I really enjoyed this book, in fact, I couldn't put it down. The story and characters where both engaging and highly enjoyable. My only complaint is that I would have liked a little more romance.

Loved this Vikings meets Wonder Woman tale of a young warrior who finds out her beloved brother isn't dead, but living with a rival clan. There's action, suspense, and the start of a forbidden romance. So much to love! Totally recommend.

This book starts you off in an intense battle of clans. It is brutal and bloody but that's what I want when it comes to battle scenes. Call me morbid but that's what I like.

I really liked seeing Eelyn fighting in the beginning battle and then her rush to follow her brother made the scene even more intense. What happens after that slows the pacing way down. When she is forced to spend the winter with the Riki she discovers that they may not be the blood thirsty enemy she's always believed them to be. I think that this is where the most character development happens for Eelyn. She decides that in order for her to survive she will need to get to know those around her, whether she likes it or not, so that she can find a way to escape back to her family. She learns to see the Riki as another tribe similar to hers where family is everything and they're willing to fight for those families as much as she is willing to fight for her own. 

Seeing her brother as part of the Riki is something very difficult for Eelyn but I think that is what helps her see them in a different way than what she's always seen them as. They both learn from each other in processing what has happened in the five years since they last saw one another. Eelyn is faced with a decision on whether to trust the Riki when both the Riki and the Aska are put in grave danger. It is put on her to mend a treaty in hopes of saving everyone she loves. 

The hate to love between Eelyn and Fiske is definitely happening throughout this book. I enjoyed the slow burn between the two of them and how frustrated Fiske would get with Eelyn and vice versa. It was definitely a prominent part in bringing two clans together by building a relationship between these two. 

This book is slow to pace. You definitely need to go into it on the more historical side than the fantasy side in my opinion. I think if it had more battle scenes in it and there were more fantastical elements than it would've been a much faster paced story. For these reasons, I feel it is more of a 4 star instead of a 5 for me. I was expecting more action. I was also sad when it ended because I felt like there was still more to be done.

Sky in the Deep is definitely one of the most unique books I’ve read this year. It was engaging and I consumed it quickly. This may have been an easy read, but don’t let that throw you. It is violent, brutal, and very introspective. Sky in the Deep is the story of Viking teens and how they fight other tribes to honor the Gods. This is Eelyn’s story of how she lost her mother, her brother, and eventually all that she knows to be true.

Eelyn is a loyal and strong fighter. She loathes her enemies and will fight to the death to honor her tribe. Until she sees her dead brother fighting alongside her rival clan 5 years after he died. She is so shook that she runs right for him and gets herself captured. That opening battle and her ultimate capture was so captivating, I couldn’t read it fast enough! So brutal, so real, so emotional.

There is more than just tribal life within these pages. I loved the humanity within this story. Fiske discovering that both him and Iri were just two dying men, and becoming more than brothers in war. In death they were the same, the rival clans were both human, it was the Gods who divined them enemies. Fiske’s mother, Inge, was so kind, smart, and the healer for her tribe. She works a miracle with Iri and he owes her his life. Fiske loves his family deeply and learned compassion from his mother. He is a warrior but he has a soft heart. Fiske and Iri become family despite being from God forsaken enemies.

Eelyn feels betrayed by her brother, he stayed with the Riki, he dishonored himself. She eventually realizes that she left him to die, while the Riki saved his life. To know now that he has found love and happiness with these people gives her a lot to think about. Eelyn is forced to be a house slave for Fiske, which allows her to be safe under his watch, while his clansmen want her dead.

Eelyn helps the family, and she learns about their culture. She can see that the Riki are just like her and her clansmen. Even though they pray to different Gods, they are all living to survive. If they can come together and fight the real enemy maybe they can all live without the fear of death looming.

This is very much a character study. There is such complexity of sibling relationships and their relationships to their parents. How your family can instill values within you that outrank the will of the Gods that is engrained in your everyday life. It also shows how we as children take what our parents teach us and find a way to be independent and ourselves. To take the values and traditions we are raised with and make them unique to our lives and evolve. To be the future.

I had a few issues which is why this wasn’t a 5-star read. I am trash for the enemies to lover trope and I was so excited for that plot point, but I wasn’t sure when it happened. I felt no build up, and then boom Eelyn and Fiske were in love. Yes, clearly Eelyn struggles with her feelings for all of the Riki she meets, but I needed more. For rival clansman and mortal enemies to just fall in love should have been a bigger deal in my opinion. I also felt like there was so much potential for the ending battle. The build up was all there, but the life or death battle fell flat for me. I wanted that amazing opening battle scene again.

Even with my few issues, I still really liked Sky in the Deep. I was swept away in this world, and my desire for unique books made me love this story more than anything. I don’t say this much, but I almost wish this was a duology, so the world, mythology, and relationships could have been more fleshed out. Overall, I think this book is a stand out and will really entertain fans of the historical fantasy genre, with comparable titles like, The Flame in the Mist, Ivory and Bone, or the more recent Beyond a Darken Shore.

I think I missed the memo on Sky in the Deep because while it was fun and quick, I wasn't WOWed by it either. First, we have two warring clans, think Viking but in an alternate world. Then add in betrayal, a budding romance, and SOME fighting. And finally you get Eelyn, a character I expected to be more kick-butt than she really was.

For starters, this wasn't really fantasy. At least, not in the way I think of the genre. It seemed like it was set in a different/alternate world but beyond that there was nothing to really mark it as such. In fact, the publisher could have marketed this as historical fiction and I'd have believed it, not being familiar with the era enough to affect my reading experience. And honestly it was fine not having all those extra magical elements but if I'd known I'd have adjusted by expectations accordingly.

Eelyn had all the makings of a fierce heroine and she was to a degree. She could fight with the best of them and knew how to work an axe on the battlefield, but I barely saw any of that beyond the beginning and end of the book. At the end of the day, she didn't really stand out against the multitude of other female warriors. Nothing made her extra special. That said, I think Young did a great job with her character development so it wasn't that Eelyn fell flat in the story from a craft perspective, she just didn't hold my attention.

In general, Sky in the Deep wasn't what I was expecting. I thought there would be more action. You give me a pseudo-Viking book and yet there were a few fight scenes at the beginning, a few at the end. . . and that's it. The bulk of the story followed village life and Eelyn's emotional development realizing that the clan her people warred with for generations weren't so different. To be fair, that time in-between was great for character development and I think Young wrote it well, but it comes back to expectations going into the book. I wanted to see Eelyn be both strong mentally and physically throughout the book, rather than showing one strength then flipping to the other as thought they're two separate things.

All that said, this book stood out compared to the other YA fantasies I've read recently. Was it an absolutely amazing book for me? No. But it was good and I liked that it gave Eelyn a chance to be more than just the warrior, even if I felt it was a bit disjointed. Sky in the Deep is a quick read and the fact that it's a standalone on top of that made it perfect to binge in a night and move on to the next book. I'll definitely read more by this author in the future and wouldn't even mind another book set in this world!

This book is all about the action! And I LOVED IT

So, I'm sure many people will absolutely love it. THOUGH I didn't love it as much as I wanted. I wish I could have given it 5-stars but I had apply some penalties.

3.8-star

What can you expect?

- LOTSA of action. Battlefield. Viking clans rivalry and all that kinda awesomeness
- Awesomely described Viking world. Lego-movie-soundtrack-awesome
- A fantastic strong female character that... is hard to connect to? - penalty: 0.5-star
- Roller coaster pacing - penalty: 0.5-star
- Beautiful prose with quite some telling. - 0.2-star

LOTSA of action Page one. A battlefield. Vikings battleground axes. Blood everywhere. Eelyn the main character is injured, captured and slaved all before 15% - 5-star

Awesomely described Viking world. Through all this action [and what happens next] You learn TONSA about their way of life. Family life, clan life, their houses, what they eat. And about all kind of fascinating stories family ties and loyalty, traditions, friendship, clans rivalry and betrayal. So, you can hear the Lego-movie-soundtrack in your head: EVERYTHING. IS. AWESOME. – 5- star

A fantastic strong female character So... Eelyn. She is indeed a fantastic strong female character, a fierce and brave warrior BUT. BUT. BUT. Oh... the BUTs! The story is told from Eelyn’s perspective and you know what she is thinking and feeling BUT it is kinda of bland? or and flat? And predictable? And you can't connect! Everything she thinks, does and says is a reaction to what happens to her (losing her mother and brother, being injured, captured by the enemy, etc.) and they are all VERY predictable reactions! There is not much about her own motivations, dreams, fears, etc to make her the kind of unique character that would win my heart. Penalty: star– 0.5

Roller coaster pacing The ups are sooooooo high and fun but the doooooowns are loooow and the plot gets VERY slooooow. For instance, after the initial action when the fighting stops and Eelyn is captured NOTHING MORE HAPPENS FOR A LOOOOONG WHILE. NOTHING. It is all about the life in the clan that captured Eelyn for a very looooong time. Interesting but boring too? – minus 0.5-star

Beautiful prose BUT the dialogues are so sparse and what you are supposed to know about the characters is mostly told, not shown.

As I said before I think many people would enjoy this book so I do recommended.

Every five years the killing season comes and the Aska and Riki meet in Arvenger to fight. Rival clans of warring gods, war is all that is between them. Eelyn has lived the last five years mourning her brother, Iri, who died there. She is one of the best fighters in her village and will have her revenge. But on the battlefield, Iri appears out of the mist to save her life, dressed in Riki armor. Convinced that maybe her brother is alive, Eelyn looks for him in the next battle and along with finding him, gets herself captured. Now a prisoner of the people she hates, Eelyn has been stripped of her honor and pride and only anger seems to keep her head up. But there is larger enemy and its coming.

So this book is bloody. Eelyn fights and kills. She pulls out a man's eye. She is tough and knows her way around a battlefield, which was nice. Because a lot of kick butt girls, need to be rescued and Eelyn held her own.

There was a lot of action in this book. It slowed a little in the middle, while Eelyn was with the Riki but it picked up again shortly after that. I enjoyed the differences in the clans and that Eelyn didn't fit in. I also adored that it is a stand alone.

Eelyn was hard to like in the beginning. She is so stubborn and angry. I know it is because anger is easier than hurt. But as she softened I found that I liked her more. I liked the relationship between Iri and Eelyn and how it wasn't all easily fixed and may never be. Fiske was awesome. I actually want to spend more time with Myrah.

Overall it was really good read.

This book was a great story of determination, strength, and family. While there was romance, I did not feel that it completely took over the book. There was still the focus on family and what it means to grow up in a divided world. This book did have the cliche warring societies where your main character is forced to live among the "enemy". However, I felt like it was done in a unique way with this viking-like aspect. I really liked seeing aspects of Riki life through Eelyn's Askan viewpoint. I wish we would have been able to see more Askan life.

I also felt like the ending of the book was rushed with the major climax and battle being quickly resolved and minimal closure. I do however appreciate that this is a standalone novel. So many books lately have been series and I liked that Adrienne Young gave us a standalone where the story is complete. That being said, I think 20 or so more pages would have allowed for less of the feeling of rushing and allow for complete resolution.

I knew I had to read Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young the minute I saw the cover. When I discovered it was about a young female warrior, I had to read it even more. Thankfully I was granted an advance copy, and while I couldn’t get to it right away, I devoured it as quickly as possible.

I must say, I’m really enjoying the vicious bite women characters are taking on these days. I’ve long been a fan of female driven books, of course, but it seems like lately, our women are taking things one step further and showing a gritty ruthlessness that has never been this apparent before. Eelyn is the perfect example of that; a warrior, raised on the notion of honour over life, she is tough as nails, fighting alongside the men, and often speaking about crushing someone’s skull in.

The other female characters are also fierce, and I enjoyed the dynamic that was built between them all. In fact, all the characters were great. There was a broad range of characters who all played their parts, but I really enjoyed that the bottom line of this story was the bond and loss between a brother and a sister. It wasn’t a love story at it’s core, though they each have their own tangents that involve that, but what drives the book is family and loyalty and that sibling bond, be it by blood or soul. I really enjoyed this.

The book is somewhat gritty at times, too. The fighting scenes aren’t sugar coated, there is carnage and blood and vivid descriptions of the scene as it unfolds. it’s not overly gratuitous, but it’s realistic and I loved that Young didn’t hold back.

Eelyn throws herself totally into battle, making her one of the strongest, rawest characters I’ve seen in a long time. Sure, she ends up finding love, but she doesn’t spend her moments in battle worrying or longing for her beloved, she does her duty, she does her job, and then she worries about everything else. You don’t see that too often, love often tends to blur the lines and get in the way of those kinds of loyalties, so I love that Young went in this direction.

Frankly, I loved everything about this story. The structure of it is expected and it doesn’t take any unexpected turns, but the bonds are strong and the characters are well groomed. It moves along at a really quick pace, there’s no long drawn out journey in between, the important points are met and the journey is touched upon, but nothing is overly drawn out so the momentum never loses its pace. I really enjoyed each page, each chapter, and I’d give anything for a little more.

I don’t know if there’s an intended sequel, it doesn’t really feel like there is much more to go on after this and while I love the characters, I wouldn’t want to see it drawn out into something more just because. But I’ll tell you this, whatever Young puts out next, I’m going to be first in line to read it. What a brutally beautiful debut. More please.​

The viking set up of this book was really interesting and I loved how strong all of the characters were - there was acceptance all throughout it that women were just as good at fighting, etc as men are. I enjoyed that aspect a lot. There were a few minor issues I had which dropped the rating from a 5 to a 4 but overall it was really enjoyable. The plot was great and I liked the tribes coming together, the slow build romance was great too. I was glad there was no instalove thankfully. Overall a great story with engaging characters.

I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars.

I was pleasantly surprised by just how much I enjoyed this book. I will definitely be recommending it to other young adults.

Sky in the Deep is one of those books that has been hyped up in the YA book community, so naturally, some people are skeptical wondering if it’ll actually live up that hype. I’m here to tell you IT DOES. Adrienne Young is an exceptional story teller. She quickly pulls you into Eelyn’s brutal world. But Eelyn isn’t just a heartless brutal warrior, she has family she cares about and she begins questioning everything she’s ever known. Her character development is just incredible to watch.

I really loved the different relationships throughout the story as well. Between Eelyn and her father, Eelyn and her best friend, Eelyn and her brother. The love the people in the book have for their family and fellow clan members is something we don’t always get to see in YA fantasy and it was refreshing and wonderful.

This was a fun adventure from start to finish and if you are even remotely interested, definitely pick this one up!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for sending me a copy to review!

The gorgeous cover is what drew me to Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young. After reading the blurb, I was like; I have to read this one. The story is a Vikingish YA fantasy with a heroine you will fall for within the first few pages. It is a beautifully crafted tale and I dare you not to get hooked by the end of the first chapter.
Eelyn is a warrior for the Aska clan and has been training since a young girl to fight their sworn enemy the Riki. She fights alongside her friend Myra and together they are fierce on the battle field. Until one day Eelyn almost gets killed by a young Riki warrior. Her brother, Iri, saves her. Yet, this cannot be possible, Iri died five years ago in another battle against the Riki.
In the next battle Eelyn is determined to find her brother. She has a driving need to know why he has become a traitor and is fighting with the Riki and not against them. This gets her captured and she is taken to one of the Riki villages where she is made a slave. Nothing could be more demeaning for a warrior and she is determined to escape.
While Eelyn bids her time till she can escape, she slowly learns that Fiske, the Riki warrior she is enslaved too, actually saved Iri’s life after he was left for dead on the battle field. What she can’t understand is why Iri has joined the Riki instead of being a slave himself. As time passes she begins to rethink her views on the Riki. She realizes they are not so different after all. Then a mutual enemy of both clans, the Herja, raids the Riki villages and kills many. Eelyn knows the only way to defeat them will be to align the two clans. It becomes her job to bring the two mortal enemies together in order to save both clans from utter destruction at the hands of the Herja.
First and foremost, I loved the character of Eelyn. She is strong and vulnerable both and this made for a well-rounded, and realistic, heroine. Also, the author did an excellent job with character development; therefore, I was able to understand and connect with her. The plot moved quickly. Even though the book was over three hundred pages, I found myself flying through it.
Despite all of the action what really drives this story is the characters. The emphasis on family bonds is the factor behind this. The head matriarch of the Riki family Eelyn and her brother live with becomes a mother figure to them both. Then as Eeelyn falls for Fiske you are drawn in deeper to the conflict within Eeelyn over her own loyalties.
I recommend Sky in the Deep to all lovers of YA fantasy and Viking type stories. One note of caution, there are battle scenes and violence throughout the book; therefore, I feel it is not appropriate for younger readers.
I received a free copy from the publisher, via Net Galley in exchange for my honest review.

She killed her first man six years ago, and at the age of seventeen, Eelyn is on the cusp of being a full-fledged Aska warrior. But when she catches a glimpse of her brother in battle--the brother that has been thought dead for five years--she sets caution to the wind and ends up being captured by the Aska's opposing clan, the Riki. As a slave in the home of her enemies, Eelyn experiences kindness from Inge, the clan's healer, and from Fiske, her new master who protects her from the hatred of the rest of the clan. While there, she must come to terms with her brother's "betrayal" and in the process come to learn that perhaps the Aska and the Riki are not so different after all.

When a new danger threatens both clans, Eelyn and Fiske must journey across the mountains to propose a truce for the common good. And in the end, Eelyn must decide whether her highest love is her people, or whether Fiske might hold that place in her heart as well.

The prose of this young adult novel was quite lovely, and the characters and the pacing of the story were gripping. In keeping with the portrayal of Vikings on modern television, there was a good deal of graphic violence, some of it perpetrated without remorse by the main characters. The ending of the book felt far more romantic than realistic (given the worldview of the people as described throughout the rest of the book), but it was romantic in a way that made you want to believe.

Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I really enjoy this novel and hope to read more books from the author in the future. I can't say enough how much I enjoyed this book.

This book was very well written. I enjoyed that Eeeyln was an actually strong, complex and intelligent protagonist. The plot itself was fast paced and exciting. I loved the fact that I didn't know what was going to happen ( a rare feat for YA fiction) and that I was highly invested in the characters. Adrienne Young is definitely an author to look out for

Adrienne Young did an amazing job describing battle scenes, really any descriptive text was on point. Character development was on point for the type of book this is: Eelyn, an Aska warrior sold to a Riki warrior. So of course Eelyn isn't much concerned with the Riki people; but yet we still get development of the Riki closest to her, while the Aska aren't as developed (I just found that interesting).

The love aspect. It was very low key, very subtle, until it just wasn't....much like budding romance? o.O

Eelyn is a fierce warrior and I love that she can absolutely take care of herself in battle. Some parts were action-packed and suspenseful while others were heartbreaking. Lots of family dynamics and what it means to be "family" and what it means to be "human;" realizing that we usually have more in common with our enemies than differences.

Rating: 5/5



Genre: YA Fantasy



Recommended Age: 16+ (sexual references, trigger warning for sexual assault, violence, gore, and religion/religious dispute)



Pages: 352



Amazon Link


Author Website


Disclaimer: I received a free e-arc copy of this book from NetGalley. Thanks! I also went and bought my own copy of the book to finish off my reading of it.



Synopsis: OND ELDR. BREATHE FIRE.

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.





Okay, can I just say something crazy?! VIKINGS! I absolutely loved this book! It was so unique in so many aspects. Eelyn’s identity wasn’t partially tied into her romance with another character, the romance didn’t come into play until the end of the book, all of the characters had amazing character growth, and they were just very relatable and real. The writing was absolutely fantastic and this author has become an insta-purchase for me. I also want to praise the book for talking about religious acceptance. I talked about this in my rave video on the book on my YouTube channel, but to summarize: throughout the book the reader is told about these two different, but similar, religions that the Aska and the Riki have and cherish. But in the process of the story the reader comes to see that maybe while they worship different Gods they’re not as different as they appear to be. In my opinion, one of the main problems in today’s world is the lack of respect of other people’s religions. While I’m not a religious person I respect and try to be mindful of other’s religious preferences and beliefs. I liked how the book showed the character’s progression and acceptance of the other group despite their religious difference. The main character’s progression from absolute hatred for the Riki to accepting and being open minded about their beliefs, even though she didn’t sacrifice her own, was absolutely inspiring for me.



The only thing I felt needed a little more progression in the book was the world building. I feel that there was more to this world than what we had at the end of the novel, but for what we got it was well done. The book as a whole was extremely well done and I’d definitely buy a whole series of Eelyn and Myra’s adventures as… wait for it… VIKINGS!!!!!



Verdict: Break out your battle axe and grab this book today!

“…the last time I saw my brother was five years ago. Lying dead in the snow.”

This book starts off with a bang! Right in the middle of a clan battle, the same battle that took Eelyn’s mother and brother five years prior. As she fights, she comes face to face with a warrior that looks eerily like her dead brother. Thinking she must have seen a ghost because she saw her brother die with her own eyes and there is no way he would be fighting with the enemy, but now, she is not so sure.

GOSH! It is so GOOD! The battle scenes are of epic proportions, original in plot, setting and design, Adrienne Young takes us on an exciting, Viking adventure sure to capture your imagination and your heart. “Sky in the Deep” is fast paced, written in captivating prose and really keeps you at the edge of your seat. Strong female protagonist, wonderful world building and light on the romance Young’s debut novel is bloody brilliant!