Sky in the Deep (Sky and Sea Book 1) Kindle Edition

First of all. This cover. AND VIKING WARRIOR WOMEN. Just take all my money right now, why don’t you. Of course, there’s also a huge danger in being completely taken by a cover and brief blurb…sometimes the copywriter is a better writer than the actual author. So I was sort of kind of worried that might have happened, but I am very happy to report that it most certainly did not disappoint!FIRST OF ALL:Adrienne Young, can we pleeeeeeeease have a sequel where Eelyn and Fiske are a little older?? PLEASE??? Like maybe a NA type? Maybe where the enemy tribe resurges? I know there is a companion novel coming but it sounds like it might be more about someone else and I just need more of Eelyn. Please and thank you. Ok, now I will attempt to write something more coherent…there ARE some SMALL potential spoilers.Characters:Obviously, Eelyn. Our fierce Viking shieldmaiden. When the book first started, I was slightly put off by just how ANGRY she seemed to be, as if she had no other emotion (other than feeling pain, I definitely got the sense that she was in pain, but her reaction to pain was MORE ANGER). Did she have reason? Yes, probably more than most of us reading. Life in this time was hard, even if women were treated more equally in this Viking world. Eelyn kicks ass, but beneath her strong soldier exterior she still has a heart, she loves her family and her village more than life itself…which is why it hurts her so deeply when she discovers what her brother, Iri, has done. Eelyn is also NOT one of these heroine who walks and talks like a badass but never quite manages to DO anything badass…nope. She is downright brutal at one point in the book, and I found myself quite literally gaping at the page."I’d envied Iri my whole life for his open heart, and now mine had been pried open too."Iri himself is quite…well, I liked him, but I didn’t feel that close to him. I went through about the first half of the books with my arms figuratively crossed on my chest, TOTALLY with Eelyn that nothingbutnothing should have kept him from returning to his family, but then…then things happen. Still, I wanted to KNOW Iri better, because he really seemed like he was a complex character that we just didn’t get to know that well. Eelyn knows him, or thinks she does, and it is from her viewpoint that we see him.Fiske is something else. He really grew on me, because in the beginning I just thought he was a wuss. No joke. Then we see him interact not only with Eelyn and Iri, but his mother, his little brother…and oh wait, he’s not a wuss, he just thinks before he acts. I loved the slow-burn of his and Eelyn’s romance. I know enemies-to-lovers is one of the OLDEST romantic plots ever, but it’s repeated because it works, both in books and sometimes even in real life! I really wanted to see more of them as a couple, in the village and family dynamics…ah well. 2 flames, because while there are some couple scenes there’s nothing graphic or really all that descriptive.Inge, the only real mother-figure in the entire book (as Eelyn and Iri’s mother died long ago), is the best. I loved her so much. She is a healer, not a warrior, and yet she is very clearly just as strong as Eelyn or any of the others. I pretty much want to be her, since I’m pretty sure I don’t have the reflexes to be Eelyn.Halvard!! OMG, this little guy has more guts and spine than several adults put together. And he is so non-judgmental, sees the good in everyone…we all need a Halvard in our lives. I swear the moments when his life is in danger, I went all Mama Bear even just sitting on my couch. DON’T YOU DARE MESS WITH MY LITTLE MAN, YO. At one point I actually thought he was going to be killed off and when I finally got to the end of that passage, I realized I’d been sitting there with my free hand just plastered over my mouth and I had tears in my eyes. THE FEELS.PlotThe plot is pretty well encapsulated in the book blurb, making this story MUCH more character driven than action driven – despite having some really intense battle scenes in the first and last quarters of the book. The middle bit is really more about Eelyn and her internal struggles with being a captive, and of all the dynamics of the Riki village and Iri’s “new” people. It is heartbreaking, at times."The words were small but they were true. ‘I’m thinking that I wish you’d died that day.’"WorldbuildingThere isn’t a lot of detail given, which works quite well for this book. We know that the Aska live by the sea, and the Riki live in the mountains, and they have a generations old blood feud. Their culture is clearly based on ancient Vikings, but other than that…this was a book about people and relationships, not one to immerse you completely in a historically accurate time and place. It does immerse you, just…in a much more narrow way. It works much better than I could have imagined, and I was quite surprised that the lack of detail did not seem to hinder my enjoyment of the story at all.5/5 stars. Highly recommend. My only “complaint” is that I really wanted more, I was very disappointed when it ended…but isn’t that how the best books always are?"I could still see a young Eelyn standing on the beach turned into the wind, a sword in one hand and an axe in the other. I hadn’t lost her. I hadn’t buried her. I’d only let her change into something new."

I'm trying to stay away from hyped books because they keep breaking my heart (looking at you Divergent and ACOTAR), but Sky in the Deep WOULD NOT STOP popping up on my Instagram feed. That and my dragon friend was 1000% obsessed with it and already started doing cosplay photos for the book (it doesn't come out until the end of April). The publishing company loved her enthusiasm for the book so much that they sent her an ARC, and dragon friend rules state I get to read it too.Let's just be honest here: The book gets all the stars. I seriously don't know how I'm going to be able to function later this year as I'm already freaking out about the gloriously amazing books I've read in ONE MONTH. How does this happen? I feel like I've already read my Top Pick for the year.Anyway on to Eelyn because she needs an award.Adrienne Young, the author of this book, needs an enormous amount of cookies and prizes for this book. She deserves it. For a semi-fantasy world (basically just a Viking story that isn't called "Viking."), this book felt so accurate to how Vikings behave. The slaughter, the bizarre "My god hates your god, so I'ma kill you" mentality of feuds, and the treatment of each other. Eelyn is badass, there is no mistaking that, but she's not the odd one in this story. Vikings were super odd in their time because they allowed women to fight (which has, for whatever reason, been a huge no-no), so Eelyn fighting and being good at it is no surprise to this culture. I loved watching her character grow from being so hardheaded and "YOU ARE MY ENEMY" to actually sitting back and thinking "Why?" Because literally no one else does, and all of these people keep fighting and dying for literally no reason, and the vikings were SO good at that. (I love my heritage, don't get me wrong. Vikings did have stupid moments, though.)The plot twists in this book. Oh, the plot twists. You get thrown into the mess VERY early on, with so much changing constantly because spoilers. I'm actually really shocked with how they did the synopsis of this book because they managed to tell you what happened with no spoilers, and it doesn't even really give you an idea of what might happen to shock you, so I liked that. Going into this, I had a rough idea that Eelyn and her brother would meet up and he was killing her kin or something, and then she had to go on some epic journey with that dude named Fiske and....that's all I've got. This book was SO much more than that.Fiske grew on my so much. I hated him. H A T E D him. I wanted him dead, and then I didn't and I looked back and scratched my head because I was so confused why that change had happened. Iri, her brother, meh? I'm still not a huge fan of him, but I get why/what he did, so I won't say anything else. Inge was amazing and even though I have a great mom, can I have Inge too? And Fiske's little brother whose name just fled from my mind was the sweetest squishy. I know he's supposed to be a viking, but he's a Hufflepuff all the way and needs to be protected at all costs.The family dynamics in this book made me jump around in joy. YA is notorious for there being dead/broken families, and no one rectifies or forgives, and the whole thing is kinda unbelievable because you have to forgive to heal and just yeah. Sky in the Deep showed families who loved one another completely, without fault. It was exactly what a family should be and we need more rep for great families because it's good for people to see that not every family is awful or broken or gone. Inge, Fiske, Iri, and the lil Hufflepuff are goals. Even Eelyn and her dad and Iri are so beautiful to see because despite what's going on or what happened in the past, they love one another unconditionally, and would readily die for the other or kill to protect them. Even Myra, who Eelyn's dad adopts as a second daughter, has that same connection with Eelyn and her dad. This has always been something about Vikings that has made me happy because even if you're some distant relative, they welcomed one another with open arms. No one does this anymore (at least here in America that I've seen).The world in this was so spot on, I just can't even. I'm in love with the TV show Vikings, and as I'm reading Sky in the Deep, I feel like I'm watching a lil Lagertha climb her way up to adulthood. The world is filled with sweeping mountains covered in snow and trees, and fjords with fish and rushing, freezing water. I can see it all so well because it sounds like Scandinavia and those regions of the world.I also really loved the fact that this is a stand-alone, or maybe it'll have a sequel later on, but this works so well as a single novel that I love it. Almost no fantasy/action books are novels nowadays. All are series, and almost all are trilogies, so you have a story dragged out over multiple books when sometimes they only need one big book or two medium-ish books to complete the series.Anyway, everyone must read this because it is perfect.

Single POV. I was hooked from the beginning. She’s 17 and from a place where their people fight each other every 5 years. She ends up with the enemy and has to survive but also starts to realize that maybe their peoples aren’t all that different. This is a true enemies to lovers though I do not consider it a romance. That was a sub plot (more subtle) and not a ton of the banter and interaction but if you want the knife to the throat (in this case to the arm) then you definitely get that. I had a great time.

Este libro está precioso estéticamente, en cuestión de contenido tiene de todo: romance, acción, guerra, violencia, subtramas, etcSé que tiene una segunda parte pero como auto concluyente a mí me encantó ya que no me dejó con dudas de nada y no leeré la segunda entrega.Lo recomiendo ampliamente, sobre todo para inglés C1-C2, tiene palabras en noruego antiguo y nunca te explican qué dicen pero después te das una idea. Lo terminé en cinco días, lo recomiendo ampliamente.

Uma história sobre família, lealdade e amizade

Muy buen libro llego bien, solo que con una mancha pero seria lo único de lo que me quejaría lo demás es perfecto.

Cinco estrellas a la historia pero el libro venía dañado. Una página arrancada a la mitad y eso nunca me había pasado.

I really enjoyed the book. It was something new and short. I am hoping there’s a second part because I think the book has potential!