This is primarily historical fiction, with just a dash of fantasy / magical realism. It follows events leading up to the Opium Wars, but these characters are not hugely involved in these big events. This is the story of a pirate fleet and their pirate allies with the political events a backdrop for them to operate within. The scale is small and focused on Shek Yeung and her efforts to keep her fleet safe and successful. Because the main characters are pirates who are at odds with the Chinese Emperor for his failures to care for the common folk and his strict policies against pirating, the colonizers are primarily just set dressing and occasionally prey for pirating. As the book progresses, there is more intrigue about the Europeans' motives in the South China Sea, but the story remains focused on Shek Yeung. My history knowledge is too sparse to really speak much to historical accuracy around these events, but I can say it is compellingly told and I very much enjoyed the smaller scale perspective in amidst these historical events.

Shek Yeung was a village girl, a hand on her father’s fishing boat, a captive, a prostitute, co-commander of a pirate fleet, and a mother. She fills these roles with varying levels of enthusiasm, competence, and reluctance, and often reflects on stories of the goddess Ma-Zou’s life to make sense of her own circumstances, giving the narrative many stories-within-the-story - a narrative structure I am very fond of.

While there are certainly a lot of events occurring around the fleet, this book is primarily Shek Yeung’s life story. It is focused on her reflections of her early life, the choices she made and the ones that were made for her, and the stories she tells herself and others about those choices. This is a character-focused book about who holds power, what it means to hold power, and what is gained and lost in exchange. It considers gender roles and expectations, and the different ways one is treated based on those. The story is very reflective and thoughtful, and I found it and Shek Yeung as a character very compelling.

Recommended to readers who enjoy historical fiction, introspective character-focused stories, and stories that examine structures of power.