It was a battle ridden love story. Let's make that a genre!
I was over the moon with Eelyn and Fiske's blossoming love. My favorite part is when Eelyn tells him, "I don't belong to you" and Fiske says "Yes you do and I belong to you." Cue my squeal of joy and delight!
Then the whole story line with Iri. I teared up when he reunited his father. This book while bloody and violent (and this woman LOVES a bloody fight scene), was all heart with all the feels.
Loved it!

This book. This book HAS ME IN ITS CLUTCHES AND WON'T LET GO. I finished reading it yesterday, thought about it all day, and fell asleep thinking about it. I woke up this morning thinking about it. Now as I sit here, I'm still lost in my head. Wandering the battlefield in Aurvanger, and listening to the axes clang and the warriors roar. Feeling the crisp, briny breeze blowing through my hair from the fjord, and the wintry air stinging my cheeks on the snowy mountainside. The world was so richly depicted, with such precision, that it becomes home. Your mind takes up residence there and holds you hostage.

Adrienne Young is an exciting new voice in the fantasy genre. Her words are evocative and powerful, connecting you to the pulse of the character's hearts and the deep reaches of their minds. Making you feel things you hadn't anticipated feeling, and aren't entirely sure you want to feel. Nothing is glossed over, or romanticized about Viking life, yet I loved it all the more for its unmerciful honesty.

Sky in the Deep is about a war that spans centuries and generations. It nurtures a hatred between the Riki and the Aska clans with no conceivable end in sight. Every five years like clockwork they meet, and prepare for the eventuality that their loved ones may be leaving them for the afterlife. Eelyn is one of the fierce who fight to defend her people, and uphold their honor. She's raised to be strong, and her pride for the Aska courses through every inch of her veins. Her strength and courage will soon be all she has to hold on to, and not once does she let it slip. I loved Eelyn so, so much. The betrayal that broke her heart laid heavy on my chest, and made me suffer right along with her. She brushes off stab wounds, arrow punctures, countless indignities, and the loss of her freedom. But it was the betrayal that wounded her so visibly, more than anything else could.

In the last fighting season, she lost her beloved brother, Iri. The memory of his broken body beneath the cliffs feeds the fire burning in her blood. Vengeance sits at the end of her battle axe, but nothing soothes the ache that's left from his loss. The last thing she expected was to see him once again. Walking, breathing, and possibly most shocking of all, fighting with their sworn enemy against their people. When she sees him run out of the fog and lock eyes with her, she has no idea in that moment what his return will bring about.

In her confusion, Eelyn is captured, and her life is forever changed while living with Iri's new family. The family that took her and her father's place. Eventually, when she can see past her bitterness and anger, she faces some hard truths about her way of life, and the prejudices she's been raised on. I'm going to be honest, I can't say that I completely forgive her brother. For the most part, I understand it, and even agree with his ability to see past the old beliefs. It's even admirable. What I can't wrap my mind around is that he turned against his family and clansmen.

Fiske seems harsh and brutal at first, certainly not someone I could imagine ever pairing with Eelyn. But as time wears on, you see that his actions are motivated by his need to protect Iri and the rest of his family. If her identity is discovered, no one's safety is guaranteed. She suffers cruelty there, but also sees the love. The families. Eelyn begins to thaw, her hardened heart softening a little bit more every day. But when a powerful enemy rains terror and destruction upon the land, their plan may be their salvation or the end of life as they know it.

There's no way I can properly explain how incredible this story is. I had so many overwhelming emotions for much of the book. So many!!! One thing I have to mention is how much I LOVED the gender equality of Eelyn's people. Men and women were trained side by side, and never once was a female coddled or believed to be less worthy. The fight scenes....mah gawd...I was sitting on the edge of my seat seeing the epicness go down. Fingernails were chewed, reading position shifted repeatedly as the action escalated. All I can say is, this is going on my yearly favorite list. It was that good. Now excuse me while I go obsess a little bit more, and nurse my book hangover.

Sky in Deep was almost there for me. I would have enjoyed more character development and less gore but in these ways, it was a perfect book for fans of the Vikings television series. I like that it was a stand alone but would enjoy hearing more about some of the side characters.

What a refreshing read! The main character Eelyn, is a strong woman who is battling between family, love, and customs. Plenty of action, and romance!

I buddy read this book with the super amazing Amy from <a href="https://amagicalworldofwords.blogspot.com/">A Magical World of Words</a>. We had a lot of fun chatting about this book and you can check out her review <a href="https://amagicalworldofwords.blogspot.com/2018/04/sky-in-deep-by-adrienne-young.html">here</a>

3.5 stars

<blockquote><b>“Believe what you like, Eelyn. The bear is an omen.” The words came slowly on her thin lips. “And omens often bring change.”</b></blockquote>

I think I went into Sky in the Deep expecting to completely fall in love with everything... And while I <i>did</i> enjoy the book a lot, I think the hype got to me and it wasn't the five star read that I wanted it to be. The book hooked me with the opening chapter but I felt it perhaps couldn't live up to this for the rest of the book.

It's a <b>Viking inspired tale, full of ancient feuds between clans and Gods</b>. It's bloody and brutal and almost everything I could ask from a debut YA Fantasy:

• A great world that felt like a true and authentic Viking world
• Great use of language which again, felt very authentic
• A back story including clan warfare and feuds.
• Equality on the battle field between men and women
• Unflinching action and brutality when I didn't think that the book would go there
• A slowburn, hate-to-love romance

However for some reason I really struggled to connect with the characters and events that should have had me holding my breath or <i>feeling</i> just left a void. <b>I got the essence of what was going on, but everything just felt too perfunctory.</b>

Eelyn was technically a great female lead - a little headstrong, a whole lot determined and virtually fearless. She had great family and values and fought for what she believed in.

Fiske was a little dry for my taste - I picked the love interest immediately and really struggled to get on board with the romance, even though it was some of my favourite things in a romance!

There were a few lovely descriptions, especially when the harsh winter set in to the land, but I did feel as though <b>the writing was a little expository and the interactions between characters felt too superficial</b> and the pacing felt a little off, starting with a huge battle and ending with a huge battle but the middle being filled with random incidents and a couple of escape attempts surrounded by everyday life in the Viking world. I felt like the plot wasn't propelled forward by much more than random incidents occurring to Eelyn and that we spent so much time 'warming up' to the world that the important stuff that happened about 75% into the book was too quickly swept under the rug and neatly resolved in such a short time.

<b>I did really enjoy the representation of family and the fact that family doesn't necessarily always have to be blood</b>. There was also a pretty fierce female friendship that just needed to be fleshed out a little more. The overall message that underneath everything else we are all the same is also an important one.

<blockquote><b>I reminded myself of who I was— an Aska warrior who’d lost everything. A girl with fire in her blood.</b></blockquote>

<b>The premise, the intentions and the bare bones of this one are good but I just feel that if it had been developed and cultivated a little more, this could have been a 5 star for me.</b>

An unusual era and society for a YA novel, that places an anachronistic young woman in a Viking-like drama of clan warfare. The anachronism of a strong, defiant warrior-woman and the heady if facile romance can be forgiven for the unique and engaging adventure.

Had you asked me what I thought about SKY IN THE DEEP in the beginning, I would've said, 'my favourite kind of YA fantasy, kick ass lady heroine, mysterious circumstances surrounding her brother's death, prisoner in an enemy camp, woo, four stars'. But the further along this story went, the more typical the plot, the more transparent the direction ("connection") of the characters, the more banal the events leading up to the actual point of it all, and the meaty substance of this violent Viking-esque world with a five-year cycle of warring clans instead felt.. not so meaty after all?

There were a lot of interesting aspects of this world that I definitely expected to see expanded (hello dreams and bear and gods or whatever?) and instead weren't. There were certain tropes that, yeah, okay, are not particularly unique for YA, but I'm okay with that if it's done well, but they were never developed enough for me to feel connected to. And while I was really on board with this kick ass chick and her strong convictions, clinging to who she is when cut off from everything she knows, she spent more than half the book crying and constantly re-aggravating a shoulder wound. Which we got to hear all about all the time. Not to mention this big epic battle at the end.. wasn't?

I appreciate what Young was trying to do here and I think it's a different enough flavour that fans of this genre will enjoy it (and obviously already are) but I think this story would've been better served as a duology in order to flesh out the world, the culture, the characters, and definitely the romance. I think it's a good effort from a debut author though, and it easily could've been a win had the overall story been as strong as it was coming out of the gate, and I'll be curious to see what she tries next.

2.5 stars

I would probably rate this more in the 3.5 range closer to a 4 star. So, I have a lot of thoughts on this book...i will try to make them coherent, but I'm still not sure how I feel about this book. The good part is that I was interested enough in this book to read it in one sitting. And that says a lot. The writing was clean and nice, the world building was enough to picture, but not too wordy.

There were times in this book that were a little too graphic and gory for me. I get that they are fighting clans and battles and such. But some of it was a little unnecessarily bloody for me. And some of the scenes were a little too graphic...and not totally necessary. And then it felt like it swayed hard trying to have some tender moments that didn't make the cut for me.

Ok, I'm not saying it was totally predictable, but there were definite lines of being predictable and kind of leading to where it was all going.. Most of the book we had been reading about feelings and such, and felt the last part didn't lag at all, which was o.k. But was surprised that it all wrapped up so quickly. Also, my most annoying part of this book was the random celtic/norse words...with no way to find out what they meant??? I mean couldn't you have put a guide somewhere as to what these words meant? That was super annoying. If the majority of your book is in one language and you use different words from other languages, just put a guide in there, it helps us all!

So, part of me wants to say it was a good book, but here's my struggle, the people are in a primitive lifestyle, they are all clans and have a massive hatred for each other. Yet, they can all work it out and get along? I get the view of we are all alike and have lives, so why can't we all just get along blank statements...but you're expecting ax wielding warriors to have a change of heart...and i get the whole survival thing, I'm following...but still some of it was a little Pocahontas for me. I get to a degree about Iri, and honestly that part made some sense. And I followed the progression of Eelyn and got it from her, but I don't know about the rest...

For me the book was like Pocahontas meets Brave mixed in with Braveheart fight scenes. Overall it was an enjoyable book, I finished it, maybe not a favorite, but a fine read and would recommend.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC!

This book will no doubt make many YA readers very satisfied. The writing is solid and as a reader I felt situated in time and place, a good amount of action in the beginning and in the end. Likeable and relateable characters, but I wasn't feeling that I was presented with anything new.

An exciting, original story about vikings. Sky in the Deep is a great action-packed standalone fantasy novel which leaves you wanting another one.

Sky in the Deep was a fun read--it's quick and light and I enjoyed it all!

4.5 stars

This is a viking inspired tale. Eelyn is devoted to her clan, the Aska. She's a fierce warrior and fights against the Riki, their enemy. One day, she's on the battlefield and thinks she sees her brother, who dies 5 years prior, fighting with the enemy. She is then captured by the Riki, when she was trying to follow her brother, Iri. She then learns that there's two sides to every story and maybe they are not so different. 

This story caught me from the very beginning and didn't let go. Adrienne Young has a way of capturing you in the story. I read this book so fast, maybe 4 hours. It's a fast paced book that made you feel and see what they did. There is a lot of action and it is actually how this book starts out. 

I loved Eelyn so much. She's strong and loyal to the bones. She doesn't understand what Iri is thinking and feels betrayed. She sticks to her beliefs but isn't dumb enough to see that things are not always black and white. Her character really grows because she starts to see how the Riki are more like the Aska than anyone thought. They are people, they are human. She learns to forgive and trust. 

I really wish that we got a dual POV in this book. I would have loved to read what Fiske was thinking throughout the story. I loved his character so much. He comes off as cold and uncaring from the beginning, but there's so much more to him. I also loved Halvard. He had a big part in helping Eeyln, in more ways than one. 

This was a great read. I really liked it and the story. I love how it's not romance driven either. It's a slow love. I think that I like this so much because it's a stand alone! It's so rare. 

I want to thank Netgalley and the publisher, St. Martin's Press for an e-ARC of this book to review. 

You can see my review at my blog: Books Are The New Black

The main character, Eelyn, is an Aska. The Aska and the Riki meet for battle every five years, it is understood. Aska is taken by the brother she thought to be dead to the Riki village, and must live as their prisoner. You probably already know that though if you read the synopsis.

I think what really spoke to me about this book was the deeper meaning behind it. Equality, understanding and accepting cultural differences, working together to accomplish one common goal are just a few. It’s just a really wonderful novel with an amazing deeper meaning.

I felt like I was doing more than reading. I felt like this novel really helped open my mind to a multitude of possibilities and helped to make me more understanding of others.

I would recommend this novel to anyone, really. There’s minimal romantic interest vibes so it’s not super mushy. It’s not all gore either though. The main fighting sequences are the beginning and the end. Although they are super graphic, they are detailed enough to fully comprehend the battle situation.

"Ond Eldr." Breathe fire.

* * * * *
5 / 5

Sky in the Deep features my favourite kind of woman - the warrior woman, the woman with a sword and an axe and a glare that could shatter empires. Eelyn is tough, bitter, discerning, and sensitive upon occasion. She is raised in the pseudo-viking Aska Clan, bitter rivals to the Riki people with whom they meet in battle every five years. Five years ago, Eelyn's brother Iri died on the battlefield, leaving her and her father alone; today she stands shield to shield with her friend when she encounters a ghost on the bloody field.

"I tried to remember who I was. Strong. Brave. Fierce. Sure. I tried to summon her to me - that Eelyn who would choose her people over anything else"

Captured by Iri and his new brother Fiske, Eelyn is taken as a slave to the homes of the Riki. Whilst Sky in the Deep starts strong with heavy action, this middle section is rather slow but I found it very beautiful. Others may be bored by the slow building up of relationships, of Eelyn interacting with the Riki village people and weaving baskets, but I found Young's writing so delicate and enveloping that I hardly cared that we hadn't seen a knife for fifty pages. I also appreciated how much research seemed to have gone into creating this Viking-inspired world - I'm hardly an expert on Viking village culture and lifestyle, but it definitely felt authentic.

Then the violence comes thundering back and the emotion in this book is incredible. The battle scenes were well-written, the tempo excellent, and the plot managed to surprise me - I wasn't entirely sure where it was headed, and I was intrigued. I must say I wasn't the world's biggest fan of the romance, but I appreciated that it was subtle and as tasteful as it could have been. I much preferred Eelyn's relationships with her family - her newly undead brother, her father, her shield-sister - and how her mindset changed and developed. I adored how myths of Young's creation were woven into the story, how Eelyn's devotion to her god was explored.

"Vegr yfir fjor." Honour above life.

Steeped in history and myth and blood, Sky in the Deep was a beautiful novel that I thoroughly recommend!

Sky in the Deep tells the story of Eelyn who is a part of the Aska clan. She's spent her whole life being taught to hate the rival Riki clan only to find out her brother who she thought dead for 5 years is very much alive and well. And fighting with the Riki.

Eelyn is determined to get to the bottom of the mystery surrounding her brother's "death" and how he came to fight on the enemy's side.

Eelyn is a B A D A S S. She will not hesitate to cut a throat or throw an axe and take someone down. Side note - Tough heroines tend to sometimes be tough to connect to. But I truly adored her character. She was so fierce in everything she did, everything she thought, and in her love for her family.

And when she tries to speak with her brother after seeing him on the battle field, she winds up getting caught and trapped in the Riki's village. Where she meets Fiske.

Fiske
Fiske
F I S K E

Who is Fiske? Oh he's just the boy that helps teach Eelyn that maybe the hatred their clans have had throughout their lives isn't so valid, who shows her how their clans are actually quite similar. He's the rival boy she's supposed to hate but who forces her to slowly open her heart.

“I don’t belong to you.” I repeated the words I said to him the night he pulled the stitches from my arm. This time, to lift the weight that pressed down onto him and silence whatever words were whispering in his mind. And because a small part of me still wanted them to be true.
“Yes, you do.” He pulled the hair back out of my face so he could look at me. “Like I belong to you.”

I LOVED FISKE. I LOVED Fishe and Elyn together. The subtle forbidden romance between these two made the book for me. The writing during their moments together was just so so beautifully done.

"And when he kissed me again, the seconds slowed. They stretched out and made more time. I felt his body against mine, unraveling everything else that was between us and my soul unwound, threading itself to his. And I let it. I gave myself to him. Because I was already his."

So why not 5 stars? While I really did enjoy this, I just need a little more.
More romance.
More dialogue.
More character interactions.
More battles.

I really think if this was dual POV or maybe just a tadddd longer it could have propelled this book to epic for me. But Adrienne Young is definitely someone to look out for and an author I will most certainly read more from.

Many thanks to St. Martin's Press for receiving this title via Netgalley. All opinions remain my own.

I rather stumbled over this title but was totally intrigued by the cover and desciption. VIKINGS? WOW! That's rare.

Somehow I got the idea that there would me magic but there was none. Instead I found myself in a world of vikings and rituals and religious beliefs that were foreign to me but fascinated me all the more. I am not usually the type for books without magic or anything similar. I guess that is because I love to be surprised and no other element has the potential to surprise me in the way magic does.

But this title made me turn the pages without any magic in it. It never got boring. There was so much haeppening! I rather dreaded the end because this is a standalone and I did not want it to be over. I have the feeling the the romance was evolving slowly but somehow I must have missed the point when love finally took over. Don't get me wrong. There is absolutley no romance overdose in this book. It is rather refreshing and the focus is on the main story whichis absolutley brilliant by the way.

The Riki and the Aska people hate each other to death and regularly go to war against each other. The main character Eelyn is a warrior and sees her believed to be dead brother fighting for the other clan, gets captured and discovers that there is more at stake. In order to survive the clans need to be a united front against what's coming at them. It seems impossible and that makes it all the more exciting. Well... and there is a bit of romance.

WOW!
I thought this would be ok, I did not think this would be amazing. In the end, it was not just amazing, it was heartbreakingly beautiful, powerful, moving, soulful, action packed, exciting...
I could go on for quite sometime. As far as YA goes, this is definitely going to be on my favorites for this year.
It was pure Viking inspired magic with plenty of feels! I was captivated by this story from the first to last page and now that I am done with my kindle arc I cannot wait to re-read it in its physical format.

The Blurb:
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.

Let's start with the battle scenes. They were intense. The author did not shy away from the reality of battle. They were slightly gruesome scenes, there was plenty of moments that kept me on the edge of my seat suffering from anxiety while my heart beat faster. And yet... it was all also somewhat poetic. Adrienne Young has a beautiful style of writing and I was captivated by it.

Eelyn was a true bad-ass heroine. She and her ax can do some damage. She was not a heroine because she was a special snow flake with special powers like so many ya female characters out there. She was just Eelyn. And Eylyn has learnt to fight and has fought her whole life.

Fiske had me at hello 😃
He was very much like Eeylyn, a fighter and a survivor. Just sadly for them, one that fought for the enemy. Fiske was given a difficult choice, and through out he tried to make the best he could of the situation.

The slow burning romance between the two main characters was perfectly written. Everything happened at the right time and for the right reasons. LOVED IT.

Another great thing were all the family dynamics. There was a great emphasis on family and friendships and it made the whole story even more appealing.

Have I convinced you to go read it yet?
If you like action packed stories and a heavy dose of romance, you are bound to love this book! GO READ!

While I enjoyed the setting and the narration of the book, I wish there had been more action. This is a Viking novel after all, but it was mostly filled with home life scenes of gathering food, mending clothes or preparing for a ritual. I had anticipated more violence and drama than what was offered

I didn’t know what to think when I first got this book, since at the time I was seeing a lot of hype for this one, but it was very cryptic since no one was really dropping hints as to why it was so amazing and awesome, when I was able to sit down and start reading it, I saw where the hype was coming from.

Sky in the Deep starts with an action filled first chapter, a bloody action scene ending with a shocker, Eelyn believes she sees her dead brother alongside the enemy clan. Despite telling her father and her friend what she saw, she is dismissed and told that it was their God blessing her. Despite being brushed of Eelyn knows what she saw and is determined to confirm it for herself. She sees her brother again and this time trails him despite being told to ignore him and act like she never saw him. She is caught and taken prisoner by the Riki.

Eelyn is a strong but stubborn character. She is determined to find out how and why her brother betrayed her, the Aska, why he didn’t return. He tries to explain to her what happened but she doesn’t want to believe it, she can’t believe what she is hearing since all her life she’s been raised to know that the Riki are the enemy, they are heartless and brutal and that they would never show pity on their enemy.

The majority of the story takes place in the Riki village and Eelyn fighting the people around her along with a couple of failed escape attempts which in turn makes things harder for her. While being with the Riki clan her pride and her honor start to wear down and she starts seeing similarities between the two clans, that they aren’t to different from each other, even their calm ritual to honor the dead are very alike despite different gods and the other side of the history between the clans.

A common enemy between the clans arrives and Eelyn knows that the Riki are not strong enough to fight them alone and she proposes that the Riki and the Aska fight alongside each other and put their differences aside to save both clans. Eelyn offers to be the spokesperson to convene the Aska to work alongside the Riki. Tensions arise once again with Eelyn returns to her clan and for once Eelyn sees how her own views have changed since being with the Riki.

There is a romance between Eelyn and a member of the Riki clan, but it is a super slow burn, you don’t see any sparks till near the end of the book.

Adrienne confirmed that there will be a companion novel due out in 2019, I’m hoping it will be from Fiskes POV.

On the heels of an upsurge in the popularity of vikings comes this story about a young, female warrior trying to find her place in the world. The original premise of the book immediately pulled me into the story, and while we don't stay with that mystery or that dilemma for very long, by that point I was interested in the story and in finding out how the characters lived and why they were fighting. While the climax and ending were very predictable and the big bad guys were a little too one-dimensional for a book whose message was about finding understanding with the enemy, I still enjoyed the journey.

Full review to come on the blog.