Sky in the Deep

Sky in the Deep by Adrienne  Young
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a stark yet lyrical book with a Norse/Viking influenced story about a young warrior coming to terms with the fact that her world may not be what she has believed her whole life.
Eelyn has mourned her brother for years and so was completely unprepared and shocked to see him fighting alongside her clan's enemy in battle. As she tries to follow him to discover the truth, she is brought--against her will--into the land of the Riki, the people she has been raised to hate. She must find a way to uncover what has happened to her brother while protecting herself from her enemies, especially when she realizes the Riki may not be the only ones she has to worry about.
Eelyn was a well-developed heroine. She was headstrong and did not always thing about the consequences of her actions, but she was not thoughtless or foolhardy (which is often the case in stories where young girls are put in situations they feel they must escape). Her growth felt organic and was easy to relate to.
The plot was very good, and I enjoyed the Scandinavian flavor. It made the world that the author described easy to picture and imagine. Eelyn's life was harsh and brutal, and the prose reflected that. Yet the characters in the story were able to stop and appreciate the grand but simple beauty in a meadow full of flowers or the gentle fall of snow.
Although I did enjoy the relationship between Eelyn and Fiske, I do wish a little more time could have been spent with it, or it could have been developed just bit more.
Overall, I felt this was a very good book. The story, world-building, characters, and descriptions all came together to make a book that was hard to put down. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys YA, Fantasy, History, Adventure, or Viking novels.


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