Book Review: Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young

Author: Adrienne Young
Series: Stand-Alone 

Cover: Cover is alright. The model doesn't really match up with what I thought Eelyn would look like. I feel like she has so much hair compared to the book description.

Rating: 4/5 This book took a while for it to get interesting. I think it took about halfway through the book for me to start getting invested.

Review: As always, the first section of this review and the second half is mostly me picking at things that may be spoilery. Weird random tidbit, the main character is named Eelyn and it reminded me so much of my sister. Her name is Elynn and they're pronounced the same way so it was weird for a bit reading this book lol. Any way, this book gets a 4/5 out of me because the first half of the book wasn't interesting for me. Second half was much much much more interesting.

Sky in the Deep takes place through the eyes of Eelyn, an Aska warrior. Every five years, the Aska and the Riki fight each other in a rivalry that has lasted generations. This year during the fight, Eelynn sees her brother who she thought was dead in the battle field. She gets captured and lives with the Riki through the winter and is suddenly faced with a new enemy. Eelyn must work together with her enemy in order to save everyone. Can she do it?

I was told that this book is supposed to have influences of Viking culture and I can see that. The Aska live near the waters while the Riki are mountain folk. Each clan has their own respective god which they fight for. Every five years they gather on this field and fight each other and no clan really "wins" the battle. Survivors will come home and mourn their dead and carry on until another couple years pass and they repeat the process. It's a very gruesome world where you do not know if tomorrow will be your last.

The book takes the point of view of Eelyn, who's very head strong in her beliefs and refuses to bend her will towards others. She has honor above everything else. Fiske is basically Eelyn except in a different clan. They are both very gifted warriors and will protect their family and hold their clan before everyone else. You'll also get introduced to other characters such as Iri, Eelyn's brother, but he's kind of flat compared to the two main characters. Actually, a lot of the minor characters are pretty flat... so don't get your hopes up too much. 

The thing that I enjoyed the most about this book is that the characters aren't afraid to get their hands dirty. This book is full on killing and pillaging, well not 100%, but a good amount. I love a strong heroine, especially one that isn't afraid to be in the front lines of battle. I think this is my first viking book that I've read and I have to say that I really enjoyed the use of different languages in the book. It makes the book more "life-like" if that makes sense. 

Something that did annoy me in this book was just how dragged on everything felt. I felt as if half of the book covered such mundane tasks. Eelyn wash this, cut that, fetch this, etc. Maybe Young could have slimmed those parts down? At least add something a bit more interesting. I would have liked to see more development between Iri and Eelyn too. There were sections that dragged on and others that felt rushed. 

Overall, I'd still recommend this book to anyone that enjoys YA with a touch of vikings :) Be aware that this book can get very boring in certain sections. This book makes me want to read more books with vikings in them. The book is a bit violent, so if you're not interested in that, you probably should skip this book. Let me know if you have different thoughts on this book!

!!!!!!!!!! MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD !!!!!!!!!!

The biggest thing that bothered me in this book is the romance. I feel as if this romance came out of no where! Maybe I missed something while reading this book, but it felt like Eelyn and Fiske rarely interacted with each other and all of a sudden they fell in love. I can only think of one instance where they sat down, talked, and get to know each other. Any other time was basically them trying to kill each other or Fiske saving Eelyn's ass. Also, since Fiske claims Iri as his brother and he's also Eelyn's brother... doesn't this make it a bit weird? Also, are we not going to address the fact he made you a slave, branded you and tried to kill you a couple times? *shrugs* I guess not.

This book also felt very flat... The synopsis on Goodreads basically summed up 75% of what this book is about. Usually the synopsis covers the general plot of the book and when you read the book, something you didn't expect catches your attention and gives the book a bit more OOMPH. While for Sky in the Deep, it felt very predictable. I wasn't even a fourth of the way through the book before I went " oh yup she's gonna fall for that dude" and "yup no more wars except for the 'final war'".

I didn't enjoy how bland the other characters were. Each character has one trait that basically sums up who they were. I guess you can say that they were very one dimensional. They all played their role perfectly, but none of them changes the main character... Does that make sense? Sure Iri is her brother, but he does nothing to develop Eelyn's character more. It is the same for every other character out there. Eelyn didn't accept the Riki because of her brother, she accepted them because she had to.

Lets see... what else... Oh... I wish there were more viking culture in this book. I want to learn more about the gods and the other clans. What about other traditions or rituals? I did enjoy the fighting aspect of this book, but I want a bit more artistic culture.

Last thing that annoyed me in this book is Eelyn being so useless. I get it, she's a slave and has no weapons, but I really wish she had more fighting screen time. Or at least show how bad ass she can be. Certain sections felt so quiet and others were raining blood every other sentence. I wish we could have had a better balance.

Although there were a lot of things that annoyed me about this book, I still really enjoyed it. I finished this book in a week (which is long for some of you, but for me that's REALLY FAST lol). Definitely recommending my siblings and other YA lovers to read this book. I think this book could have been edited a bit more and it would have been a perfect 5/5 for me. Oh well!

Audiobook Rating:

Khristen Hvam - I love her narration for Eelyn and all the other characters. I love how deep and raspy her voice is for Eelyn. She also does a really good job in presenting male voices. Therefore, she deserves a 5/5. I see that she also narrates Onyx & Ivory by Mindee Arnet, so I can't wait to see how she'll do in that book as well.

Top 3 Favorite Characters

Eelyn - Bonus points to her because her name reminds me of my sister. Love how much of a bad ass she can be. I also enjoy her loyalty to her clan (although it waivers a bit)

Fiske - He sort of reminds me of Edward from Twilight. Don't ask me why lol... I like him the most out of all the other characters for no specific reason besides him having a bit more screen time. 

Inge - I love how motherly she is. The fact that she took in an enemy, then raise that person as her own says a lot about her character. She is also very level headed and gives people a chance rather than judging them by their race/beliefs. 

That is all everyone! This blog was hard to type because I kept typing my sister's name lol. Any who, have you read the book? What were your thoughts on it? I haven't decided on which book I'll read next, so I need to consult my TBR list. Hope you all are having a good one!