Although I'm giving this three stars just like Young's previous book, I do think that her writing has improved.

Her world-building is so promising and I love the influence of Nordic lore. The premise of this book was super promising and it was well built.

However, just like with the last book, the pacing was off for me. The ending was rushed and due to the weird pacing, it made me hard to connect to the characters.

That all being said, I will definitely give her next book a read, because I think she's a very promising author.

I just didn't really connect with this book. The main characters seemed flat, and I was never able to really feel invested in them. The world building wasn't thorough enough for me to feel like I had a good grasp of the setting. Everything just felt dull. In the end, I was left wondering what the point of reading this was.

The Girl The Sea Gave Back is such a wonderful companion book to Sky in the Deep.

Adrienne Young wrote another beautiful, bloody, fragile, viking story that is again full with themes of family, roots and war. But this book is also full of superstition, rune casting, seers and gods.

The story returns to the harsh world of Sky in the Deep and is told alternating between Halvard, who we met before as a child and is now a young man, and Tova, the mysterious girl the sea gave back and who has to find her place in this world of different clans and brutal fights.

I love how the reader sees the events unfold, told from Halvard's and Tova's point of view and how we get to meet Eelyn, Fiske, Iri and some other beloved characters again briefly but in special moments.
There is also a new clan, the mysterious and superstitious people of the Kyrr, who will play an important role and who are so intriguing.

Adrienne Young has woven a tale of fate, belief and of how important it is to know ones heritage and that found family can be just as important as true family.

The Girl The Sea Gave Back is a book that's as strong and compelling as Sky in the Deep without relying too heavy on Adrienne's debut novel. There are some beloved characters returning but they never take away the spotlight from Tova or Halvard.
This is fully their story of coming into their own and taking fate into their own hands.
I hope there will be another book sometime in the future because I have a feeling that their story isn't over yet.

Thank you so much to the publisher and Netgalley for granting my wish and sending me an eARC in exchange for a honest review!

*Spoiler free, 3.75 stars*

I enjoyed Sky In The Deep, though I didn't love it. I found myself craving another book by Adrienne Young. She's a fantastic writer and I was curious to see what she would do with this story. It intriuged me, that this would follow one of the minor characters of Sky and take place ten years later. And the new main character, Tova, sounded really awesome.

Young has such a way with words. I love her writing style. I find it really calming, even in the middle of a fight scene haha. She managed to weave a really great story. Even when I found myself getting bored at parts or wishing certain things would happen, I would still be entertained by the writing style. It was easy really easy to read and to keep reading. It made everything in the book a lot stronger.

I really, really liked Tova's character. She was awesome, I liked getting to know her story. It was cool to see and learn about a new clan in this world. I liked her backstory and how she can read the future and how she thinks about things. It was also cool to see Halvard ten years later! He felt like the same character, but older (I don't know but this seemed worth mentioning haha).

This book didn't progress at all like I thought it would. I almost wish more had happened. It seemed like a lot of build up, without a lot of payoff. Halvard and Tova are travelling to a certain place, both emotionally and physically, so they have their own journeys. I thought they would converge sooner than they did. I got sort of bored here and there waiting to see what would happen. I felt like there wasn't enough going on in between to make the end result worth it.

I also didn't connect emotionally fully to the characters or the story. I think it has to do with the fact that I was waiting for something for a lot of the book. There's an emphasis on getting there, but I wish there had been more of an emphasis on the emotional journey. I didn't feel Tova's emotional turmoil or her struggle. It's like she just walked through the story and let things happen to her. Halvard is a bit of the same way, but I felt his development a little bit more.

I felt like some of the major themes fell through the cracks. I didn't get the sense that Tova was fighting for and trying to find a home. It just felt like some things got lost in the shuffle.

There are also flashbacks throughout the book. The way they're spaced makes it a little hard to figure out the timeline. I found myself getting confused here and there about what happened and when.

Characters from Sky do make an appearance. I'm not sure how I feel about their presence. I felt like it was in the middle of too much and too little, not quite enough of either. That's weird, I know haha.

Overall, I did enjoy this book and I think a lot of people are going to love it! I just think a lot of the main aspects aren't for me. Though, it was still really interesting and the writing is gorgeous. And I am looking forward to reading whatever Young writes next!

There’s something very particular about Adrienne Young’s books—an epic, eerie atmosphere—in the way she sets this Viking-like decor, the characters, and their entwined fates. The Girl the Sea Gave Back is set along the same fjords that we once visited with her debut Sky in the Deep. Although we met again with some characters from the first book, I believe it reads easily as a stand-alone, but be warned that the clans and characters’ names are fairly complicated, especially to remember.

Nevertheless, the writing, rich and sharp, engages with the reader every step of the way and you know that you’re in for a journey again. The battle descriptions are especially brutal, fast-paced, and cinematic, as if Young was a stuntwoman in a previous life—who knows? It feels like you’re at the movie, it’s really amazing—unfathomable?—how Young manages to do that. The only thing I can regret is that I feel I’ve been cheated out of a few answers, mainly about the mysteries surrounding Tova, the first one of them being, why did the sea give the girl back? The abrupt ending left me thirsty for more.
Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for this ARC!

I really wanted to like this book. I had been excited since I read Sky in the Deep, but something just didn’t work. Sky in the Deep did so well I understand the authors intention unfortunately it just didn’t work. I feel like if they wanted to make a sequel even years later it should have connected more. I felt like I was reading a solo novel that was written by a different author trying to connect to sky in the deep. I got through it because I was excited about it but I don’t think it was as close to Sky in the Deep.

I received a copy of The Girl the Sea Gave back from Wednesday Books through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book. It's the second in the series but I honestly didn't feel I missed anything by not reading the first one.

I loved the short flashback to Halvard and Tova's pasts.

I saw in some reviews that people thought there was too much romance but honestly I didn't get that at all.

What a thrilling ride. With intricate writing, multilayered worldbuilding, and characters that live in your heart, The Girl the Sea Gave Back is a triumph.

E-ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

I loved Sky in the Deep so much and I was a bit scared to go into this because I might've not liked it.
Luckily enough that was not the case! Despite this uncorrected proof being full of errors I deeply enjoyed the book and took as it was: a companion novel.
I am super positive that the final copy of the book will be perfect on my shelf!

So it took me awhile to get into this book. I loved Sky in the Deep so much so I persisted but if it was a book I knew nothing about I probably would have quit. It was just a bit slow paced and jumbled. It would jump between the past and present but it wasn't always in chronological order. Some chapters would be 10 years ago and some would be more but they would alternate. To make it clearer I think it should have started from 20 years ago and than 10 years, etc.

It did get really good towards the last third of it though. Then it leaves a lot unanswered so now I’m wishing there would be a second one. I think the ending is more for the readers to decide how it ends, but I think definite closure. All in all, I did enjoy the read, just was confused at times.

At 50% I DNF the book. I loved "Sky in the Deep", so I had high expectatives for liking this one... but it wasn't to be. I didn't connect to the characters, the writing got me lost sometimes with the time jumps and I felt like the plot wasn't all clear or for me...

We follow two main characters from rival clans: Tova, who comes from another clan and is hated on the clan she is now because she is a fortune teller and they kinda fear/hate it; and Halvard, the kid from the Rikki clan from the previous book who is now all grown up.
They find themselves in the middle of a war between their clans but they sort of refuse to kill each other because there is something going on between them. Tolva feels it more mystically at thr beginning, like Halvard is sth else, and he is kinda attracted to her, but to me it fall flat.
The presence of a character from the same clan as Tolva withvHalvard felt forced and I didn't know why they didn't make him to tell who she is (at least not before I DNFed the book) and why he recognizes her...
To me it was a very confusing lecture, with no clear stand points and with charactera that didn't caught my attention not hold it.

The Girl the Sea Gave Back includes alternating chapters between Tova and Halvard as we learn their perspectives about an impending war between clans. Characters from Sky in the Deep are included in this one so it was nice to see how they fared many years down the line. I wish the book would have been written from Tova’s point of view instead of split with Halvard because there was so much information I would have liked to learn about Tova. We get glimpses of Tova and Halvard’s pasts, but I would have preferred a fresh story on Tova since the audience doesn’t know much about her despite that she is hated for being a Kyr in her clan. Her story was cut in half to include Halvard’s perscpective, and so much more about her could have been included if the author had detached this from Sky in the Deep and focused solely on Tova.

I wasn’t as enamored with this one as I was with Sky in the Deep which I believe was because of the two points of views. I have nothing against Halvard, but the story could have been much stronger without his half.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

As an avid fan of YA fantasy, I read a lot of books. And because of this, sometimes the story gets a little repetitive. However, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that this story had a very fresh and new feel to it. Tova is tossed into the water by her family, dead, at the age of six. She then mysteriously washes up alive on the faraway shores of the Svell, another class. She is a TruthTeller, a seer of the future, and though she is useful in her new home, she is also hated.

This story has a Viking feel to it, as well as something a little reminiscent of Greek mythology in the form of the mysterious Spinners of Fate. I like the characters, the changing points of view, the mystery, and the world the author has created. I quickly read through this one, eager (and sad!) to get to the end.

A big thanks to NetGalley for my copy of this book I exchange for review. I am so conflicted on this one. I really enjoyed Sky in the Deep and was excited for my ARC of The Girl the Sea Gave Back. The author's writing and pace is wonderful. However, the clans, gods and characters were very confusing in the beginning. I reread Sky in the Deep and it did help some, but it really needs a clan tree and map to give some clarity. The main problem for me was immersion. I was confused in the beginning so that made it hard to get into and once I was, I found I wasn't that interested. The book seemed to lack something, possible emotion? There was so much action, but little emotion or character growth. And so little meaningful character interactions. I really wanted to care about Tova, but it just wasn't in the cards. She was flat. I felt nothing. I felt more for Halvard and Aghi, as well as old characters from the first book, but even then I flew through this one waiting for the moment I became engrossed. It almost happened, right at the end, but the book ended so suddenly and abruptly that it didn't end up happening at all. If you liked the first one then you might like this, just to see old characters. If you like a fast paced action book, then this one has that in spades. Personally the lack of...substance made it hard to like this one.

Such an epic follow up by Adrienne Young. Set in the same unique, viking-inspired world as her first novel- the plot, the characters, the setting- it was all perfect. Loved it!

This is the second book I have read by Adrienne Young, and I adored her first novel, A Sky in the Deep. This story is set 10 years after A Sky in the Deep and though it is being described as a stand alone, I felt like it truly was a sequel in the way it incorporates so many of the characters from the first novel. This is the story of Tova, a truth tongue who was found as a small child in a different part of the world. She has been raised by those who found her and she has been reading the stones for them. Her skills have been manipulated by those she lives with and she is slowly starting to have a change of heart about their agenda. This story is also about Halvard, brother to Fiske from the first book by Young. He is now ten years older and is on track to be the next ruler of his tribe. Young weaves their worlds together as war between their worlds becomes imminent.. I loved the passion and writing in this story but I felt like the romantic connection was not anywhere near the way it was handled in the first book. I appreciate the connection between Tova and Halvard but I wanted to more time spent on face to face interaction. Overall, I recommend this story to anyone who is looking for a good adventure but I do highly recommend starting with A Sky in the Deep. Thank you netgalley for this arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

For the most part I really enjoyed the book, the storyline was interesting, the characters were well written, and I just love anything Norse inspired. I was a little lost at the beginning because I didn't remember who everyone was from the first book and they weren't reintroduced clearly to refresh my memory. I really like Tova and I hope there is another book to answer some of my lingering questions about her clan's culture since it was left so vague.

Tova discovers there is more to her past and magic in this sequel to Sky in the Deep.

Told ten years after the events of the initial book, it follows the story of Tova, a mystic from far away lands held captive by a clan, and Halvard (yes, he’s all grown up!), an emerging leader of the combined clans of Riki and Aska. Chapters alternate between both main characters with prominent flashbacks throughout the story. Narrative focus shifts to new clans not mentioned in the previous book. Other than Halvard, not much time is given to the original cast of characters. All of those pining to see Eelyn and Fiske will most likely be disappointed.

I loved Adrienne Young’s first book, Sky in the Deep. It had it all – excellent world-building, a character-driven story, and an epic (and earned) romance. Everything I loved about the first book is missing in this lackluster sequel. This book is plot-driven instead of character-driven. The romance is rushed without enough (not nearly enough) time spent between the two characters. The culture and ancillary characters introduced in the book are poorly developed. It hurts me to say this, but the story felt half-baked and rushed. I still recommend you give this novel a try, but forgive yourself if this ends up on your DNF shelf.

tl;dr Plot-driven with a rushed romance and alternating points-of-view left me not enjoying this novel.

This book read very much like a second-in-series, despite not being a direct sequel to "Sky in the Deep" but merely takes place in the same world. I very much felt as though I was missing key elements of lore and worldbuilding. It was also a very slow start, with the two main characters not even directly interacting until nearly 3/4 of the way through the book, then almost immediately became Insta-love. I asked for this galley because of the whole Viking/Rune angle, which I really enjoy, but without the knowledge of the first story, I think I didn't like it as much as others might. Would recommend for fans of the first book, or the entire series to fans of "Sea of Trolls" by Farmer.

Another fantastic mythical adventure through history, a real page-turner even for a reader who isn't always a fan of historical fiction!