I have fallen off of YA books while reading during this pandemic, I'm declining to review in the interest of not being overly critical because of my own reading slump issues.

Book provided to me by the publishers on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I actually received an advanced reader copy... in June 2019 (when it came out in September), but I didn't get around to reading it until now. I'm really annoyed at myself for not picking it up sooner because it was such a great read. I ended up finishing it probably within 36 hours. I really shouldn't have been reading this book because I'm meant to be studying, but the pull of this book was irresistible. I ended up reading 80% of this book in one go!

Before reading this book, I also didn't realise that it was the companion to Sky in the Deep. I own that book but I haven't read it yet, so I was worried that I wouldn't understand or like this book, but I was already over 10% into it so I decided to carry on and see if I had any problems with the book and I didn't. So you can read this book first without having read Sky in the Deep. From what I gather, this book is 10 years on from Sky in the Deep and features characters from that book but you don't have to have read that book in order to read this one. You would most likely just enjoy seeing those characters be a part of this story.

This book is a plot based book. There's not much description, world building, or character building, but I really liked it that way, yet I still wanted more from the book. The lack of the description, world building, and character building is the reason why this book didn't get 5/5 stars from me. I knew that this story was inspired by Norse mythology and set in a viking like world, so I just imagined snow and mountains. The action happens from pretty early on which results in a fast paced book. I was really sad to come to the end and I wanted to read more but there was nothing left to read. I also did enjoy the ending but it was left slightly open and made me leave the book with questions as to what happened next. I also felt like this story was unique because it tells the story from the two sides of this war. Tora on one side and Halvard on the other.

With the characters, I liked the main ones of Tora and Halvard. They were the most developed. My favourite character was probably Tora because she was so mysterious and conflicted in nature. I did like Halvard and he had the duty of a leader so he had a lot of baggage. I do wish the characters in general were fleshed out a bit more, but I still do feel satisfied with the journey this book took me on.

With this book, there is a sort of romance subplot, but it is very minor. It happens in like the last 80/90%. I understand why it was put in the book but I think it would have been better to have had a stronger part in the story because it does feel very rushed at the end. So if you are a reader who doesn't particularly like romances in stories, I would recommend this one because the romance is such a minor part that it is almost like a footnote of this story.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I think it was because I wasn't expecting anything from the story. I hadn't heard much about this book which is why I ended up really loving it. Reading this book has put Sky in the Deep higher on my tbr and I can't wait to read it and other books by this author. I also met Adrienne Young last year in 2019, and she is a lovely author that I love supporting!

I was never made aware that I had been approved for this book-You sent me a physical copy, so this is news to me!!! I am so sorry I never downloaded this.

Thank you for approving me, I only wish I'd have known and given feedback earlier.

The Girl the Sea Gave Back is Adrienne Young’s second published book, and is a companion novel to her first book Sky in the Deep. I read Sky in the Deep last year and it was so amazing! You can find my review of it here. While The Girl the Sea Gave Back is set in the same world as Sky in the Deep and has some of the characters it takes place 10 years after. In my opinion, you don’t have to read the first book to understand the second but it will definitely enrich the reading experience for you if you do.
I’m going to gush over the cover here for a second because this book is so damn beautiful I may cry. I just am freaking in love with it and can’t wait to get my hands on a physical copy of this book. There is a preorder campaign for this book, as well as the first edition of this book, will have a hidden cover under the dust jacket! I will leave links to all that below!
This story is told through alternative points of view. Halvard, one of our main characters and a character from Sky in the Deep. He was only 8 years old in Sky in the Deep, but boy did he grow into a handsome man in this book *swoons* and we also have Tova. The girl that the sea literally gave back. Her story is a unique and interesting one and I really wish we were able to learn more about it. Her whole life has been a mystery to her since she washed up on the shore of a different clan in a funeral boat, alive. She spends her whole life thinking her people cast her off. Throughout the whole book, I’m wondering what exactly happened to her and why. We do get some answers near the end of the book, but they aren’t clear and I wish we were able to learn more about her and her past.

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This book is mainly all about faith and fate. While every clan has their own god that they worship, there is one begin higher above all of them and that is the Spinners. The Spinners weave everyone’s future from the time before they are even born. And Tovas people believe strongly in them and the runes stone that they cast that help them see the future. I found it interesting that they would only do what the stones told them to do and what they thought the Spinners would want. That is a strong unwavering faith that I don’t even think exists in today’s world so it was very interesting to see.
This book ends with the mystery between Halvard and Tova unsolved. They have this unimaginable bond between them that neither can explain, and I really thought that there would be some explanation as to why those two are fated to be in each other lives other than the spinners deemed it so. The ending was very aloof and was left wide open for a whole other book, but from my research, I don’t foresee us getting one😭 Adrienne is signed to write a new duology coming out in 2020.
Overall I really enjoyed this book! I received an ebook ARC from NetGalley! A million thanks to them for giving me the opportunity to read this book early!

I enjoyed this book but it is definitely not my favourite. I still enjoyed the book but I found it a little slow and it just felt like it was missing something that I can’t put my finger on. The world was still phenomenal, the writing was good and I liked the characters but I didn’t particularly feel drawn to them. I didn’t feel connected to the romance as I usually do and I just feel like it was missing something. Overall it was still an enjoyable read but I didn’t absolutely love it. Still totally purchase the book though

The Girl The Sea Gave Back is an entertaining read but unfortunately it doesn't live up to the first book. There is still some great character building but the spark that had me hooked in the first book was missing from this. 3 stars.

I received an arc in exchange for my honest review.

“I looked down slowly, my eyes falling on the stones, where the runes looked up at me in a constellation written only for me.”

The book is written so lyrically that it draws you in. I also loved the alternating POVs.

“The Spinners were wise, but they weren’t always kind. Sometimes fate was a tangled knot. Sometimes it was a noose. Or a net. But sometimes, it was the rope that pulled you from the sinking deep.”

I also really loved the role of fate, as well as the runes, played in the story. At first I could only picture Septimus from the movie Stardust throwing runes in the air and reading their yes or no answer. I always found them fascinating so it was really great to read a story where they were portrayed more.

I was a little hesitant to read this since SITD didn’t live up to my expectations but I’m so glad I gave this book a chance.

DNF
Unfortunately, The Girl the Sea Gave Back did not work for me. I was hoping I would love it after enjoying Young's debut, but I found the story hard to get into. The world-building felt almost cluttery and I hard time keeping track of the characters because they were so one-dimensional.

Okay, okay. I know I’m super late with this review but let me just get to it!

When I first picked this book up, I did NOT think that I’d have a lot of things to say about it, but turns out I do so here we are. The Girl The Sea Gave Back is a fantasy novel that’s set in this Nord-esque place, and it’s a bit of a mess. I don’t even know if I’d qualify this as fantasy because the fantastical elements in this novel are….well, not very fantastical. It’s more alternate historical inspired fiction, I suppose? I don’t know.

So the story starts off with one of the clans called the Svell attacking the other called the Nadhir out of nowhere, and our main characters, at the beginning, are on the opposite sides of this conflict. Things escalate because of the peace that has been breached, and war is on the doorstep of these both clans. And...that’s pretty much it. The story is basically us watching as this war begins to take place and both sides get ready and the protagonists get real with each other, etc., It is, to put it bluntly, rather...uneventful.

Now, I’ve been trying to read this book for a while now, but every time I never got past the first couple of chapters. This time, however, I made myself finish it and I have to say, I am extremely underwhelmed. There was just so much potential in this novel, but nothing really came of it, and that’s what’s left me so disappointed! Now before I get a little nitpicky, let me talk about the things I did like in this novel!

I thought the writing was beautiful. I’ve always admired a great style, and I can honestly say that Adrienne Young is one of the really good ones when it comes to that. She manages to set the scene in a way that is absolutely immersive and gives you the whole sensory experience with her words. The fabulism part of the novel benefits greatly from this because the otherworldly-ness of certain scenes and characters shines through and it’s very magical and beautiful. She’s also really great at establishing distinct voices for both the MCs and that also definitely added to my reading experience. And I also think that the premise of the novel was great. There were some really interesting ideas and tropes that the author picked up and that’s commendable in its own right, I suppose.

BUT, that’s the problem with this book. It is great as a concept, but the execution definitely seemed to lack. Like I said, there was <i>potential</i> , but that was it.

A lot of the story seemed really..directionless to me, for the lack of a better word. Things happened, and they kind of made sense, but like, <i>what was the point, though?</i> It felt like a story that was told for the sake of telling it, and I suppose there is nothing inherently wrong with something like that, but I just didn’t understand what I, as a reader, was supposed to derive from it. There was no....concrete journey that the characters went through. There was no emotional connect between the reader and the characters, so while the setting was super impressive, the characters were just sorta moving about doing their own thing and I couldn’t muster anything more than a mild disinterest.

There was something really interesting set up with Tova and her whole identity as a person who doesn’t seem to belong anywhere and her status as this witch who is hated and feared, but also used, but there was just nothing really interesting or novel done with that. The same goes for Halvard and his group. Every character involved in this story hinted at having a story that was more interesting than what was on the page, and that’s just really not something that you’d want from a three hundred odd page novel, now, is it?

Okay, let me expose myself a bit and tell you something - I ADORE the whole “I don’t understand what’s up with me but I think I’m connected to you even though I’ve only just seen you” instalove nonsense that some books have. I don’t know what to tell you, but it really scratches my itch for some good angst, because when this trope is done well, it is usually followed by a lot of internal and external angst where the characters work out their feelings for each other and the relationship feels well built because of all the emotional conflict that gets inserted into it. Here, again, the romance has a great set up! Halvard and Tova are on the opposite sides of war, he’s the only one who actually looks her in the eye, her guilt and her fate somehow result in her ending up protecting him from the people she is working for, yada yada yada BUT again, there is just NO proper execution of the emotional turmoil that would involve actions like these. There is no intense longing and confusion and self-doubt that would make the moment when they finally end up together feel like a worthy pay off. There is NOTHING!

And, OOOF, that ending. That ending just left me feeling like I’d spent the past couple of days reading this book for nothing. It wasn’t satisfying, it wasn’t thrilling, it wasn’t exactly bad either. It was just….meh. And that’s somehow even worse.

All in all, if you asked me to explain what reading this book was like really quickly, I’d say it was a bit like watching those pretentious indie art films which more often than not don’t have anything to say that isn’t a basic surface-level observation, but it has some cool shots and a vintage-y colour palette so it feels like you’re actually watching something important and cool, but you’re mostly bored and are sitting through it and are utterly unmoved and underwhelmed when you leave the theatre? Yeah, something like that.

Unfortunately for me, I am a sucker that falls for the meaningless prettiness of shots in movies like that so I will rate this book a 3.5 ish stars like the fool that I am.

Thank you so much Netgalley and St.Martin’s Press for providing me with a review copy of this book! All opinions are my own.

I tried to get into this three or four times and I had trouble every time. I just found it to be incredibly boring and I was not invested in these characters whatsoever. Something about the way that Adrienne Young writes characters and even the world building is just not working for me at all and knowing that even a lot of people who enjoyed the author's debut novel are not really vibing with this, leaves me with no motivation whatsoever to finish this.
Thank you for the opportunity to read and review.

So--I didn't realize this was a second (really a companion book), or I wouldn't have asked for it--but I'm glad I got it because it was really good.

The characters are intriguing and solid, the world building is good, and maybe the very best aspect is here we have a YA fantasy-ish novel that DOESN'T center on romance. It was SO FREAKING REFRESHING! I can't wait to go grab the first book because the writing was clean and inviting, but mostly I loved that we could have a story that wasn't about love at first sight when you are 15. We have a young woman who is trying to figure out who she is, a young man who is on the cusp of both manhood and leadership of his people, and a bunch of people who are, for better or for worse, trying to force fate and destiny to their will. Which means we have lots of conflict and opportunities for drama. I really liked the tender moments and the way the main characters discover truths.

I hope Young will write more set in this world--I'd even love to see more of Tova's story. But if this is all we get, I'm still glad for it.

Adrienne Young's prose has a way of wrapping you into his embrace and with it, you feel the atmosphere of her story deep within you. It surrounds you.

This book whisked me back into the world of the Aska and Riki - now the Nādir - and I was thrilled to see Halvard getting his own story, as he was a favorite of mine from Sky in the Deep.

That said, I felt as though the true potential of this story was never tapped into. With Sky, there was a constant sense of mystery and wonder. The romance kept me yearning for more, the action was gripping and immersive. I can't say I felt anything to that degree in this book and that was disappointing - especially after reading Sky and Fable - as I know its there somewhere, just not here.

What I would have liked to see is a more in depth exploration of the Nādir and Svell worlds. I felt as though we only got the bare bones of what was necessary from this story. I would have liked to see Halvard and Tova exploring more of the daily life there. Furthermore, I would have liked to see Halvard and Tova interact quite a bit more in this. There certainly was a pull between them, but the story didn't explore that enough, to the point that the romance between them was more of an afterthought that is just sort of ... there? There wasn't near as much emotion in this book as there was in Sky. I felt like we only got the briefest strokes of the actual story.

The ending of this book really struck me, too. It was heading in the right direction, for sure, but there wasn't enough there and it didn't go quite far enough. I felt as though there was at least two more chapters missing from this book that we should have gotten.

All of that said, absolutely don't write off Adrienne Young as an author. I adored Sky in the Deep and have also read her upcoming release, Fable - which hits every single mark for me. It's so good! I would start with those two first and if you enjoy her writing and want more from the world of Sky, I would read this one. If anything, its a quick read and a comforting return to that world and left me feeling satisfied with where Halvard, Eelyn and Fiske's lives are now. It's a solid 3.5 stars from me.

I was provided with an eARC of this book in exchange for a fair review.

A good companion to The Sky in the Deep. I liked that romance played very little part in this story, and instead it focused more on the two characters and their fates. The story wasn’t particularly deep, but I still enjoyed it. I was able to finish the whole book in a few hours time.

This was one of my most anticipated reads for 2019, I loved reading Sky In The Deep, it was one of my favourite reads in 2018, even though I liked this one, I didn’t enjoy it as much as the first.

The events of this book takes place in the same universe as Sky in The Deep, it is a companion novel, however you don’t have to read Sky In The Deep to read this as they are both standalones.

I really enjoyed the world building around this one but I didn’t feel that there was a huge plot in this, I felt for that aspect it could’ve been done better. It’s done from two points of view, Tova and Halvard. Tova is in a tribe where she doesn’t really belong, she was found as a child in a boat that was supposedly a funeral boat pyre but it made it’s way Svell and thus she was adopted by Jorrund because she was a Kyrr and a Truthtongue, he told her that her people had sacrificed her to the Gods and no one in Svell really wanted her around. Halvard is a character I actually preferred to read more of, he had more of a plot and I found his parts to be more interesting.

Despite it not having a lot going on, I managed to read it quite quickly. There’s not an awful lot that I think I could say about this one without giving the entire plot away but overall I liked the writing style that Adrienne has and I liked the story so I’m really looking forwards to her next duology that she’s creating called Fable, it sounds incredible and something a bit different!

I was so excited for this read and it just wasnt for me after all. The style it was written in wasnt my taste. I know so many people absolutely loved this one. I didnt find myself invested with the story or the characters.

I must have forgotten to post my review for this last year. The cover is absolutely gorgeous. The Girl the Sea Gave Back is technically the second book in the Sky in the Deep world but works as a stand alone novel. There’s references to the characters and clans from Sky in the Deep but this story takes place 10 years later so if you want a status update on the characters you get a small look at them.

The story focuses on two characters Tova and Halvard both appearing in warring clans. Tova is a basically a seer who can tell the future by throwing stones. Halvard is a young Viking who grew up in a clan comprised of two former warring clans.

I really wanted to love this book but it felt like it was missing something. The pacing felt slow for the bulk of the book and then it was almost like someone hit a fast forward button and boom there was the end. Definitely a book that’s better as an audiobook due to the pacing and pronunciation of side character names. Battle scenes were well written and easy to visualize. I wasn’t crazy about the insta-love so I’m going to choose to believe it was all the chemicals rushing in their brains after the final battle that made them all heart eyed.

Having read Sky in the Deep, I was extremely excited going into another one of Adrienne Young's books. She has a way of creating worlds that you get swept into and can't put down until the finish.

This book was another solid 5 star read by Young for me. I adored what she did with the new characters in this and how they tied into her last book, Sky in the Deep. A few general things that I liked about this before I get into more detail:
1.) I loved the world building (yet again). This viking world feels real and relevant.
2.) Her characters names fit her characters so well. I don't know how she does it but I love it!
3.) I love that she has romance but it doesn't dominate the entire novel.

A bit more in depth into what I liked relates directly to the connection between this book and Sky in the Deep. I knew going into this novel that she was going to have nods to Sky in the Deep, but I did not know that some of the characters from that book would show up or play crucial roles in this book. I admired the use of siblings in the book of the last book's main characters. I also, enjoyed the fact that Adrienne took time to introduce us to a new tribe as well, giving us a look into another small area of her world. With that addition of a new tribe, I loved the gods and mythology that went with that. She creates these vivid pictures and ideas and it makes the job of the reader so easy to picture them all.

For people who enjoy viking or folk or mythology type books, this is a fun and easy read! I highly suggest using the audiobook as well, for a fully immersive experience.

This is a YA Historical Fantasy, loosely drawing upon mythologies to create a unique world. This is what I was hoping for, though it didn't deliver. The chapters were told in alternating points of view, but it was so difficult to tell who's chapter I was in because they were blending together so badly. Maybe this would be easier to get through if I had read 'Sky In The Deep' first because I have since learned that this is the follow up novel to SITD.

Adrienne Young continues to draw in readers with relatable characters. The author provides an interesting and relatable read.

I really enjoyed The Girl the Sea Gave Back. I had a bit of a hard time liking it at first, because I was continuously comparing it to the first book in the series, and we all know sequels are never as good as book 1. Once I got over that, I was able to immerse myself in the magical story that unfolded and really appreciate it. It was a great read!