Sky in the Deep (Sky and Sea, 1)

This was my first read for 2018 and let me be completely honest when I say, Sky in the Deep is an amazing/brilliant/gorgeous debut novel from Adrienne Young. (Hey! We share a first name! This may have been partly what drew me to request this book, but there's no telling.) Young is a talented writer and this is not said lightly. I am incredibly picky when it comes to the books I read and own, but I could not put this down. Her writing slides oh so comfortably into the lyrical, despite the gruesome topics of war and bloodshed rife in her novel. I hungrily devoured it in a few hours after receiving it, determined to know Eelyn's fate despite my early morning alarm. I found myself rereading passages wanting to relish the beautiful and brutal prose of this Viking world Young has created. I never do this. (As in never ever.) Sky in the Deep is not your typical YA fantasy read and honestly, I probably wouldn't read it if it was. Our main character is fierce, loyal, calculating, and smart! (Oh gosh, I love her so much.) She is broken, but inherently strong, always evolving with her circumstances. There isn't the tried and tired love triangle trope, no excessive vulgar scenes, and it's worth noting, no cursing. (This is a rant for another day, but just know, I am SO excited there's not random curse words ruining this novel.) This is not a pretty princess story, instead it's violent, heart-rending, and full of sorrow. Sky in the Deep is not just a novel about Vikings, but rather, a poignant and prolific narrative on how we are connected. Friendship. Sibling. Mother. Enemy. Brother. Father. Child. Sister. I honestly don't know if I can put down in words how I feel about this novel with its rich descriptive war scenes that give way to tender heart break, tempting me to shave the side of my head and learn to throw an ax, while also reminding me of the time when my hatred turned to love. I do however, know this is one of my favourite novels I've ever read and I plan to reread it time and time again. (Fun fact, I almost started it over again right after I finished it.) Adrienne Young is brilliant and I cannot wait to read so much more from her!

Actual rating: 4.25 This book really is amazing! I'm not going to lie though- for a while I felt like I was reading a different book than everyone else but THAT is what makes it so amazing! The author makes you feel what Eelyn is feeling- the prejudice, the hate(from both sides), all of it. So that when everything opens up and starts to happen it's so much more beautiful because yourself progressing through all of that with the characters in the book. I would have given it a full 5 stars had it been long enough to fill everything out. I feel like it needed more. The story is too short. I finally get it though. This story and these characters are amazing! Let me start with the reason(s) I felt that I was reading a different book than everyone else. I think all of the hate and prejudice coming from every character made me feel alienated, if that makes any sense. The characters all being so hateful and prejudiced from the very start made me unable to connect with any of them on a deeper level. And when that happens(or doesn't happen, actually) it's hard to care what happens. But despite that, I found questionable to put this book down. The scenery and story were so exciting that it kept me reading until the characters won me over. I was amazed at how much I came to love these characters. Expedia certain Riki warrior. Or two of them actually. I don't want to talk too much about specific characters though because I don't want to spoil anything. Suffice to say that the story was amazing from the start and the characters fought their way into my heart. I highly recommend!

I loved this book. I was hesitant to buy it at first because of the negative reviews, but I'm glad I did. Looking back at some of those reviews, I don't agree with them at all. The author did an amazing job pulling me into her world, and I was sad when the story ended.

I'm trying to stay away from hyped books because they keep breaking my heart (looking at you Divergent and ACOTAR), but Sky in the Deep WOULD NOT STOP popping up on my Instagram feed. That and my dragon friend was 1000% obsessed with it and already started doing cosplay photos for the book (it doesn't come out until the end of April). The publishing company loved her enthusiasm for the book so much that they sent her an ARC, and dragon friend rules state I get to read it too. Let's just be honest here: The book gets all the stars. I seriously don't know how I'm going to be able to function later this year as I'm already freaking out about the gloriously amazing books I've read in ONE MONTH. How does this happen? I feel like I've already read my Top Pick for the year. Anyway on to Eelyn because she needs an award. Adrienne Young, the author of this book, needs an enormous amount of cookies and prizes for this book. She deserves it. For a semi-fantasy world (basically just a Viking story that isn't called "Viking."), this book felt so accurate to how Vikings behave. The slaughter, the bizarre "My god hates your god, so I'ma kill you" mentality of feuds, and the treatment of each other. Eelyn is badass, there is no mistaking that, but she's not the odd one in this story. Vikings were super odd in their time because they allowed women to fight (which has, for whatever reason, been a huge no-no), so Eelyn fighting and being good at it is no surprise to this culture. I loved watching her character grow from being so hardheaded and "YOU ARE MY ENEMY" to actually sitting back and thinking "Why?" Because literally no one else does, and all of these people keep fighting and dying for literally no reason, and the vikings were SO good at that. (I love my heritage, don't get me wrong. Vikings did have stupid moments, though.) The plot twists in this book. Oh, the plot twists. You get thrown into the mess VERY early on, with so much changing constantly because spoilers. I'm actually really shocked with how they did the synopsis of this book because they managed to tell you what happened with no spoilers, and it doesn't even really give you an idea of what might happen to shock you, so I liked that. Going into this, I had a rough idea that Eelyn and her brother would meet up and he was killing her kin or something, and then she had to go on some epic journey with that dude named Fiske and....that's all I've got. This book was SO much more than that. Fiske grew on my so much. I hated him. H A T E D him. I wanted him dead, and then I didn't and I looked back and scratched my head because I was so confused why that change had happened. Iri, her brother, meh? I'm still not a huge fan of him, but I get why/what he did, so I won't say anything else. Inge was amazing and even though I have a great mom, can I have Inge too? And Fiske's little brother whose name just fled from my mind was the sweetest squishy. I know he's supposed to be a viking, but he's a Hufflepuff all the way and needs to be protected at all costs. The family dynamics in this book made me jump around in joy. YA is notorious for there being dead/broken families, and no one rectifies or forgives, and the whole thing is kinda unbelievable because you have to forgive to heal and just yeah. Sky in the Deep showed families who loved one another completely, without fault. It was exactly what a family should be and we need more rep for great families because it's good for people to see that not every family is awful or broken or gone. Inge, Fiske, Iri, and the lil Hufflepuff are goals. Even Eelyn and her dad and Iri are so beautiful to see because despite what's going on or what happened in the past, they love one another unconditionally, and would readily die for the other or kill to protect them. Even Myra, who Eelyn's dad adopts as a second daughter, has that same connection with Eelyn and her dad. This has always been something about Vikings that has made me happy because even if you're some distant relative, they welcomed one another with open arms. No one does this anymore (at least here in America that I've seen). The world in this was so spot on, I just can't even. I'm in love with the TV show Vikings, and as I'm reading Sky in the Deep, I feel like I'm watching a lil Lagertha climb her way up to adulthood. The world is filled with sweeping mountains covered in snow and trees, and fjords with fish and rushing, freezing water. I can see it all so well because it sounds like Scandinavia and those regions of the world. I also really loved the fact that this is a stand-alone, or maybe it'll have a sequel later on, but this works so well as a single novel that I love it. Almost no fantasy/action books are novels nowadays. All are series, and almost all are trilogies, so you have a story dragged out over multiple books when sometimes they only need one big book or two medium-ish books to complete the series. Anyway, everyone must read this because it is perfect.

I wanted to like this book so much more then I actually ended up liking it and I'm super disappointed with that. There were somethings I did like and somethings that I didn't like at all. Pros -I loved the whole Viking aspect, I've never read a viking story and I really want to read more viking stories because of this one. - The fighting scenes were vivid and I really enjoyed reading them. - The whole "white walkers" game of thrones vibe had me jumping for joy. I was stoked about reading about creatures similar to the white walkers and reading a book kinda similar to game of thrones made me happy. -Fiske, he was such a dream boat I was very much about him from the minute I read his description. - How Eelyn handled the feud between the Aska and the Rikki was so mature and brave and I loved how accepting she was. She might not have liked it at first but soon she realized how the Rikki were just like the Aska. Cons - The characters felt very bland at times, I wanted to like them and at times I did but I felt like I needed to bond with them more. - The first half of the book felt very very very SLOW..... It was excruciating. I needed something to happen. Anything to happen. - The quick acceptance, I understand that these two clans had to band together to fight the herja but you honestly expect me to believe that everything is just "everyone lived happily ever after" because they teamed up together one time. No. -The rushed romance, like I said I really like Fiske and I liked him and Eelyn together. However I need a slow burning romance. Where you sit there and beg them to finally kiss because you can't stand it anymore. Their relationship felt rushed and I was so disappointed because I liked them together. -The ending, the ending felt very rushed and wish the fighting would have been drawn out alot more and didn't end so accepting when these people have had this feud for years. So why didn't I give this book 2.5 stars.? I really gave it 3 stars because I enjoyed the authors writing style and the fight scenes were so vivid and I loved them. I also was on the edge of my seat by the time the war came at the same end of the book. That's why I settled on 3.0 stars and not 2.5 stars. It was good. It just wasn't great.

Holy moly. This book was stunning. I can honestly say that there is nothing I didn’t like about this book. Every aspect of it was a knockout read for me. Despite the fact that it’s a Young Adult novel (I’m just not that into YA), I had a feeling this would be one that I would remember long after I finish it. Vikings are an obsession of mine, and being Scandinavian, they’re also a part of my history. Adrienne Young’s novel is being marketed as Wonder Woman meets Vikings, and it’s the absolute truth. I am so in love with this book! According to many Viking historians, women played a very integral role in Scandinavian society. They were given more rights than most women of their time throughout the world. Many women also fought side by side with men in battle. This is also the case with Sky in the Deep. Eelyn is a 17-year-old girl who fights alongside and against bigger and more experienced men. She and many other women are given intricate roles throughout the story, and I was so excited to see a woman heroine in a somewhat historical-type novel. Many times we have to deal with reading about women who try to defy the system throughout history, but it doesn’t change the fact that they’re still property. Not in this case. Here we have a world where men and women are pretty much created equally, and that’s an amazing thing to portray to young readers. Eelyn is part of the Aska clan, who follows one god and certain rituals. The Aska are enemies to the Riki clan, who have similar rituals but follow a different god. As mortal enemies, they have fought each other every five years for generations, killing each other despite the similarities. After Eelyn discovers that her supposedly dead brother is alive and fighting along with the Riki, she embarks on a journey and realizes that the Riki and the Aska aren’t that different. Everything they’ve been taught has been to hate people who are just like them. Her brother, Iri, was saved by the Riki, and he was given a home with them. This makes Eelyn realize that blood isn’t the only thing that binds a family together. There are so many people that we can consider family despite the lack of blood relations to each other. It’s all in the soul of two people, and that makes her see that the Aska and the Riki are more alike than anyone can imagine. I highly recommend this book, especially to young girls. It has just enough fighting to not be too gory, and just enough sexual undertones to not be too racy. It’s the perfect blend of the adult world melded together for teens, and it will make an inspiring read for young women. As for me, I enjoyed it so much as a 31-year-old woman, so it’s definitely not just for young girls. Anyone with an interest in Vikings and fantasy will absolutely enjoy Sky in the Deep. Adrienne Young is already hard at work on a companion novel, and I cannot WAIT until it’s released in 2019! Until then, I’ll just have to reread Sky in the Deep to tide me over.

The actual plot and characters were not the strongest, but the writing was so good that I almost don't care. And the ending was cute, and the main characters had a little more growth and connection then. It was a little more violent and gritty than I was expecting, though. Recently discovered Adrienne Young, and so far I am really enjoying her books. This one is very steeped in Viking themes, and the story has a strong mythical tone to it.

6 Stars | Top Rec Sky in the Deep was an immersive and spellbinding fantasy novel with a richly-plotted, adventurous story full of a brutally hard existence and the strength and culture of a people. Its impressive and enchanting worldbuilding made it incredibly easy to slip into this world and become enamored with each character’s purpose to the story, and it was–from start to finish–an absolutely stunning debut from Adrienne Young. This character-driven tale beautifully showcased a self-sustaining warrior heroine that fought on the frontlines with her clan and lived for the glory of her people. Eelyn’s impulsive and brash tendencies added to the complexity of her character, and for all of her stubbornness and strong convictions, she wasn’t without compassion and humanity. Her journey was as heartbreaking as it was touching for it wasn’t just about war and differences between clans, but of a fighter of a young woman growing to understand a culture and people outside of her own–even if doing so broke everything inside of her. Eelyn felt so close to my own self–maybe more than a book character ever has–and because of the brazen nature of Young’s depiction of a perfectly flawed woman, many readers will find pieces of themselves in her regardless of the fantasy aspect. Even with such an adventurous and action-packed story, Young also perfectly wove in a subtle but lush romance that was as instinctive as it was raw–a well-earned and truly powerful addition to this tale. Every aspect of Sky in the Deep was carefully crafted to create an addictive story that encapsulated so many important aspects of a person–from family to beliefs to resiliency and loyalties–and brought them to life. She’s a character to root for, to mourn for, and to rue the loss of once the final page has come. Young’s writing is polished and skilled, beautiful and evocative, and positively beguiling. Her writing amazes from page one and she kept on delivering with every new page. It took months to find words for this review and they do not even touch, in my opinion, the greatness of this novel, but if any Young Adult book is worth the buy, this one is.

Uma história sobre família, lealdade e amizade

I really enjoyed the book. It was something new and short. I am hoping there’s a second part because I think the book has potential!

I love finding a book that draws you in and doesn’t let you go until the last page. Sky in the Deep is that kind of book! I’m a massive fan of the myth and legend tales, and the Norse Gods, sagas, Viking battles, and axe-wielding warriors hold a special place in my heart. Sky in the Deep is told from Eelyn’s point of view; a seventeen-year-old warrior with two fighting seasons under her belt. She’s hard, passionate, and fiercely loyal to her clan. When she discovers her brother is still alive and living with their rival clan, Eelyn’s world is broken apart. She is taken as a prisoner; her brother’s new family try to keep her safe until their entire village is attacked. Everything shifts and Eelyn must learn to trust the enemy. Underneath the violence, fear, and fast-paced action is a beautiful coming-of-age story. I love Eelyn; she’s a fierce soul with a caring heart. The other characters: Fiske and Iri, Halvard and Inge, Aghi and Myra are all well-crafted. Young’s story development is terrific, and she paints a gripping picture as you follow this young warrior’s painful journey through this stunning setting, easily visualising the fjord and the mountain village. I didn’t want this book to end as I loved being a part of Eelyn’s world. Would highly recommend Sky in the Deep if you’re looking for a vivid debut that stays with you long after you finish reading.

Ce livre est une vrai petite, j'ai adoré les personnages, le fait qu'ils soient des vikings et la haine qui émane de ces deux peuples pas vraiment différent.

Me encanta encontrar un libro que te atraiga y no te deje ir hasta la última página. ¡El cielo en las profundidades es ese tipo de libro! Soy un gran fan de los mitos y los cuentos de leyendas, y los dioses nórdicos, las sagas, las batallas vikingas y los guerreros que manejan hachas ocupan un lugar especial en mi corazón. Sky in the Deep se cuenta desde el punto de vista de Eelyn, una guerrera de diecisiete años con dos temporadas de lucha bajo su cinturón. Es dura, apasionada y ferozmente leal a su clan. Cuando descubre que su hermano sigue vivo y vive con su clan rival, el mundo de Eelyn se rompe. Ella es tomada como prisionera; la nueva familia de su hermano intenta mantenerla a salvo hasta que toda su aldea sea atacada. Todo cambia y Eelyn debe aprender a confiar en el enemigo. Debajo de la violencia, el miedo y la acción acelerada hay una hermosa historia de inicio de edad. Amo a Eelyn; ella es un alma feroz con un corazón cariñoso. Los otros personajes: Fiske e Iri, Halvard e Inge, Aghi y Myra están bien elaborados. El desarrollo de la historia de Young es fantástico, y pinta una imagen apasionante mientras sigues el doloroso viaje de este joven guerrero a través de este impresionante escenario, visualizando fácilmente el fiordo y el pueblo de montaña. No quería que este libro terminara ya que amaba ser parte del mundo de Eelyn. Recomendaría encarecidamente Sky in the Deep si estás buscando un debut vívido que se quede contigo mucho después de terminar de leer.