The Girl The Sea Gave Back is a companion novel to Sky In The Deep.

This story follows Tova who is found on a half burned boat in a rivals clans shore. She is discovered to be a Truthtongue, someone who can cast the dice and read the fate in the tunes that land. Tova has no recollection of her life before being found on the boat.

What will the dice reveal about her fate and the mysterious man she sees in the glade?

I have been anxiously anticipating this novel all year and it did not disappoint. I will be recommending this novel to all my friends.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this ARC, which will be available for purchase September 3, 2019.

Boy, oh fucking boy, was this a hard read for me. I’m really, really not the kind of gal to DNF books, but making my way through this book felt like I was trying to pull myself out of slow sinking quick sand.

For one, I’ll point out the obvious that many of my fellow reviewers agree with, this book is sooooOoOo s l o w. You hit the 25% percent mark AND YOU STILL DON’T HAVE A PLOT. I feel almost as if the author confused plot with setting. Like she introduces the nations/clans, and where each nation/clan stands in her world.... and that’s it. That’s what the story is about. And listen, I love a good power-struggle story as much as the next girl, but if your focus is JUST struggling powers, then you NEED to have the characters make up for the lack of a structured storyline.

And the characters were headache inducing bland porridge. For one, the two MAIN characters completed blended together. I had to scroll back to the first page of chapters SO many times just to see which character I was dealing with because honest to god I couldn’t tell. Pair that with the fact that this book had just this MASSIVE entourage of side characters with difficult names, I could NOT keep track of anything. I literally felt so stupid at some parts because I would be like “wait WHO’S Espen again?? Oh shit he’s the LEADER of the clan??? OH that’s why the characters are making a big deal of his death”. In a story about struggle-for-power-clans YOU WOULD THINK that by the 50% mark I would be able to identify the leaders, right?

And feeling stupid while trying to read a book is definitely not a good feeling to have.

Let me take a deep breath and y’all about the writing; actually, let me take some more ibuprofen before I get into it.

The timeline on this story was completely fucked. As Doctor Who would put it, it was genuinely a “A big ball of wibbly wobbly, timey wimey stuff” of a mess. It would always take me a minute to see where we were in the timeline every time we jumped to a different scene. It’s like we go from Halvard’s POV and see his experience, and then jump back in time and retell the experience through Tova’s eyes. And it was NOT smooth transitions; it feels like when you get up too fast, and your vision tunnels as your body adapts to the sudden change. You’re CONSTANTLY jumping back in time if that makes sense. I mean if you read the story, you’ll understand. It always goes something along the lines of:

Halvard: *experiences beginning, middle, end of battle*
[one chapter later]
Tova: *launch back in time and experience SAME battle again through Tova’s eyes*

Which is a fine and dandy way of writing, I appreciate the ambition, but it has to be done EFFECTIVELY. In this story, I could never tell where we were in time. I’d sit back and be like, “wait is this the same day? Is this yesterday? Didn’t he already die? Are we seeing this again or is this a different character?”

I ended up DNFing this book at the 70% percent mark. I hope everyone who’s disappointed can understand, after reading this review, how this book was just not a good match for me. Like a toxic relationship, it drained my energy cause I was constantly trying to figure out what messages it was trying to send me.

One of my most disappointed reads of 2019, what a shame that such a beautiful cover was wasted :/

thank you Netgalley and Wednesday Books for the Advanced Readers Copy nonetheless!

Tova's point of view from the novel was by far the strongest narrative, but as a whole the novel suffered from the lack of tension due to her ability to read the future in the stone die she casts. The plot did not subvert her predictions enough to make the plot interesting--it felt like you knew exactly where all the characters were going to end up from the very beginning. Her romance with Halvard had that star-crossed lovers vibe, but their relationship was thin against the background of clan politics and didn't add enough texture to the plot for their actions to be believable.

Young's writing is lush and beautiful--people who loved SKY IN THE DEEP may be excited to see familiar characters ten years later--but I don't think its enough to engage new readers in the world

Having not read “The Sky in the Deep”, I was worried that I would be a little lost reading this one. That was not the case. This book follows Tova, a girl who is thought dead and set adrift, and found by a member of another clan, and raised there. It also follows Halvard, a member of the Nadhir clan, who comes into her life during an intense time.

Honestly, I had a lot of trouble with this book. I liked the idea of the story, and some of it was good. The battle scenes were really well written! The dual perspectives of this story didn’t really work for me. The layout of the scenes sort of got muddled up, and it seemed like I was either missing chunks of time, or reading the same scenes over and over. I would have liked Tova and Halvard to have been together for more than just that little bit, because I felt that their relationship was created out of almost nothing. I’m sure this is just me, and I just wasn’t feeling it at the moment.

I was given an advanced reader's copy via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I want to thank Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for granting me my first ARC wish!

When I first saw this book I was incredibly excited to get my hands on it, so when I did and I realized that it took place 10 years later with no Eelyn and no Fiske, I was worried. I fell for those two in Sky in the Deep and I was not ready for it to end. I had assumed this book was following their story but after I got over the initial shock and disappointment, I came to love Tova and Halvard. I liked him in the first book and he just got better in this one! His relationship with Eelyn was so heartwarming to see, especially when my favorite scene from the first book was their bonding during the Herja attack. I also liked Myra’s newfound maternal instinct to protect him. It showcased another side of her and it was adorable!

Halvard is determined to keep the peace his family achieved and his support system was never-ending. People who barely knew him put their trust in him, even if that meant their very lives. He also adopted his mother’s skills of healing that I loved so much in Fiske and I was definitely grateful for that. It provided good consistency to the story that Adrienne Young was weaving.

“I tried to tell myself that it was the way of mortals to find war. Peace was like kindling, just waiting for the smallest flame.”

I live for new characters, and if they’re shrouded in mystery all the better. Young introduced Tova, the very same girl that the sea gave back (hence the title!) and her decision to link superstition and magic together into this new clan from the Headlands called the Kyrr, made me liking this book! It played on the obsessive need to know one’s future and it mixed great with this violent world. Vikings craved battle and wanting to know what way it will sway is an easy and straight-forward plot to follow. And the consequences for knowing such things were often what separated life from death and that simple concept made this addictive. This storyline made the 10-year peace transition and character change less jarring. I was in constant fear that my newfound favourites, Tova and Halvard and old friends like Fiske, Myra and Eelyn were going to die which made me unable to put the book down. I had to know that they were alright. When an author’s words make you feel like that, you know you have a good book in your hands. They made you invested and that’s powerful writing.

I’m an absolute sucker for well-worded description and while there were quite a few examples in here which left me in awe, I must say Young’s creative wording with simple colour, literally painted a picture for me.

Phrases like “his blue eyes like stars in the night,” and “the sea inked red with Nadhir blood” are just two examples where she was able to make a comparison that seems common and turn it into something vivid and punchy.

Unfortunately, there were a few downsides in here which I feel I must include. The dual perspective proved to be a little problematic at times as there would be places where scenes were told twice and the overlap just proved unnecessary and slightly repetitive. There were also multiple jumps between past and present that seemed to be a little confusing to the story and again I feel like that was because of the dual perspective. These served a purpose to expose important elements necessary in understanding the present animosity between clans but it seemed to hurt more than it helped. As soon as I started to figure out what was happening one of these time jumps would happen and then I was left back where I started, confused. It made me feel like I wasn’t absorbing the story properly. When you have to wrack your brain trying to make sure that you get the story and all its moving parts, it makes it more daunting than enjoyable. Sometimes I felt dumb because I wasn’t sure I knew what happened. Reading passages over to understand helped but I feel like this information could have been introduced through other methods, such as two characters discussing it and someone overhearing it rather than depicting it as if it’s happening right now. Especially is you use characters who were there if they’re talking about a moment from the past. I just think that might have alleviated this issue and made for a smoother read.

Despite the issues I had with the structure I really liked this book. Maybe it’s something to do with Vikings and my fascination with history but I just loved Young’s writing and creativity she brought to bringing this point in history to life. There was magic and illusion, love and betrayal. It was another tale that made me feel some severe emotions and connections to her characters and I find that truly powerful. So bravo!! I look forward to more by her.

I had a great time reading this, it takes a good plot and adds to it. The characters are great and the world built in the story are magical. I really enjoyed going through the story with these characters.

This book was a bit of a disappointment. I very much enjoyed Sky in the Deep. But where that was a well paced, well formed story, The Girl the Sea Gave Back seems so forced and patchy.

I'm not sure why these two characters are drawn to each other. The examination of fate doesnt make much sense with the two characters being apart for how much they are. The whys behind their being in like with each other make no sense.

The whole affair with the Svell wasnt backed up well. They want war... but why? There are conflicting feelings within the clans and then more so within those divisions. The actions dont make any sense.

I mean she paints pretty pictures but I was not able to connect with any of the characters or the plot in general.

Sadly, I would not recommend.

This is a companion novel to Sky in the Deep, which I loved, so when I saw that there would be a second novel set in Eelyn's world, I was instantly on board. Give me all the Viking stuff, the fierce women, the intricate characters. Where could you go wrong?

Tova, a Truthtongue and member of the mysterious Kyrr clan, dies as a child and her people set her adrift on a funeral boat. The boat drifts, half-burned, to the shores of the Svell, where their Tala, the interpreter of their God's will, finds Tova...alive. The Svell, believing her presence to be an ill omen, nevertheless unwillingly agree to let her stay in the village as their Truthtongue, casting the stones and predicting the future for them. Everyone in the village fears her, though, and she lives among them, but apart, always treated as Other, with some members of the clan even making attempts to kill her. Years later, pressed to cast the stones after an attack by the Svell on a rival clan, Tova unwittingly sets in motion a bloody series of events that, despite her gift to see the path of fate, she may be powerless to stop.

Halvard, a young member of the Nadhir clan who is being groomed as the future village leader, doesn't know what he is getting his people into when he talks their current leader into meeting with the Svell after a brutal attack by the rival clan on one of their villages. Bekan, the Svell leader, promises reparations, but what happens instead is a bloodbath, with only Halvard left alive. He escapes, but barely, and with their village leader dead he must make it back to his village in time to take on the mantle of leadership, warn his people that a massive army of Svell is coming to destroy them all, and find a way to save his clan. The mysterious Kyrr woman he spotted at the ill-fated meeting with the Svell keeps appearing to him in visions, but what does her presence mean? Is she, along with her clan, working with the Svell? Or will she be an ally in the coming war?

As noted, this book had me pumped. Everything about it sounds awesome, and in fairness, a couple parts of it were! Adrienne Young can write a great battle scene. The majority, unfortunately, was a struggle to get through. The writing is incredibly repetitive: Tova cast the stones and the Svell reacted in a way she didn't expect! She wishes she could take it back, but now there is blood on her hands. Halvard isn't sure if he can lead his people, but now he has to or his entire clan will be wiped out, their blood on his hands. Wait, did you forget? Tova cast the stones and the Svell reacted in a way she didn't expect! She wishes she could take it back, but now there is blood on her hands. Halvard isn't sure if he can lead his people, but now he has to or his entire clan will be wiped out, their blood on his hands. Hold on, I'm not sure it was clear enough. Tova cast the stones and the Svell reacted in a way she didn't expect! She wishes she could take it back, but now there is blood on her hands. Halvard isn't sure if he can lead his people, but now he has to or his entire clan will be wiped out, their blood on his hands.

I persevered, because it was obvious from pretty early on that Tova and Halvard will end up together, and I am always here for a good romance. Sadly, the fated-ness of their relationship is incredibly heavy-handed, and although for 90% of the book they are apart, they are still, inexplicably, drawn to each other. Even after they join forces, you wouldn't need more than ten fingers to count the number of sentences they exchange. Literally, it goes from Halvard trying to kill her in their first interaction to, like three conversations later, him kissing her and the two being destined for each other? I wish their relationship had been developed in a better way than their eyes meeting across a soon-to-be-bloodsoaked forest and both of them feeling an undeniable connection. That's not exciting for anyone.

Ultimately, it felt like there wasn't enough to this story and instead of developing more, what little there was ended up rehashed again and again. It breaks my heart to say this, but The Girl the Sea Gave Back is best skipped. If you want some rad viking action with badass lady warriors, go back and read Sky in the Deep again. Maybe catch this one when they make it into a movie.

Tova's fate was known before she was born; Svanhild, her mother, was a Truthtongue, in a line that ran back to the beginnings of the Kyrr Clan. As such, she could cast the runestones and read the future from what they revealed. The runes told her that her unborn child, Tova, would die aged six. And so she did. Her parents gave her body to the sea. Hours later, and far from her Kyrr homeland, Tova awoke alone in a charred boat on a beach. A man of the Svell clan would find her there. The tattoos on her chest told him what she was; one who could read the twists of fate and see into the future. He knew he could use her.

Thirteen years pass. For Tova, among people who will not look her in the eye, they are years of fear. Each day she will face threats from the Svell, as she casts the runestones for the chieftain, a man who could have her killed on a whim. She will see first-hand how grasping and treacherous the Svell are. But on a battlefield where Svell perfidy is laid bare, Tova will find her fate interwoven with Halvard, a man of the Nadhir clan. A man who will look into her eyes and not flinch, or look away. Can he or his people survive the furious attack of the Svell?

This tale of war between Viking clans comes in alternating segments from Tova and Halvard, the chieftain to be of the Nadhir clan. I rather like the idea and mysticism of it, but Romeo and Juliet it is not. One thing I found irksome was that Halvard, at the age of nineteen, or thereabouts, was chosen by the Nadhir to be their future chieftain. In reality, that is very unlikely. Mind you; such a choice could be justified if he was a Nordic Achilles or other larger than life character. He wasn't. And, while I liked the Tova character a great deal more, she too failed in the final fight to be the heroine she could have been.

Note to authors: if you are writing a story about saving the day, make your heroes emphatically "Heroic!"

While I believe that "The Girl the Sea Gave Back" is not the greatest Viking story ever written, I can say that I did enjoy it for the most part. And there you have my less than heroic recommendation.

My thanks to Adrienne Young, NetGalley, and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read the "Uncorrected Digital Galley" of this novel.

IT PAINS ME THAT I DIDN’T LOVE THIS.

I found myself scanning by the end. This let me down compared to Sky in the Deep (a favorite of mine last year). I’m trying to break it down so here are some bullet points:

What I did like:

I liked having Halvard as the protagonist. Since he’s up and coming as the next clan leader it was a good perspective. He learned and experienced a lot to help him better serve his people. I found him fierce and easy to cheer for. I wanted things to work out for him.
Tova. I really enjoyed her character.
The strong focus on family bonds. This was a highlight in SITD too. A favorite part is the fierce loyalty they feel for one another and trying to protect what sense of peace they have.
Realllll obsessed with the cover.
It’s a really quick read! Even when I started scanning (which wasn’t until after the halfway mark) I noticed how fast I was flying through it. The chapters are short and the writing has a whimsical style to it.
How clean the book is. I love a book that doesn’t have excessive amounts of language or romance. This hit those marks well (regardless of what I thought overall). It’s a clear YA book.
What I didn’t like:

That we hardly got to see Tova. She may have been a POV, but we hardly learned anything about her until the last few pages.
There is no romance (which I’m only noting as an issue because other reviews highlight it, but I did not see it). I stand by that sentence. Tova & Halvard don’t even have a full conversation with each other until so deep into the book there isn’t time to form chemistry. The kiss at the end came out of nowhere for me.
A lot of side characters (especially on the Svell’s side) who had no history. So they were supposed to be seen as bad, but I wasn’t invested in them.
It was missing depth and development for the plot in general. As I mentioned above, we barely know anything about the Svell (and Tova’s clan – the Kyrr). Everyone is thrown together without much of a story.
Okay, I think I have broken it down enough. While this wasn’t quite for me, it could be for you! There was definitely some highlights, I just overall had some issues.

Overall audience notes:

Young adult fantasy
Language: none
Romance: a kiss
Violence: a lot, clans warring, arrows, knives, swords, axes, murder

I was provided with an electronic ARC by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for honest review.

The Girl the Sea Gave Back is Adrienne Young’s sophomore novel and kind of a companion to Sky in the Deep. It is set in the same world and you get to see a few of the characters from the first novel set 10 years later. I enjoyed the mythology and the story, however, I did wish for more time where the Tova and Halvard were actually together as 96% of the book they are apart. Overall, I give this book 3.5 stars.

The image on the cover of this book immediately grabbed my attention and I was quick to request this offering as an advanced reading copy in exchange for an honest review. Things slowed for me at that point as it was a difficult catch after this first chapter. While I normally love when chapters take on POV from many characters, I felt lost in this unfamiliar land and unable to connect with them before the next chapter. Perhaps it was an easy beach read I was truly after for summer reading that left me feeling somewhat disappointed with "The Girl the Sea gave Back" and this is not that. I will, however, visit prior writings by this author though after reading so much praise and high reviews for earlier works. Many thanks to Netgalley and St. Martins Press for the opportunity to review this book.

When I was approved to receive this eARC written by Adrienne Young I squealed with excitement. I had read and loved Sky in the Deep last year. I had high expectations for The Girl the Sea Gave Back because Sky was so amazing and so well written. Young did a stellar job on that book, but I was alos a bit nervous. Having such high hopes can often to lead to some disappointment, but in this case my assumptions were met and exceeded any presumptions I had set.
I found this story touching and the characters so well done. I was on edge eager to read more each step of the way. There were many times my heart was broken along with the characters. Just like in Sky, I became attached to these very realistic characters and holding my breath and hoping things would work out for them.
Adrienne Young is an amazing writer and The Girl the Sea Gave Back is perfectly done. I loved getting pulled back into the amazing world Young had created in Sky. Tova was such a well created character and watching her growth throughout the story was something enjoyed a lot.
Young is an author to watch. Her books are well written and full of so much depth. The Girl the Sea Gave Back releases September 3 and needs to be added to every TBR out there!

This was one of my most anticipated reads of 2019 after how much I loved Sky in the Deep so I hate how disappointed I am after reading it. I found the first part of this book really confusing but after finding my footing with the story I realized how little I truly cared about any of it. There was so little character development that I was unable to be invested in either Halvard or Tova and most of the events were so predictable that there wasn't even enough suspense to keep me interested. I love the world that Young brings to the page but this book was a miss for me.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

ARC kindly received in exchange for an honest review.

Have you seen this cover?! Just beautiful!

Just like I did Sky in the Deep, I thoroughly enjoyed The Girl the Sea Gave Back. I loved the Viking-inspired, brutal world the story is set in.

Thankfully, before reading The Girl the Sea Gave Back, I had read that it wasn’t a follow-up to Sky in the Deep, so I wasn’t disappointed to find out this story centered around different main characters. This novel is actually set ten years after the events of Sky.

The Girl the Sea Gave Back features two narrators, switching back and forth between Tova, a truthtongue living with the Svell clan, and Halvard, a warrior and the future clan chief of the Nadhir, the tribe born from the combined Aska and Riki clans. I enjoyed the back-and-forth between the point of views, though sometimes I felt like I was reading the same thing twice, when the same event was played out in each of the narrators’ POV.

To compare again with Sky in the Deep, the main female character, Tova, is not a warrior: she’s a truthtongue, a fortune-teller for the Svell clan. She reads the runes and can predict the future. Tova’s story centers around her identity as an outsider and being despised by the clan she lives with. Still, she helps them by translating the runes and reading the will of the gods. I only wished we could have learned more about the Kyrr clan, where Tova is from and who abandoned her at sea.

Also, just like Sky, The Girl the Sea Gave Back features a love story. It slowly builds up between Tova and Halvard, although it is less present than in Sky. Similarly, the two love stories center around two members of enemy tribes.

All in all, I really enjoyed The Girl the Sea Gave Back, maybe a tiny bit less than Sky in the Deep, but barely. I wished we could have learned more about the headlands and the Kyrr clan, where Tova is from. Maybe it will be in a future book?

I would 100% recommend this book to fans of Sky in the Deep, and even just fans of the Fantasy/Young Adult genre.

I had trouble connecting at first with The Girl the Sea Gave Back. One moment we are in Kyrr and then it switches quickly to Svell. Once I got further into the book I understood the basics of the story.

I have to say I gave this book a 3.25 stars , because I felt there needed to be a description in the beginning about Tova. I think it would better be understood.

I thought the book was ok. I didn't hate it and I really wanted to love it, but it was lacking.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Net Galley for an Advanced Reader's Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own.

I adored Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young, so I was thrilled to find out that she had another book coming out set in the same world! Halvard was so young in Sky so it was really exciting to read about him as a leader and the roll he has been chosen to play in his community. I was also happy to have any opportunity to see how my other favourite characters were doing!

Loved Returning to This World
I was thrilled to jump back into this Viking-esque world and see some of the characters I had previously fallen in love with. Although Halvard doesn't spend much time with Eelyn, Fisk and the rest, it was really wonderful to find out what the Aska and Riki clans have been doing over the last 10 years and how they've merged into a new community. I loved Halvard's relationship with the other characters and how he's become a leader in this new community.
​
Lack of Tova & Halvard Time
One of the biggest disappointments (for me) of this book was the lack of time Tova and Halvard actually spend together. Although both of their stories are developed, we rarely get the opportunity to actually see them interact before the novel ends. While I'm a fan of Young's ability to build romantic tension with minimal conversation, The Girl really stretched that to the limit for me since it felt like Tova and Halvard spend maybe a total of one day in each other's company. It just wasn't enough time for me to fall in love with them as a couple.

Disconnected from Tova's Story
While I enjoyed the mystery around Tova's ability, I felt really discounted from her as a character and found that I was usually more excited to read Halvard's chapters over hers. There just wasn't enough to hold my interest about her; she needs to stay under the radar for her own safety, but it seemed to lead to her being left in the shadows of the book as a whole. I think her potential is there, but it takes her too long to actually do anything for me to care about.

Overall, I enjoyed parts of The Girl the Sea Gave Back, even if the story as a whole didn't grab my attention as thoroughly as its predecessor. Young continues to impress with her world-building, but I didn't find myself connecting with all the characters in this book. That said, I'd recommend this to anyone who enjoyed Sky in the Deep and want to see some of those characters again, or those who enjoy YA fantasy novels that are character-driven. The Girl the Sea Gave Back comes out September 3, 2019​!

I had no idea that this was kind of a sequel to Sky in the Deep and I wish they had done a better job at marketing them together. I'm not sure if having read Sky in the Deep would make me like this one more but I would've had a better understanding of their tribes and society.

The Girl the Sea Gave Back is not quite what I thought it was going to be. I loved the unique, viking-like world and the unique magic of Tova. I would've liked more character backstory from the main players of the Siva to better understand their motives and reactions to Tova. The pacing was comfortable and fit the narrative. The setting was great and I loved going through the different areas of their land. The dual POVs were distinctive and brought richness to the narrative.

The ending was a little meh for me and I wish it had been more definite. I didn't like the hints of a romantic connection at the end but I am so glad that our two MCs weren't forced together in a romance. I wish there were more details but overall it was an interesting and fun read.

*I received a complimentary copy of this book from Wednesday Books through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.*

I really wanted to like this book. The summary was intriguing and the cover was beautiful, but after that it fell flat for me. The constant POV changes and jumping back in forth in time were distracting and didn't feel like they moved the story forward. The characters did not feel like they were fully developed, and I couln't connect with either of them. The ending seemed to be missing something; it just seemed to end and left me confused and overall unsure of the resolution.

The scenes between the main character Tova and Halvard were minimal considing their fates were supposedly so entwined. I would have expected more interaction beteen them prior to the last quarter of the book. Overall, this book was hard to get through. On a positive note, the battle scenes were the most well written part of the book. Interesting plot; but could have benefited from more character development and less jumping around.

I'm a bit shocked, as I feel like this book read much more like a debut that then author's actual debut novel did. The world building is minimal, if non-existent, and the plot is predictable and felt lacking in purpose. Overall, it was a straight forward story without the tension I typically find in fantasy to drive the story forward. I think the idea is here, but unfortunately this one just fell flat for me; however, I will concede that I'm likely in the minority with my opinions. I'm all about giving this author another shot with her next book, though, as Sky in the Deep showcased the talent that Young clearly capable of.