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

2 reviews

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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kindra_demi's review

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emotional tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

 In the end, stories were not, 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 skim over.

Rita Chang-Eppig truly takes this into her writing style. This is the story of Shek Yeung and her journey to getting and maintaining the status of a pirate queen. Many have said that they aren't as big of a fan of the story because they thought it would be a story of action and adventure, but this isn't one of those stories. Parts are dedicated to the politics of piracy in the Qing dynasty with the Pirate Confederation. You'll get an initial introduction to the Opium Wars as well. But the primary focus of this story is Shek Yeung and her experience rising to her power.

I usually do not gravitate towards historical fiction or stories involving pregnancy, but I'm genuinely in love with this story. The lyrical nature of Chang-Eppig's writing and Shek Yeung is so beyond relatable. There were so many moments where I would pause to soak in how Chang-Eppig wrote a portion of the story.

I started the book as an audiobook (ft. a pterodactyl screech when I saw it was Emily Woo Zeller who narrated it. She was the first narrator I started following their work. If you have yet to listen to an audiobook before but want to get into listening to more, check out Emily Woo Zeller's work). I barely got to ch 4 before I texted my friend who recommended the book, saying I would probably want this as a physical book. I went and got it. Then, I went back and forth between the physical book and the audiobook (I'm impatient, but so is life, so the audiobook came in handy there). Both the physical book and the audiobook are beyond worth it. 
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