building momentum at inconvenient times. I believe with a better editing this could be a five star read easily.



***Thank you Netgalley & Bloomsbury Publishing for an eArc is this book in exchange for an honest review. ***

I want to thank #Netgalley for the opportunity to read #DeepAsTheSkyRedAsTheSea.

The world building in this novel is amazing. The characters are all very well fleshed out, each with wonderful detail.
The story itself doesn't come across as you would expect it too. There was not much pirating being done, as in not much action. It wasn't a horrible book it just took some patience and time to read. Certainly a great choice if your into historical novels.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing in exchange for my honest opinion.

Genre: Historical Fiction
Spice Level: It's a little gritty—rape and other liaisons are alluded to but not on the page.
Violence: Low-Medium. It's there but since it's written in 3rd person, it's not as severe.

This book is not like Piranesi at all! That was a bad comp for DEEP AS THE SKY, RED AS THE SEA by Rita Chang-Eppig. That's not to say I didn't enjoy this book, but don't go in thinking you're going to experience a twisty, otherworldly, existential story.

I've always been interested in the famous Chinese pirate queen Shek Yeung. This is thoroughly her story! The hardships, the choices made, the opportunities lost. Everyone must be amazed at all she did to survive in a brutal time, especially as a woman.

Even though the characters feel like the gods and goddesses intervene in their lives, I wouldn't have classified this as a fantasy either—instead, it seems factual (as well as we know), highlighting the people's beliefs. I enjoyed learning how the pirates traveled between China, Taiwan, and Vietnam (as some examples). The descriptions and distance created through the third-person narrative gave this book a little bit of a fairy tale quality—especially around the goddess of the sea, Ma-Zou, as an example. (But it's still not a fantasy.) I felt like the choice for third-person made some of the horrible things that Shek Yeung lived through more bearable. If it had been first-person I don't think I could have read it. I applaud the authors choice in this.

Cheung Po, who Shek Yeung marries to consolidate power, is another interesting character. At first, he seemed to represent the entire system that favored men. But he is more similar to Shek Yeung than I would have guessed. Their similarities and expectations added another dimension to the story.

The story brushes against European Imperialism without being didactic. We also see a bit of how opium changed trade as well as people. One of the themes in this story is power and how it changes a person as well as society.

By the end, I wondered how I felt about the pirate queen—she made some gruesome choices. We see more of her internal development than a larger-than-life woman. She struggled and survived. I wonder how many women could accomplish what she did. And I wonder if she'd want to be known as a queen or if she was too practical to succumb to titles unless they benefited her and her ships. The ending seemed a tad rushed to wrap things up, but it wasn't glaring. (Maybe I just wanted more because I enjoyed the book so much.)

I definitely recommend this book. I flew through reading it.

Happy reading!

An epic tale of a 19th century Chinese woman who, after being kidnapped by pirates, sold into prostitution, married to a wealthy pirate, is widowed and becomes a leader of men and women against the forces of the Emperor and the west. Shek Young is- almost- fearless and while she's an incredible fighter, she's an even better strategic thinker and negotiator. This moves back and forth in time to tell her story, how she became, the birth of her sons, and her struggles with Cheung Po, her husband's adopted son, after he dies. Shek marries Cheung Po to consolidate power and insure her control over the pirate fleet but it's an arrangement that's tenuous at best (there's no romance here). Any emotional feelings she has are reserved for a friend. Know that this can get, not tedious exactly, but a little hard to follow at about the 30 percent mark as Shek negotiates and war is waged but that it will come back. She's an astounding character. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A very good read.

This book was a little confusing to me. I was expecting a romance novel with gallantry and pirates and on a boat and that's not exactly what I got.

I felt this book was a little bit more about gender roles and determining what you felt your gender should be. It was not an unenjoyable book, but I'm not so certain it was marketed as it should have been..

I had really high hopes for this book because it was a female pirate protagonist. The writing, however, kept me from really getting into the story. There was a lot of telling, instead of showing. Every time I found myself getting into a groove, I would get pulled into a flashback or a side story that was really disruptive to the main story. Because of this, I got a little lost with the characters, who tended to have somewhat similar names. There was also just enough information about the fleets and the politics of the time and place to make me interested in the motivations of the characters, but not enough to actually hold my interest and allow me to put all the pieces together. I actually ended up DNFing this book at 53%; I think whatever cohesiveness the first half of the book had really began to unravel and I just lost interest.

An engaging pirate story that acknowledges misogyny and sexual assault and also explores the idea of what makes someone turn to piracy and the moral implications of being the pirates vs. the pirated and the interplay between power and autonomy. Lots of big ideas wrapped up in a rollicking adventure story.

This is a pirate story, but was not action packed like I had hoped. It’s much more of a literary story that explores womanhood in a time that men ran the seas. The writing was fine, but the slowness was hard for me to endure as I’m much more of a fast paced book lover. I learned more about Chinese culture, which I enjoyed and I think that people who love historical fiction may love this.