AWESOME FANTASY! ~ Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young

TITLE: Sky in the Deep
AUTHOR: Adrienne Young

RELEASED: April 24, 2018
PUBLISHER: Wednesday Books
FORMAT: Hardcover

GENRE: YA Fantasy, Historical fiction
GOODREADS RATING: 4.02

TRIGGERS: Murder
REPS: 

SYNOPSIS
Raised to be a warrior, seventeen-year-old Eelyn fights alongside her Aska clansmen in an ancient rivalry against the Riki clan. Her life is brutal but simple: fight and survive. Until the day she sees the impossible on the battlefield—her brother, fighting with the enemy—the brother she watched die five years ago.

Faced with her brother’s betrayal, she must survive the winter in the mountains with the Riki, in a village where every neighbor is an enemy, every battle scar possibly one she delivered. But when the Riki village is raided by a ruthless clan thought to be a legend, Eelyn is even more desperate to get back to her beloved family.

She is given no choice but to trust Fiske, her brother’s friend, who sees her as a threat. They must do the impossible: unite the clans to fight together, or risk being slaughtered one by one. Driven by a love for her clan and her growing love for Fiske, Eelyn must confront her own definition of loyalty and family while daring to put her faith in the people she’s spent her life hating.

GOODREADS – AMAZON.COM – AMAZON.CO.UK – WATERSTONES
These are not affiliate links!

The moment I got my wish granted for Adrienne Young’s The Girl The Sea Gave Back, I knew I had to get my shit together and read Sky in the Deep first. Sure, they’re promoted as companion novels, but I couldn’t help but feel like I’d be missing out on things – or even get spoiled – if I didn’t read them in order. Note: I was right! You better read Sky in the Deep first! Which is why I’m posting this review on the publication date of The Girl the Sea Gave Back, but that review will be up shortly as well!

Story-wise I was entirely lost in the book right from the start. Two rivalling clans with hidden connections that are discovered years later? Seeing characters struggle with their beliefs and principles? Being a spectator while they look for ways to keep everything and everything intact without having to keep the previously mentioned secrets hidden forever? I. Loved. It. I was hooked and could barely stop reading. Which is a struggle with a five month old, let me tell you. [Ignore how he’s almost seven months so I’ve been sitting on this review for a.. while..]

Let’s talk characters and start with Eelyn! A strong one, for sure. I truly loved the evolution and changes she went through. Nothing felt orchestrated or forced – on the contrary. I loved how she created bonds with others while not even realizing it. That added so much, in my opinion. Especially depth-wise.
Iri, her brother.. Not a huge fan, to be honest. I really think he didn’t have any reason to leave Eelyn as long in the dark as he did. But.. character-wise he was definitely done well. There’s this air of mystery surrounding him that drew me in as well. I just.. sometimes didn’t really get why he did things the way he did, I guess.
Then there’s Fiske. When meeting him for the first time, I imagined this huge bear of a guy – dangerous-looking but a teddybear at heart. [Basically how metalheads are, amiright?] But.. He kind of remains this mystery-character throughout the entire book. I kept wanting to figure him out, apart from his family-focused mindset. That, especially, had a huge part in how hooked I was to Sky in the Deep.

After reading all this.. You can probably guess this book was written in a very-easy-to-read way. I flew through it, even though I barely had time to read. That’s saying something, right?

We find things, just as we lose things. If you’ve lost your honor, you’ll find it again.

But. All those good things don’t erase the one small difficulty I had with this novel. I loved the writing, the characters and the plot. So where’s my problem at? Right. World-building. I felt like it could’ve been done better. Some questions I had concerning the world it’s set in were answered kind of late in the game. Apart from that I did enjoy it thoroughly though!

Overall I loved pretty much everything about this book. I wouldn’t rate it 4,5 because.. I don’t know. Looking back to when I read it – which is months ago, I’m so sorry! – I still remember things about this book, but it isn’t really a very memorable one? Although it’s still an amazing standalone! And with the companion novel releasing TODAY.. I can only recommend picking this one up as soon as you can! [Like, I loved how this one ended but I was craving the companion novel badly due to my curiosity regarding certain characters, haha.]

Have you read Sky in the Deep? What did you think?
Do you like books set in earlier times, where there are vikings and such?
What do you like most about those books?

Advertisement