Review: Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young

Part Wonder Woman, part Vikings—and all heart.

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. ~ Goodreads

Source: arc via the publisher and audio from the library

Review: I’ve had this arc on my TBR pile since last years ALA *sigh* – bad blogger but with my new found audio-book/library love I decided to clear this one out on audio-book – narrated wonderfully by Khritine Hvam.

I was expecting non stop action and kick ass brutality but this is a much more introspective story about a girl struggling with her brother's, Iri, betrayal and coming to terms with the knowledge that she has more in common with her sworn enemies than she would like to admit.

17 year old Eelyn is in the throws of battle when she is saved by her (dead) brother. Shaken by the encounter, she tells her father who believes it was Iri’s spirit watching over her but Eelyn is not convinced.

Searching for the truth, she is kidnapped by an enemy clan, the Riki’s. There she finds out the truth about her brother and makes a connection to the people she was raised to hate.

A brutal enemy is coming to destroy both the Aska and Riki clans and they must join together if they want to survive.

This wasn’t the story I was expecting but I liked it anyway. I felt for Eelyn and her hurt from her brother’s betrayal. I also liked how she slowly, grudgingly, admits that the Riki aren’t all that different than the Aska.

Sure, there is fighting 🗡🗡and eye gouging 🤪 but this is a relatively quiet story. I think you’re expectations will influence your enjoyment of this book. Not sure that the Wonder Woman comparison in the blurb is applicable.

There’s a slow building romance between Eelyn and a Riki warrior and it falls flat. The story is told entirely from Eeyln’s pov and they don’t have enough conversations to see what Fiske’s motivations are or when/why he falls for her. They make huge sacrifices for each other and I couldn’t figure out why or how it leaped from attraction, friendship to love.

He’s a great guy though and I particularly loved how Young wrote his relationship to Iri. You don’t typically see an emotional (non romance) connection with men like that – especially with hardcore vikings. And I loved what Fiske is willing to do for Eelyn. Spoiler -> A guy willing to give up HIS family for her?? That almost never happens and yay!! <- p="">
I enjoyed Sky in the Deep quite a bit but go in expecting a story about family and acceptance over non stop viking action so you won't be disappointed.