Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - Deep as the Sky, Red as the Sea

Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

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

12 reviews

lue_moon's review against another edition

challenging reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I found this book difficult to really get into. It took a couple starts go get further in, and I found myself wanting to skip over some parts that felt a bit heavy with exposition. There were parts that were powerful and beautiful, and I appreciated the focus on a complicated and powerful character as Shek Yueng. I liked the interweaving of stories of Ma-Zou and the parallels drawn between the two. My favorite parts of the book were actually the ones that centered around relationship with motherhood. May be good for someone looking for a more unique historical fiction telling a story that hasn't been told as many times.

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lochnessvhs's review against another edition

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challenging emotional slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

If you want to read about the intracacies of Chinese pirate politics and war strategy, this is the novel for you!

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culpeppper's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

The plot of this story is pretty straightforward and simple on the surface: a pirate captain dies, the world is changing due to aggressive colonial actions, and a tired woman is just trying to survive all the shit that happens between it all. There's a lot going on in the in between. Shek Yeung is a complex character, someone who spent most of her younger life isolated, brutalized, and/or controlled by abusers but soon has a chance at a kind of freedom when her first husband dies in the beginning of the book.

Her agency, or lack therof, sticks out to me amongst all the other topics Chang-Eppig covers in the story. Shek Yeung's whole life is controlled by others, their specters hanging over her and shadowing almost every choice she makes. Her husbands, living and dead, give reasoning for her choices she makes. Notably when she makes choices that harm others, she may recall with a pride and maybe a little guilt that she choices she made would have been the same choices her dead husband would have made. It cheapens her actions; just once, I wanted her to say she wasn't making a choice regarding the fleet without checking it against what He would have done.

Her relationship with Yan-Yan feels particularly imbalanced throughout the narrative in a way that isn't really explored.

This is solidified at the end when Shek Yeung leaves a now implied to be disabled Yan-Yan to live a life she has expressed she didn't want previous to her doing this. Though she maybe feels conflicted about it, there's no real interrogation of what Shek Yeung (and Dawa but she's hardly a character) is actually doing by choosing this life of motherhood over employment for Yan-Yan, who has little to say after getting injured for the sake of Shek Yeung's child until she is forced into her new life. Kinda weird.

There are a lot of things that I'm just taking as fictionalized elements of historical reality (as I have very little knowledge on this particular part of time and space) but the lack of meaningful interrogation on what it means for Shek Yeung to have this power, and the continued lack of agency, means a lot of the other elements fall a little short of what I think Chang-Eppig was going for.

On the surface, if you don't look too deep, it's a fine book. Pacing can be weird, there's time jumps back and forth, there's some interesting mythical interludes that add a little depth to the world, side characters are all kinda one dimensional, the lines of leading questions made me roll my eyes, and I don't think it dug as deep as it thought it did— but overall, I eventually got invested and liked the attempts at serious conversations, even if I would have liked it do have gone a little deeper.

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Slavery, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Gaslighting

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Islamophobia, Cannibalism, and Abortion

Takes place just prior to the start of the Opium Wars, at the end of the height of piracy. All the topics are what are to be expected, more or less, from reading the inside flap and having a general understanding of how brutal we can be as a species. There are multiple battle scenes, which include blood, injuries, and death. Multiple accounts of sexual violence, including rape, not overly graphic but frequent. Colonization hangs heavy on the narrative. Sexual slavery:

The main character is captured by pirates as a teenager, raped, and eventually sold to a Madam who runs some "flower boats" (floating brothel.) During this time, the character is a teenager, aging to young adult. The physical, verbal, sexual, and emotional abuse is mostly alluded to rather than described explicitly, in most cases. She is eventually "freed" from this slavery by marrying her first husband, the older pirate captain, who is taken in by her brains and beauty. While consensual and happening when Shek Yeung is a young adult, there is still a sense of ownership and power imbalance. The main male lead was taken as an adolescent and implied to have had relationships with much older pirate captains.

Familial Death, and Illness:

Father and brother dead or presumed dead because pirates, mother died from some illness *I think* when main character was young. Main character's best friend is sick during the beginning of the story and dies from some illness off-page.

Imprisonment:

Captives are taken multiple times through the book. The main characters are all captives in one way or another, forced mostly by circumstance and hard choices, and there are multiple times where that slavery/imprisonment is described or recounted. There are multiple captives taken, and sometimes tortured, in the story with a main or side character's order or action. Torture not graphic but frequently mentioned, or used subtly.

Pregnacy warnings: Main character spends multiple scenes and a period of time pregnant in the story.

There are two different traumatic birth scenes. One is at the end of her high risk pregnancy.

anniestar's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Listen, I wanted to like this, but I found it incredibly boring. Shek Yeung feels reduce from her historical power, more of a victim than someone who rises above the circumstances she was forced into. The ending was also very abrupt and dissatisfying.

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vonya45's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

"Grief had the quality of a cast fishing line sometimes. In hand at the start, reaching the zenith only once it was in the distance and not subsiding until even farther out, until it had traversed so much space as to have lost its force. Sometimes it never truly subsided."
I'm glad I got this as an audiobook instead of reading it. I might have gotten bogged down in trying to keep track of the quick action scenes or understanding the military maneuvers and pirate politics. Instead I was able to catch glimpses of bloody battles and complicated strategems, and see past them into what the story was really about.
The view into the mind of a pirate queen is a striking one. How does a intelligent but regular girl become a master tactician and a cold blooded killer? The author did a marvelous job at answering this question without making the main character into a caricature of a murderous pirate, or on the other end of the spectrum, a one-dimensional "strong female character" with no flaws who is somehow always morally upstanding despite being a dangerous warlord. Shek Yeung enjoys killing those she believes deserves it, in the midst of battle or otherwise. When she slits the throat of suspected spies, she never gets confirmation on those suspicions, and neither does the audience. She makes choices based on what is best for her and what keeps or gains her power. She even becomes a wife and mother in order to keep that power. Yet she still has relateable feelings about her motherhood, wanting what's best for her children and feeling inadequate to care for them. She shows tenderness and care towards her husband despite their marriage being a strategic decision. She is a strong and powerful figure, but still shows empathy and compassion toward strangers. She is looking out for her best interests but she cares about her friends. She uses the patriarchal system to her advantage but her reflections on womanhood are incredibly impactful feminist perspectives.
The book does not give easy answers on any of its themes, but its deep dive into the main character's psyche is to be admired. I gave it a 3.5 because it is not really my kind of book, I am not a fan of having this much darkness or callousness in a story, and I don't like pregnancy/motherhood themes. Yet the book was well written and an enjoyable listen.

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spacerkip's review

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challenging 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? Yes

3.5

This was a very character-focused novel, with flashbacks and tales of Chinese mythology interspersed throughout the main plot. As a result, the story is slow-building, and it takes a while for the conflict with the emperor's pirate hunter, Pak Ling, to manifest. Even still, the bulk of the novel deals with the politics of commanding a fleet and navigating alliances with other pirate leaders, rather than daring adventures or fearless yarns.

The story's introspection serves well to explore the many themes it introduces. Ambition vs love (romantic, platonic, or maternal). Pragmatism vs cruelty. What it means to take power and control for yourself when the only way is to steal it from those around you.

I'm not entirely sure why it didn't click with me, but there were quite a few things I liked. The setting at sea, for one. My experience with age of sail novels lies almost exclusively with stories about the British navy, so this was a refreshing change of pace, and I eagerly took in all the details about sailing in this part of the world. The historical backdrop was very interesting to me as well. Not only in the events taking place, but in the descriptions of each port Shek Yeung and the other characters visited, from the construction of buildings to the clothing worn to the different religious practices. I also enjoyed the firmly grey morality of the main character, Shek Yeung. She was not shown to be right or wrong or always justified, simply a person who lived (and learned to thrive) in very difficult situations.

If you are interested at all in Chinese piracy, I encourage you to give this a try!

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bullockae's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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mefrias's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense fast-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

4.25

Entertaining and enthralling story about Chinese piracy, and of course, Chinese pirate women! What else could you want?!

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fareehareads's review against another edition

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adventurous sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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just_one_more_paige's review against another edition

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adventurous dark reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I hadn’t heard of this until a few months ago when I randomly came across it on NetGalley. It was the title and cover combination that really caught my attention. Then I read it was about a pirate queen?! And there was no going back. (Also, note: Libro.fm offered it as an ALC a month or so ago and honestly, I loved having both the ebook and audiobook while reading.)

When Shek Yeung’s husband is killed in a battle, she takes immediate action, marrying his second in command (with the promise of bearing him a child, a son, to be his heir, despite having thought herself past the time in her life), in order to maintain her power and position within the fleet. But even with that quick thinking, the fleet remains on the edge of disaster in the face of myriad outside threats. Shek Yeung must navigate through a Chinese Emperor who seeks to eradicate all piracy in the most brutal manner, European powers who are tired of losing resources to the pirates, and an inter-fleet alliance that is shaky at best. Plus, as she faces the vastly different challenges of new motherhood, she begins to question what price she is actually willing to pay to retain control and leadership.

I am not sure why, but I thought there was going to be magic in this story…and there is not. I want to set that out to start, as, since I didn’t know where that impression came form personally, maybe other people are thinking that too. That has no bearing on my enjoyment of the overall reading experience whatsoever, I just felt it necessary to clarify. I will say though, there is a definite vibe that supernatural forces *could* be in play, through fate and fortune-telling and the influence of gods (similar to books like The Fortunes of Jaded Women, The Last Tale of the Flower Bride, The Cloisters, Plain Bad Heroines, etc.). So, it kind of reads like a magical historical fiction in vibe, if not in actuality. And that’s a style I can get behind.

Plot-wise, this was spectacularly written and paced. There was, absolutely, all the ruthlessness and violence one would expect from a novel about pirates, but as it was sprinkled in with stories about Ma Zhou and mythology and beliefs around her godhood, that was balanced out in a way that made it feel less intense or overwhelming. This was aided by the background on Shek Yeung’s life that was developed as the story went, giving us context not only about her own journey to piracy, but for the greater world within which her story takes place. It was tragic, as I believe all “I didn’t set out to become a pirate, but ended up here anyways” tales must be, compounded by her role as a female during this historical time period in Chinese history (but also, as a female in any time period ever, if we’re being honest). Getting to experience the story from her perspective, her own decisions, and with insight into her own thought processes and feelings, was exactly what I wanted. Finally, in regards to the plot, I would be remiss if I didn’t’ acknowledge how wonderful the complexity of the political machinations and power maneuvering were. I always love when those aspects are done with the kind of deftness that Chang-Eppig had here.

A few final thoughts. First, I was thrilled to hear that Emily Woo Zeller was narrating – I enjoy her voice talents and this was no exception. I thought it was great, the way Chang-Eppig showed how mythology and folklore take on a life of their own depending on the teller, and how every story is just that because all tales grow and change in the telling. This was demonstrated both though the tales of Ma Zhou and in the ways Shek Yeung chose portray herself and her life.

Overall, what atmospheric and original historical fiction. It was swashbuckling and violent, but also culturally and politically nuanced. Perhaps a slightly slower read than the blurb might suggest, but once I adjusted, it was such a good reading/listening experience.

"Piracy was, more often than not, a matter of convincing the target of the futility of fighting back."

"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."

"But villains waited for no god..."

"There were many gods in Heaven, one for whatever a person lacked (after all, wasn't lack the foundation of being human?)..."

"'Why do you need all this power?' Wo-Yuet had asked her. So that I can have complete control, she should have answered. Because the moment a powerful woman loosened her grip on the reins, even a little, someone immediately tried to wrest those reins from her. This "someone" was usually a man who believed she should never have had them in the first place."

"...acts of disobedience quickly led to unrest, which led to violence, which had to be met in kind. There was no stability without violence, nor was there peace in instability. Where was the line between stability and tyranny?"

"They'd come together to stay alive, which was different from staying together to live."

"In the end, stories were not reality, could not be reality. The storyteller decided where to start the story and where to end it, which parts to sink into and which to skin over."

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