Well Hello Viking awesomeness, Adrienne Young!

Sky in the Deep is released April 24th 2018~ and I will already say...go check it out! Add it to the TBR!! I was provided this ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. 💜

I have waited and hoped for a long time now that someone would start doing some Viking based YA. *crossed fingers* And sometimes we do get lucky hahaha ;0)

I must say this book starts bloody, if you know anything about Norse mythology and Viking culture though, this shouldn’t be a surprise to you. We follow the story of Eelyn who is a warrior of Aska, that has a battle waged with the Riki Clan. Until one day she sees her brother fighting on the Riki side, her dead brother... (*insert dramatic music*)

Personally I think the above description is all you need to know. Reading the whole jacket blurb kind of gives too much away so try and surprise yourself!

What did I like~ THE BATTLE SCENES!! All the battle scenes were faaaaantastic. They’re intense, bloody, and nail biting. Haha Adrienne Young sure kept me involved and wrote them well.

The characters~ Eelyn was very well written but actually not my favorite. That’s excellent though as Adrienne Young has made this much more a character driven novel than plot driven. I enjoyed seeing the development of everyone and how they played parts to the final ending.

Things I didn’t like? Well there is a rather large lull about 15% in to about halfway. I get it’s give the characters and “in their thoughts” insight, but after such epic battle scenes, I was itching for more. I expected more haha

The story reads like a TV show for me. Meaning it didn’t build too strongly but felt more like a side story. Which in itself isn’t bad, but this is a stand alone book and I was hoping for something more solid.

Overall Rating: 3 Stars
Plot: 3 stars
Character Development: 3.5 Stars
Dialogue: 3 Stars
Writing: 4 Stars

I would recommend this to any fan of YA. It was a fun read and I’m happy Viking tales are getting some attention. There is so much good material there for use. Take a chance and give a read. 💜

Enjoy!!
~Ash

The main message in Sky The The Deep is strong, do you accept newfound truth and change your ways or do you pretend to not notice it and keep doing what you were doing before? Can you swallow your pride or do you choose to stay in your comfort zone? This also brings us to another related point, that we should learn both sides of the story before assuming matters.

That being said, we're humans and sometimes we only do the right thing because we've been cornered into it. Eelyn, Iri and Fiske all realized the truth but, if it were not for the bloodthirsty Herjas descending upon them, they would've went back to the way it was before.

One aspect of Eelyn's character is her reluctance in letting go of grudges, especially those that have hurt her and I totally relate to this. Finally, a character who didn't easily forget someone's treatment of her just because they've changed their tune; I just never got the people who could do that.

Since the people in this book are of a rougher, more brutal nature, like that of Vikings, some aspects of their culture and the things they did didn't sit well with me. As beautiful as this tale is, I still think the writing in SHADOW WEAVER: The Ederiss Chronicles by Claire Merle is more lyrical. Anyway, that's just me being a bit picky.

Sky In The Deep by Adrienne Young is a ferocious story of fighting on the battlefield, with the people you thought you knew, and the war within yourself.

Such an interesting story, I have to admit that I picked this book mostly because I love Vikings and I like the synopsis! It was a great story,I enjoyed most of it!Once I start reading I couldn't put it down!

Eelyn was hard to like at first in my opinion, yes she was a badass,stubborn and tough heroine but she was a little bit annoyed in my opinion.As I continue reading the story I find myself liking her more!The story has a lot of action and a little bit of romance .

Overall, it was a great story!I would love to read more books from this author!

I really, really enjoyed this one! I loved the original setting. There was a slight pacing issue, but overall the Sky in the Deep kept me hooked. While I'm not a huge romance person, I loved the romance in this story and felt that it only added to the complexity of Eelyn's relationships with the others in her life. I would definitely recommend for someone looking for a fresh feeling YA novel.

4.5 Stars

This was so good. Sky in the Deep starts off with an action-packed scene and it keeps up that pacing for most of the book.

The Aska’s and the Riki’s have been at war for as long as anyone can remember. Their two gods oppose each other and so every five years they meet on the battlefield to destroy the other. Eelyn, an Aska, is fighting in her second battle when she spots her thought-to-be-dead brother fighting on the opposite side. After she is captured by the Riki (while trying to get to her brother), she is sold to his best friend, Friske, to be a servant in his household. On the service this seems nefarious, but really he was saving her from the possibility of being sold to another clan.

While there is much action, there is also a lot of looks at relationships, culture, and philosophies. I thought all of this fit seamlessly together and loved watching Eelyn discover that the Aska and Riki really weren’t that different from each other (and that maybe this was they fought was pointless).

When the Herja, a violent clan many believed to be legend, began attacking both the Aska and the Riki villages, Eelyn and Fiske must learn to trust each other in order bring together and save both of their people.

I connected to every character in this book and was thoroughly invested in their lives. It was such a well-written novel with the perfect blend of action, fantasy, and romance.

Recieved ARC from the publisher for an honest review.

Two tribes fight endlessly due to old beliefs of waring gods. During one of these battles, main character Eelyn sees her dead brother on the battlefield and must investigate. Is he alive or a vision from the gods?

With a very Viking/Norse feel to the book, it was enjoyable and the book flowed nicely for a quick and easy read. The storyline was very predictable. Lots of battle violence and content that would not be appropriate for younger readers. However, this is a nice change from the fantasy, dystopian, and retelling of fairytales that the YA market seems to be focusing on.

I had hoped this one would be good but it blew all of my expectations out of the water. I will admit I was initially drawn to the cover but then when I heard YA Vikings it flew to the top of my 2018 wish list. This level of excitement is often a recipe for disaster but once I sat down with this book I did not get up again until I had finished it. I loved everything about it. Eeyln was such a wonderful character- strong but still so full of emotion and vulnerability. I loved reading about a world that I know next to nothing about. I love that while there was a lot of action there was so much more character development. I love that this is a standalone but that there will be a companion novel coming out next year so I can revisit the world without worrying that Eeylyn story will be messed up with a sequel.
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest opinion.

I accidentally requested this book and so I cannot give a review since I did not read it.
Good luck to the author and publisher for much success! Giving it 5 stars but not posting review anywhere since I did not read it.

Dark and filled with epic battle scenes, Sky in the Deep was an action-packed fantasy that takes readers on a journey from hate and prejudice, to understanding and acceptance. And Vikings! Which completely explains the epic battles.

The action starts immediately with Eelyn and her Aska clansmen battling their long-time enemy, the Riki. During one battle she happens upon the impossible — her long-deceased bother fighting for the enemy, against his friends, family, and clansmen. The joy of learning that her beloved brother isn’t dead after all is quickly doused when she realizes that Iri not only betrayed her, but he betrayed his father and every Aska, past and present. After Eelyn is taken by the enemy, things slowly (very slowly) shift into place and life-changing realizations are made. The road to acceptance is always a hard one, and in this case, even more so. Vikings weren’t exactly known for their long and deep talks ;-)

While I found Sky in the Deep to be overall enjoyable, the first half dragged quite a bit for me. The pacing was quite slow at times and while there was quite a bit of action anything concerning character relations moved at the pace of an iceberg. Not to mention, Eelyn is filled with such anger and volatility that it took me quite a bit of time to actually care not only about her, but for her. Emotions for the first half were fairly one-dimensional - shades of anger and I wanted desperately to feel something else. The second half of this novel saved it for me because the second half was where things really got complicated concerning both clans’ preconceived notions and prejudices and seeing each character eventually reach a level of understanding was definitely a saving grace. And I get it, the transformation can’t happen too soon, but I would have preferred Eelyn (and Iri, actually) to have a little more dimension because it would have made me actually like them from the start. Which I didn’t. The only character I liked from the beginning was Fiske.

All in all, Sky in the Deep was certainly a fun and action-filled fantasy with a strong and smart female warrior at the center of it all. Several important themes and a hint of romance help to balance all of the dark and violence, and it’s definitely one I’ll recommend for anyone looking for a period historical YA with a lot of girl power. 3.5 stars.

*eARC received via NetGalley.

4 stars!

“Honor above life.”

Sky in the Deep is about Eelyn, a young Aska girl who while in battle sees her dead brother. Taking off after him, she discovers he’s been alive all this time and has joined the Riki people, her enemy. For her protection, she’s taken by her brother and hidden as a slave so no one will suspect they are related. But new danger is near and the two tribes need to see if they can work together to face the oncoming threat.

“The moon rose up over my broken home and I broke with it.”

I think this is a really amazing debut novel from Young, it’s very compelling and I didn’t want to put it down. I found the romance to be a bit weak, which was disappointing because it could have been really great. I liked the story a lot, seeing Eelyn’s struggles which who she is and what she’s always known. Being thrown into a new environment isn’t easy and she had a lot to deal with.

I think lots of readers will love this book and with a debut like this, I am excited to see what this author will bring to us in the future!

“I was the same but I was different.”

ARC provided by the publisher via netgalley. All/any quotes in this review came from an advance unedited copy and may be subject to change in the final product.

Eelyn, an Aska, has trained her whole life for her clan's battle with their rivals, the Riki. She knows that they're savage, ruthless fighters whose only goal is to see her and her people dead. So what happens when she sees her older brother Iri -- the brother she saw die on the battlefield years ago -- amongst the Riki?

Eelyn feels she has no choice but to follow Iri. She's injured, captured, and taken to a Riki village far from home. Forced into life as a dýr, a fate worse than death for an Aska warrior, Eelyn must come to grips with the longing she feels to rejoin her clan and the growing loyalty she feels toward the people who took her in and helped her heal. In the midst of it all is Iri's best friend, Fiske, a man who sees her as a threat but also does his best to protect her from the other Riki who struggle to accept the outsider who has infiltrated their community.

Wow! I'm honestly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. I struggled a bit at the beginning to figure out what was going on, but it quickly became clear and then I was hooked. Eelyn is one of the strongest characters I've read about this year, a highly trained warrior who has no qualms about slitting a man's throat or running a sword through someone's heart. But Eelyn isn't just a grizzled warrior. She's also a teenage girl who misses her family. Who struggles to come to terms with the fact that the brother she thought was dead is living happily with the enemy. Who feels bound by the customs she grew up with but is maybe realizing that the differences between the Riki and the Aska are smaller than she thought. Eelyn's reaction to essentially becoming a servant is as realistic as it could be. I was worried that we'd have a touch of Stockholm Syndrome, but the Riki who take her in seem, for the most part, to be genuinely kind and to honestly want to keep her safe.

And can we talk about Fiske for a second? He's all powerful warrior one minute and then lovingly helping out his mom and protecting Eelyn the next. The slow burn as Fiske and Eelyn realized their feelings for each other just about murdered me, but I'll die happy. It was such a sweet romance in such a violent book.

I received a free advance copy of Sky in the Deep from the publisher (via NetGalley) in exchange for my honest review. Sky in the Deep releases on April 24, 2018.

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.

Wow. Sky in the Deep was stunning. I knew absolutely nothing about Vikings coming into this book so it took me a few chapters to get into it and make sense of the fighting. Once I was hooked, I could not put it down. Sky in the Deep is a beautifully written story full of warriors, love, family and loss. Eelyn is one kickass heroine. There were times the story made my heart ache in my chest while other moments were so warm and tender it brought a tear to my eye. I am also really enjoying the recent number of authors who are taking on the topics of hate and prejudice in all its forms. I will definitely be on the look our for what Adrenne Young does next!

Full review will be live on my blog at www.readandwander.com within the week before the book is released.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press Wednesday Books for the privilege of reading and review Sky in the Deep!

First and foremost, than you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for allowing me to read and review this early! I always love and appreciate the chance to review books early. Second, I want to throw out that no one is more disappointed here than I am. I had such high hopes for this and the reviews from other bloggers made me actually jump with joy when I received the email saying I got this. But, as you can tell from my less than stellar rating, there were some problems.

Let's start with what I did like; the characters and the writing. I don't necessarily know if I liked Eelyn on her own, but I liked her interactions with other characters. I really like Inge and Halvard, and I liked the way Eelyn was with them through the ending of the book. Seeing Eelyn's relationship with Iri, who was half Aska and half Riki, was really interesting. It was like their relationship was a direct reflection of the book as a whole. The romance that was blossoming between Fiske and Eelyn was probably this book's saving grace to me because at one point I was only reading to see how this would play out. And I'm sure a lot of people are going to gripe about the fact that she's falling in love with her captor but it wasn't a Stockholm Syndrome thing at all. It seems weird, but I think the only characters I did like were the Riki characters.

The writing was great. It was beautiful and intricate and I think had this been a different book I could have really liked this author. Depending on what her next book is I'll definitely be giving her another chance. I think when it came to this book it was more content that I disliked than it was anything else.

Now on to what I didn't like; the plot and pacing. Here's the thing, the book starts out fast. Like right in the first three or four chapters you're thrust into battle with Eelyn and she sees her brother and then she's kidnapped. And that's it. That's basically the most exciting thing about this book aside from the romance aspect. I remember I was exactly 25% through and all I could think was "I'm literally so bored". This book was like 10% fighting and romance and interesting bits and 90% just pointless conversations, garlic crushing, and walking. The pacing was wildly off the mark and it meant that all the action was clustered in the beginning and ending of the book, making the whole middle super boring aside from like two or three pages.

I can't express to you how boring this book was. The only reason I gave it two stars instead of one was because I liked the romance and the characters and I finished it just to see how it ended for them. The third clan, the Herja, are played up to be these ghosts that just slip into the camps and kill everyone and leave and you're left thinking this is some supernatural clan of actual ghosts. But you never learn anything about them! Like nothing at all. They just fight them, that's it. The one thing that could have been interesting is instead ignored and forgotten.

Be advised that this is a standalone and thus there isn't some major cliffhanger ending, but I kind of wish there was because then the ending would have actually been interesting. I'm actually really proud of myself for pushing through with this and finishing it for this review. I'm glad so many people were obsessed with this but it just wasn't for me and I'm really sad about it, I wanted to be wowed but this book just really missed the mark.

I loved the influence by the Celtics and Vikings and I really enjoyed this book. One of the only faults it has is that it ended.
Eelyn is strong, battle proven and loyal to her family and clan. I loved the beginning of the book as we were immediately thrown into the battle but still got to see how Eelyn is characterwise and what is important to her so we can care for her and her friend Myra.
I really enjoyed following her journey and I’m thankful for this book because it gave me back the hope that characters who focus on their honour a lot can be great and clever characters. I’ve often read characters who act quite stupid just to be honourable and not only endanger their own life (because who cares) but that of others, too and oftentimes without a good enough reason (for me at least).
Eelyn had a reason to prefer death over losing her honour and I could totally understand where she was coming from. The worldbuilding, their culture and the differences and similarities between the two clans were quite interesting and I would have loved to go even more in-depth.
Eelyn coming to terms with what happened and what is in her immediate future was done brilliantly and I loved her struggling and her determination not to give and not to forgive were quite realistic.
The family dynamics were another part I really liked. Her fragile relationship with her brother, her slowly warming heart to the little kid … were beautiful to witness. Also, her relationship with her best friend Myra and her Dad felt raw and real.
A lot of the characters were interesting, all very different and with their very own struggles, hopes and dreams.
Again, the atmosphere was great and I would have liked the book to be a bit longer so we had more time to really explore not only the world and culture but the people and their feelings more. This book really gripped me and I can only recommend it!

This book is filled with incredibly worldbuilding, and that was my favorite part of this story. There was so much thought put into the different cultures in the book and everything they did.
I also really enjoyed the main character. She is such a complex person and also such a badass.

The only fault I found (and it wasn’t much of one) is the pacing throughout the 2nd half of the story. There was a lot of time just spent talking and explaining without much else all of a sudden, as well as a Love subplot that emerged very suddenly. I know this is YA, and I definitely saw the love subplot coming, but I felt like they went straight from no attraction to declaring their love.

5 stars!

*

Sky in the Deep is an incredible and refreshing YA Fantasy novel. The world-building is fascinating and very well-done, with a setting that works great as a background for an intriguing, tense, and action-filled plot. The characters are layered and complex and, with a fast pace, it’s a delight to read about them struggling with honor, betrayal, and love.

Adrienne Young shows so much promise with this debut novel. The writing is engaging and really hooks you in right from the start. The characters, even being Vikings, are somehow super relatable. There is so much emotion in each page and character interaction that makes it hard to put this novel down.

I am!!! in love!!!! Sky in the Deep blew past any and all kind of expectations I had. This is an amazing standalone story that captures your attention right from the very first chapter. The action and set up to the story are amazing, and the story only gets better the more you read.

Eelyn, as a narrative voice, is wonderful. She’s a great main character and it’s really easy to connect with her and feel her pain. Her character development throughout the book is also very well-done, as she struggles and changes her perspective. That can also be said for all side-characters: they’re all interesting in their own right.

Action is a really big part of the novel and it’s all so well-written. The fast pace and, at times, slow build up to it is so so so good. There’s also a slight sprinkle of romance that works really well with the overall plot, although the focus of the novel is very much on familial relationships and the rising tensions between clans.

In the end, Sky in the Deep is a unique and lovely read. The plot is very well written and developed, the characters are easy to connect and relate to, and the struggles the characters face are interesting. The setting only helps to bring it all together, and the sweet ending is the perfect way to balance out and contrast a rather striking beginning. Definitely recommend this to all Fantasy fans, especially those looking for something new!

I freaking loved this so much! From the very first pages I was completely hooked.

This is a Viking-inspired tale. We have two clans that have completely opposite believes. Our MC, Eelyn, is a warrior from a clan called Aska, who worship the god Sigr. According to the legend, it’s Sigr’s will, that the Aska fight their enemies – the Riki, who worship the goddess Thora – every five years. The Aska and the Riki have been hating each other due to their beliefs for as long as they can remember.

During one of those battles that happen every 5 years, Eelyn sees her brother, Iri, who she thought to be dead, fighting as a Riki and soon after, she is captured by the Riki. She is kept as a slave by Iri’s new Riki family, that try to protect her and let her escape. In the beginning, she doesn’t understand how it’s possible that her brother turned himself into a Riki, but the longer she lives with them, the more difficult it becomes to hate them. Until one day, a clan that has been feared for long appears and does more damage than it ever did before, killing both Aska and Riki people. Will that mutual enemy be enough to break such an ancient blood feud?

This world is fantastic, the characters are fantastic, the writing is fantastic… I absolutely loved everything about it! Where the hell do I start?! Ahhh!!

Okay… I’m calm now. Let’s start with Eelyn. I LOVE Eelyn. She truly is a badass heroine. She is fierce, strong, independent and yet… Broken. She lost her mother, and until recently believed she had lost her brother too. She is captured, destitute of everything she believed in. She feels betrayed by her brother who left her; she feels anger for leaving him still alive, even tho she thought him dead; she feels betrayed by her own beliefs; she feels relieved for Iri to be alive; she feels sad, alone and afraid because the world is not what she believed it was. She feels everything and all at once. It was breathtaking, and I couldn’t help but deeply connect with her. Ahh… I absolutely love Eelyn!

But she was not the only character I fell deeply for. The whole family she stays with is just so amazing! Not because they are anything special, but because they felt so real! They didn’t treat her bad – even tho other Riki people would – but they didn’t treat her in any special way. They are careful and the connection slowly starts fortifying. They are a family that love each other and that would give anything for each other. It was impossible not to love them. Even tho I did hate some of them at the beginning, they just grew on me. Especially Fiske, whom I now love!

The world was fantastic and very well written. It was totally believable and I was sucked right in. The writing made everything so realistic! Everything was incredibly detailed – the sound of the sea and of the battles, the smell of the houses and food being done… It made me feel like I was inside the world.

It wasn’t as action-y as I initially thought, but it for sure had enough of it. It had amazingly described battles, with some gruesome scenes and a lot of blood and dead bodies… It was intense and yet it was quite a slow-burning book. We get to see Eelyn’s life change – everything she believes in is turned upside down and we slowly get to understand the characters and the world.

It does have some romance, which only added more to the story. I really loved how it was slow-burning, how we get to see everything evolving right before our eyes. It was so freaking sweet!

This was such a believable story! It’s heartbreaking, emotional, and it had the occasional gruesome part, which I live for. It was completely gripping, full of amazing characters and a world that I absolutely love and need to read more about. I never thought I would love a Viking-inspired book so much!

I can hardly believe this was a debut novel… This is an amazing fantasy book! It’s meaningful, talks about honor, beliefs, friendship, and love in a unique way, while having some bloody battles on the side. It was breathtaking, gripping and exciting! I would 100% recommend it!

This needs to be a series. Tell me there are more! Viking power! I loved it, my kid loved it.

Sky in the Deep was a great light fantasy set in Scandinavia. I enjoyed every aspect of this book and it deserves all the hype it’s been getting.

I liked being in Eelyn’s mind. She’s a fierce and loyal warrior of the Aska clan with a very obvious fighter mentality. Her character was drawn out very well, I especially liked when she finds out about her brother and the struggle to love him but also feel betrayed spans nearly the whole book. It’s not an easy thing to get over and Eelyn is faced with a LOT of conflicting emotions throughout. Loyalty to her people, what she thinks is right and the unmistakable pull of the Riki family. Her internal battle is a long one and I like the way she manages to still hold to her beliefs while embracing new ones.

There’s a bit of romance in this but it’s super slow burn and I actually had no idea it was coming until like halfway through the book. It’s minimal and doesn’t take away from the story but the build up is perfect. Having not read the blurb prior to diving into this, I actually had no idea there was romance at all haha. Young keeps it lowkey but also angsty at the right times. I’m on board with this ship.

One of my favourite themes in Sky in the Deep was the familial aspect. Bonds to family and bonds to clan were explored deeply here as Eelyn struggled to come to terms with her brother fighting with the Riki. He’s fighting for the enemy but he’s still her brother. Does loving him mean she accepts him as Riki and does that in turn betray her family back home and the Aska? The Riki are not so different from the Aska in their way of life, and they too have loving families as Eelyn witnesses first hand. I loved the dynamic between Eelyn and her brother’s Riki family.

Young has put just the right amount of action and detail into this to make it a juicy fantasy but not too much that it should be stomach turning. There’s lots of axe throwing, sword slicing, guts spilling out as well as stitches (without anaesthesia back in those days mind you) and resetting bones right on the spot (this did kind of creep me out). These are people born to fight, male and female alike, a weapon put into their hand as soon as they can walk so it was fitting. I was curious about this ruthless clan and wish there had been more about their origins though.

That being said can we talk about the male and female equality in this book? It was great, both genders can fight, are EXPECTED to both contribute and both can take positions of leadership too. Hallelujah. Women who’ve had children can choose to take care of them but can also take up the blade again if they feel like it. I’m here for that.

The writing in this is great, it flows well in a sophisticated manner. You don’t realise how much you’ve read (and you’ll fly through this) because Young’s style is so effortless you take in the descriptions so quickly, the images easily conjured in the mind and you don’t want to stop.

Sky in the Deep is kind of one of those stories that you know how it ends. You kind of get the general idea of where it’s heading based on the blurb, but you’re there for the ride. Which is sublimely executed. It’s one helluva ride with lots to see and learn along the way. As they say, it’s all about the journey right?