The Girl the Sea Gave Back is a companion novel to Sky in the Deep. And while the story focuses on different characters, I think you need to have read Sky in the Deep to understand the story.
The Girl the Sea Gave Back is told from 2 different points of view. Tova, a truthtongue, who can see the future in rune stones. She has been living with the Svell, whose religious leader found her washed up on the shore more than 10 years before. Though none of the clansmen trust her, and she feels like an outcast not sure where she belongs.
Halvard has spent his childhood with peace. Ever since the end of the blood feud (as explained in Sky in the Deep) he has been able to see a new clan form from the Aska and Riki. But tensions are rising between clans another blood feud seems imminent.
The Girl the Sea Gave Back is told from both points of view, and even goes back to retell another event through the eyes of the other. The timeline also moves around, which was a bit of a drawback.
I really loved the story, and would definitely recommend both novels.

Great book with a great story line. I read the other book by the author in this "series" and feel like this book was ok to read as a stand alone. Tova is a strong female main character and her character develops beautifully over time. There were intense moments that Ms. Young did a fantastic job of keeping you eager for more.

This was a solid read for sure. I spent the first 3/4s of the book loving it more than the first, but the last quarter makes Sky in the Deep still my favorite. This is a companion novel, yes, but it is also a sequel. I don't think there is a way to read this without having read SitD first.

What I liked:
- Tova and Halvard's character were distinctly different from Eelyn and Fiske. Tova and Halvard both believed themselves to be failures to their people or some higher calling. Watching them work through that and, even in the end, hold some of those doubts felt very raw and natural to how people really are.
- Halvard's character from the first book to this was well-developed. You get flashbacks of Halvard throughout the story from prior to the events in SitD, during the previous novel, and after. He's still a mega squish, but he's a fighter. He understands how blood feuds and war works--he saw the repercussions within his family and village. He's never faced the kind of full-scale fighting that the older Riki and Aska faced. I liked that he was a child of both worlds and seamlessly fit into the new Nadhir life.
- I liked that the Riki and Aska came together and that while it seems like two tribes merging would create an enormous font of power, the Nadhir were truly weak. It makes sense, considering the effects of the previous book.
- Tova's character was phenomenal. I loved getting to see the spiritual aspects of the SitD world. Tova was a mystic/soothsayer for her people, and it was a burden to her. Her character grew from accepting that things were as they were to actually wanting to have an active role in events. <spoiler>I did think it was interesting how Halvard didn't want her to cast the stones for him--his mindset was very much more that the Nadhir would win or lose based not on the Spinners or gods but on the Nadhir taking action into their own hands.</spoiler>


What I didn't like:
- Certain events felt contrived near the end. The story tied up too cleanly for this type of world. (More on that in a spoilery section below.)
- The cast in this, while very large, was very tiny as there were few named characters that we actually cared about. There was a Svell woman in particular that seemed to be important near the beginning of the book, and she vanished in the pages later on. I still don't know if she lived or died.
- This book had depth. It talked about what it means to have a duty to your tribe, what happens if your tribe abandons you and another claims you, and more. While everything it discussed was good, there were definitely areas that felt lacking, such as in the beginning when the Svell were arguing whether to attack the Nadhir or not--there was little discussion by any Svell characters other than the brothers and Jorrund. There were named Svell characters who were mentioned to agree with a specific side, but instead of exploring what that meant for the Svell, it was left. The whole situation with Jorrund and Tova was never fully fleshed out. It never felt like it had a good resolution or conclusion. <spoiler>I still don't even know what the heck happened to Jorrund.
Did he die? Did he survive?</spoiler>

More information below, but these were some of the main reasons I felt like this book wasn't a full five star read. It had the potential, it had a lot of strengths, but it felt a little too YA to be great. Sky in the Deep was phenomenal for how unique it was in the YA genre. It had a fierce female who wasn't an oddity but just one of many. The characters developed throughout the book and struggled with a lot of deep issues--such as the meaning of family and loyalty. The worldbuilding made it feel real in a way this book missed. I would say the worldbuilding in TGTSGB was its strongest point, the characetr development next, and the plot and keeping up with characters last.


Final thoughts:
<spoiler>I didn't like the lack of information on Halvard's neices. It took me nearly the entire book to figure out whose children they were. The mention of them is weirdly vague, and there names weren't even given until right before the big battle.

The battle itself was great, but it felt a bit too contrived. None of the main characters died at all, and with a fight like they had, I would have expected at least one of them to fall. Eelyn's wound never felt life-threatening.

Both Halvard and Tova's perspective when they fought felt very weird. It seems unreasonable that they were able to so easily kill as many people as they did.

The Kyrr showing up at the end was weird. I don't know how I felt about it, and I definitely didn't like the weird open ending.</spoiler>

An extremely satisfying follow up to Sky in the Deep. Beginning ten years later, The Girl the Sea Gave Back follows a new tribe of people, set to fight against the newly united clans from Sky in the Deep. A new main character emerges as well, along with a character from Sky in the Deep, all grown up. Young does an admirable job of twining the new and old together, all the while telling a fresh tale filled with heartbreak, triumph and magic.

I was not able to read the digital copy provided because the print was so small and there was no way to enlarge the font. I am still looking forward to the books release.