Thank you to NetGalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I am late reviewing this book. Part of the problem is I realized it was a companion to "Sky in the Deep" and I am physically unable to read things out of order...it freaks me out. So I finally read "Sky in the Deep" (easily 4 1/2 stars) and jumped into "The Girl the Sea Gave Back". This book starts about ten years after SITD and we meet new characters which threw me off a bit. There are appearances of characters from the first book which I always appreciate seeing as a reader. This book seemed less world building and plot driven than the first book. So it moved a lot slower for me. I enjoyed the dual narrative because I always like multi narrators. However this is definitely what I would call a character driven story. We know the characters and what motivates them and this is a trip to their self-discovery of who they really are. I enjoy the Viking feel of these books and could easily read more like this. There is a thread of a romantic plot as well but it seemed like it wasn't realized.

I have mixed emotions about this book.
As with any sequel I am always hesitant because let's face it, most things just don't live up to the hype. I loved the first book; it is why I was so excited to get the second.
And while I enjoy the complex story line, the gods, the struggle for peace. I was not a fan of the pacing. Everything got tidied up in a neat bow it felt like way too quickly. It left me feeling rushed and like something was missing.

Such a different world to go into. I loved it and I loved the plot. Adrienne Young always writes amazing stories and world.

Thank you so much to the publisher for approving me. This was a DNF for me, I suppose since I never got back into it and I’m just updating this to move this off my shelf.

Adrianne Young is one of my favorite authors and is an automatic buy for anything she writes. Going back and reading her earlier work shows how much she has grown as an author. I really enjoyed the continuation of the storyline from Sky in the Deep. I can honestly say I had no clue where she was going to go with this since Sky in the Deep wrapped everything up so well at the end. But the story brought back Halvard and brought in a new character, Tova. I was a little confused with all the names and places, but it didn't keep me from truly enjoying the story. Thank you, NetGalley for the eARC. Better late to the game on reading this one than never. 4 stars.

I loved the first book I read by this author and I hoped that I would get the same reaction with this one. And while I didn't love this one I did enjoy reading it as I love love reading YA about strong female characters and the viking like setting didn't hurt either.

This was my first Adrienne Young book, and unfortunately it left me underwhelmed and wanting so much more from the story. I didn't feel I had a strong sense of the characters, which is a make-or-break for my reading tastes. That said, I will gladly give some of Young's other books a chance!

This title was the first for me from this author. I don't normally like books set at sea but this was such fantastic adventure! I will def be trying more from this author. The only thing I would say was it wasnt long enough.

I enjoyed this story, well thought out characters and lore. I fail for not realizing this was a sequel, but it honestly wasn't necessary to read the first book to follow the storyline. Unfortunately I found some of the time jumps disjointing. While I can understand why that style of writing was chosen, it disrupted the flow of the story for me.

If Adrienne Young does one thing well, it's creating a whole new world ready for escape as soon as you read the first page. If she does one thing *extremely* well, it's writing action scenes. Tova is an outcast from her hometown, but she now lives with the Svell. She has a special ability to "cast stones" and see the future. She gets thrown into a war she has no stake in and ends up learning about her history throughout her adventures. I loved that the love aspect in this book was there, but no where near overwhelming and ultimately has a strong message of individualism and empowerment for girls.

Adrienne Young is one of my favorite YA authors & her books never fail to sweep me off of my feet, dragging me into her worlds almost instantly. Her writing is lush & descriptive, with an excellent eye for setting descriptions. The best part of this book were the characters. Halvard & Tova are real & believable, making mistakes & living their lives the best way they know how. Their world is brutal & violent but the humanity of the characters is what make this story so compelling. They explore identity, what it means to be a community, what constitutes an enemy, fate, and more. I loved this book!

It was nice to be propelled back into the world of Sky in the Deep in this second installment. While Eelyn and Fiske are more background characters in this novel, we do foucs on the new tribe born from the peace between Aska and Riki, and a new tribe threatening that peace, the Svell.

The world of story that Adrienne Young paints still has the same styling and feel as her debut. It felt like homecoming getting the characters from Sky in the Deep in a bit of a time-warp, while seeing how these warriors buried the hatchet and banded together to become a whole new tribe. And we see this all through Halvard's eyes, Fiske's younger brother now all grown up. Sad to say Fiske and Eelyn don't get much time in the spotlight in this novel as it is about Halvard's growth in becoming the chieftain of the tribe.

Tova is an outsider in the Svell tribe. Washed ashore as a baby and taken in, the Svell fear and despise her for she is a Truthtongue and can read the future in the stones. Tova's story fell a tad flat for me as the story thrusted this magic-like perspective into the narrative and it just threw me out of the novel when Tova would use her "gifts" to locate Halvard and give information to the Svell. The entire notion of a tribe, Tova's tribe, that can call upon the gift of sight just felt like a bit of a cop-out.

Fans of Sky in the Deep will enjoy learning what ended up happening at the end of the first novel as we do get those insights here in The Girl the Sea Gave Back. The sequel itself didn't live up to the standard of the first, and felt a little out in left field with a new conflict born for the sake of conflict. If you are looking for enjoyable fight scenes, Adrienne Young does not disappoint.

I love the vivid writing. This author is going to be a go to author for me. Her stories are always full of action and heart.

4 huge stars! A+ to the artist of this cover, I'd read it regardless of the synopsis. I was such a huge fan of the first novel so I enjoyed reading briefly about some of the previous characters and having this take place in the same world. I loved everything in this book- the romance, the battles and our heroine, Tova.
Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an unbiased review.

[edit]
The way Adrienne Young writes can easily be described as lyrical to me. When reading her books, they always feel like reading a dark fairy tale or a Brother's Grimm tale. It is a great fall feeling. I like how she handled the internal struggle of being an outcast in one's own home and dealing with the struggle of finding your place in the greater society. I found it interesting how she handled being rejected as soon as her abilities were no longer convenient for people at large. I would have loved more information about the magic system and how it ties into their way of life. I would have also preferred more information about the other clan referenced throughout the story and some more historical background concerning them.

I really liked that this is a continuation of Young's Sky in the Deep world, with crossovers from previous characters, but with exciting roles for secondary characters and brand new ones as well. Great plot!

I wasn't initially aware that this was a sequel to Sky in the Deep, though it's set years later. I liked Tova well-enough, and I liked the cameos by characters from Sky in the Deep, but I found that I couldn't connect as well to the characters in The Girl the Sea Gave Back. Adrienne Young is a good writer, and I look forward to reading more books from this author in the future.

The Girl the Sea Gave back has some really exciting fight scenes and the writing is pretty. However, that's really the most positive feedback I can give this one. I adored Sky in the Deep and was really looking forward to spending a day devouring The Girl the Sea Gave back, but I found it lacking. As beautiful as the writing was, it was really hard to follow. The world building was nearly nonexistent, there were too many characters but none of them were fully developed, and the plot was complicated and didn't seem to follow a clear path.

With that being said, I usually love Adrienne Young's books, and I will for sure continue to enjoy them, but this one just wasn't for me.

*Thanks to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for the complimentary copy for my honest review*

This was my first book by Adrienne Young and I was glad to know I didn't have to read Sky In The Deep before diving into this one. The writing style was good, the world-building was great, but I just felt like I was constantly waiting for something, anything to happen. It basically is all tied up until the ending which is great in some books but I didn't enjoy it in this one.

3.5./5 Stars. I loved the world-building, the interesting characters, and the plot. However, I felt like it ended way too quickly and I would have liked it more without the romance. Thank you for the free copy!