Sky in the Deep by Adrienne young (ARC Review)

Sky in the Deep by Adrienne young

Series: N/A

Publisher: Wednesday Books

Expected publication: April 24th, 2018

Genres: YA, Fantasy

Pages: 352

Format: ARC

Buy: Book Depository | Amazon

*Received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you very much! This doesn’t affect the review in any way. My opinions are, as always, my own.*

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.

I freaking loved this so much! From the very first pages I was completely hooked.

This is a Viking-inspired tale. We have two clans that have completely opposite believes. Our MC, Eelyn, is a warrior from a clan called Aska, who worship the god Sigr. According to the legend, it’s Sigr’s will, that the Aska fight their enemies – the Riki, who worship the goddess Thora – every five years. The Aska and the Riki have been hating each other due to their beliefs for as long as they can remember.

During one of those battles that happen every 5 years, Eelyn sees her brother, Iri, who she thought to be dead, fighting as a Riki and soon after, she is captured by the Riki.  She is kept as a slave by Iri’s new Riki family, that try to protect her and let her escape. In the beginning, she doesn’t understand how it’s possible that her brother turned himself into a Riki, but the longer she lives with them, the more difficult it becomes to hate them. Until one day, a clan that has been feared for long appears and does more damage than it ever did before, killing both Aska and Riki people. Will that mutual enemy be enough to break such an ancient blood feud?

This world is fantastic, the characters are fantastic, the writing is fantastic… I absolutely loved everything about it! Where the hell do I start?! Ahhh!!

Okay… I’m calm now. Let’s start with Eelyn. I LOVE Eelyn. She truly is a badass heroine. She is fierce, strong, independent and yet… Broken. She lost her mother, and until recently believed she had lost her brother too. She is captured, destitute of everything she believed in. She feels betrayed by her brother who left her; she feels anger for leaving him still alive, even tho she thought him dead; she feels betrayed by her own beliefs; she feels relieved for Iri to be alive; she feels sad, alone and afraid because the world is not what she believed it was. She feels everything and all at once. It was breathtaking, and I couldn’t help but deeply connect with her. Ahh… I absolutely love Eelyn!

But she was not the only character I fell deeply for. The whole family she stays with is just so amazing! Not because they are anything special, but because they felt so real! They didn’t treat her bad – even tho other Riki people would – but they didn’t treat her in any special way. They are careful and the connection slowly starts fortifying. They are a family that love each other and that would give anything for each other. It was impossible not to love them. Even tho I did hate some of them at the beginning, they just grew on me. Especially Fiske, whom I now love!

The world was fantastic and very well written. It was totally believable and I was sucked right in. The writing made everything so realistic! Everything was incredibly detailed – the sound of the sea and of the battles, the smell of the houses and food being done… It made me feel like I was inside the world.

It wasn’t as action-y as I initially thought, but it for sure had enough of it. It had amazingly described battles, with some gruesome scenes and a lot of blood and dead bodies… It was intense and yet it was quite a slow-burning book. We get to see Eelyn’s life change – everything she believes in is turned upside down and we slowly get to understand the characters and the world.

It does have some romance, which only added more to the story. I really loved how it was slow-burning, how we get to see everything evolving right before our eyes. It was so freaking sweet!

This was such a believable story! It’s heartbreaking, emotional, and it had the occasional gruesome part, which I live for. It was completely gripping, full of amazing characters and a world that I absolutely love and need to read more about. I never thought I would love a Viking-inspired book so much!

I can hardly believe this was a debut novel… This is an amazing fantasy book! It’s meaningful, talks about honor, beliefs, friendship, and love in a unique way, while having some bloody battles on the side. It was breathtaking, gripping and exciting! I would 100% recommend it!

Have you read this book? What did you think of it? Let’s discuss it in the comments below!