The Pirate Empress

The Pirate Empress #1-4

by Deborah Cannon

Amid the wars and power struggles of Men and Demons, a Chinese Princess sacrifices herself and all she loves to save the Empire from a scheming Fox Faerie, and keep the Cosmos in balance. With the scope of J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings," and the evocativeness of Roger Zelazny's "Great Book of Amber," THE PIRATE EMPRESS is an epic saga of love and betrayal, honor and hope, war—and ultimate sacrifice in Ming Dynasty China.

Genres: Fantasy, Adult, Historical Fiction, Pirates

816 pages, Paperback

First published October 17, 2014

About the author

Deborah Cannon was born in Vancouver, British Columbia. She is the author of numerous short stories and six novels. Her short story Twilight Glyph won an Honourable Mention in the 2013 Canadian Tales of the Fantastic Short Story Contest. She has contributed articles on writing to the Canadian Writer's Guide and the professional writer's web sites, absolutewrite.com and suite101.com. She is author of the archaeological manual, Marine Fish Osteology: A Manual for Archaeologists. Most recently, her anthropological thriller The Raven's Pool was cited in a scholarly study, Archaeology is a Brand! The Meaning of Archaeology in Contemporary Popular Culture (Holtorf 2007) alongside treasure hunters Indiana Jones and Lara Croft. Her second novel, White Raven was a 2007 Adult Summer Reading Club pick at the Hamilton Public Library. The series continues with Ravenstone and Raven's Blood. Elizabeth Latimer: Pirate Hunter marks the beginning of a new series for teens or anyone who can imagine themselves encountering a pirate.

See her website at:
http://deborahlcannon.wix.com/the-rav...

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was sent to me through Goodreads/First-Reads giveaways.

A great book. Very interesting topic. Very daunting, extremely large book. It was a bit hard to get into at first, but greatly improved as I read on. This isn't a bit of "light" reading. There were at least 2 instances that an entire previous detailed topic was repeated. Although I felt as though it could have been refined, shortened, and still been able to tell the wonderully creative and amazing journey, I am glad that I finished it. In the end, it was definitely worth the time. The characters are well thought out and developed. (The human and inhuman alike). This book has given me a new fascination with Chinese culture, history, and lore. You have it all in this novel... a battle between good and evil... love, hatred, betrayal, hope, desperation, sacrifice, and war. It depicts the ultimte struggle between mere mortals and pure evil; some of the human variety, some not. Gods, Demons, Fox Faeries, Dragons, Warlocks, and all sorts of amazing beings!

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

822 pages! I’ve got to give this author five stars for the immense amount of work that went into this book. The thought of the amount of research into Chinese history and mythology boggles my mind.

[Deborah Cannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely review from the HISTORICAL NOVEL SOCIETY (August 2015):

“Women do not inherit anything but misery in China,” is the caustic sentiment expressed to a Ming princess named Li in Deborah Cannon’s sprawling historical-fantasy epic The Pirate Empress.

Li finds herself in the center of a vast and very tangled web of palace intrigue, imperial politics, and of course plenty of derring-do on the ocean, as she’s forced into marriage with a brutal sea captain in order to further her quest to save her kidnapped son, who has been prophesied to become an emperor, a future Son of Heaven. Complicated forces are aligning against that destiny, and hovering over friend and foe alike is the supernatural Fox Faerie, who seeks the destruction of all mankind. Readers who might remember Barry Hughart’s wonderful fantasy novels set “in an ancient China that never was” will take to Cannon’s fast-paced and wonderfully written tale, which mingles supernatural beings with well-researched flesh-and-blood characters and historical details from the Ming Dynasty.

The characters sparkle with life, and their dialogue crackles—this is an intensely readable and well-done work of fantasy-infused historical fiction. Strongly recommended. – Fiona Ness, (Historical Novel Society)


So pleased to have received this review (May 2015) from MBR Bookwatch, MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW:

"THE PIRATE EMPRESS is a blend of historical novel and Asian fantasy epic, set during the era when the Ming Dynasty ruled China. The protagonist Li is a palace runaway, prophesied to bear China's greatest Son of Heaven. Both the Emperor and a Mongol warlord are out to destroy her, and thwart the prophecy that will unseat them from power. War engulfs the Wall, pirates terrorize the south coast, and Li's young son is kidnapped. Her soldier lover and warlock grandfather are unable to aid her in her quest to save her son. At the mercy of the pirates, she is forced into marriage to a cruel admiral, and must learn how to survive the cruelty of man and sea alike. To rescue her son, she must not only navigate horrific perils, but also find a way to fight back against the corrosive Fox Faerie, whose corruptive magic threatens to eradicate human civilization. THE PIRATE EMPRESS is a sweeping odyssey, captivating from cover to cover." - Mary Cowper, Midwest Book Review

[Star Bookworm · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a compilation of stories that were released in serial format on Kindle where I found it in my recommendations section of Kindle Lender Library. I am really pleased I rented a copy. My blog is strong proof of my love for folktales and lore, when I read the Mulanesque plot I was hooked instantly. European stories are obviously the most known to me, so I really love diving into the tales from "exotic" countries.

The Asian beliefs have been founded around mysticism and superstition; it is a natural fit for my fantasy mind. I love reading tales from China especially. This collection of works was truly exceptional at capturing the fantastic otherworldly stories of the bygone days. A highlight for me, these tales are not happy. Now don't misunderstand. They are not sad in the sappy way you have to keep the tissue box near by; they are real. The heroes receive hardship and struggle to overcome in exchange for the assistance of the gods. They actually have to work for their gain. As it should be!

I love Chinese myths. They are so ghoulish and dynamic. Hopping corpses and fox faeries and all other manner of disturbing demons constantly trying to interfere with the mortal plane juxtaposed with gods who are rather aloof in their human interactions. Their stories are a fresh change of pace from the Greek and Roman gods of my humanities classes. Then the mortal heroes themselves are humans--real-blooded humans, flaws and indecisiveness included.

Another aspect of the Chinese folktale is the passage of time. These stories aren't heroic epics of months to possibly a year; they span decades. The characters evolve and journey. There are places for the story to take you into the epic and get lost in the imagining. That is exactly what happened with The Pirate Empress.

[Laura L. Chapin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting book with its mixture of history and folklore. Unfortunately, the story was repetitive. I just read that this book is a compilation of short stories that had been separately released. The stories should have been edited to provide a smooth flow to the book before being released. The repetition was quite annoying and I would guess, added at least 100 pages to the book. Not only were pages of the story duplicated but also descriptions. For example (I'll provide something silly so as not to include a spoiler) the author referred to white, lily white, bare, well-formed, naked breasts or some combination thereof, 26 times - enough already! In many ways the story was predictable because there was nothing subtle about the foreshadowing. This is not to say, however, that there were no interesting twists. I also found the characters to be stereotypes of 'evil', 'hero', 'greed', etc. I simply did not care about the characters and found the folklore to be a bit too superficial. I am unlikely to read any other books by this author.