Review: Deep as the Sky, Read as the Sea
Autor: Rita Chang-Eppig
Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating ⭐⭐⭐
Set in China's piracy age, the story follows Shek Yeung who has to act fast after the death of her husband, a pirate captain, to keep her power in the fleet. But as the story progresses, Shek Yeung has to face even bigger threads and use her wits to navigate the South China Sea and the dangers of a life outside of the law, but mostly the relationships in her life.
Deep as the Sky, Red as the Sea was a 3-star read for me as I kept wishing for more action and to be shown more of the threads instead of just being told they existed a page before Shek Yeung made short shrift of them. With 281 pages, the book is a pretty short read and I wouldn't have minded it to be 50 pages longer if they were filled with Shek Yeung scheming and getting the better of her enemies through witty conversations and scheming.
These moments were there and I enjoyed them very much. Rita Chang-Eppig wrote Shek Yeung as a strong but morally-grey character whose flaws and strengths felt believable and in line with her actions throughout the story. I liked the characters' spirituality that in times bordered on magical realism.
For readers who are interested in morally-grey characters, strong women, piracy, historical fiction, and a lot of introspection.
