Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young

The Book ✯✯✯✯✯

In the land of mountains and fjords, meet the warrior Eelyn as she is forced into the servitude of her clan's blood feud enemies and learns that they are not so different from her. 

Oh freaking myyyyy. This is honestly one of the best YA fictions I have read so far this year. With shimmers of Tamora Pierce and Lesley Livingston and a strong Viking-esque culture Sky in the Deep is both original and compelling.

While there is certainly a romance, it is slow to ignite and is not at all the focus of this tale. Instead, we learn that when a common enemy threatens, our enemies become our friends and leave us with the hope that they can continue to be our friends. Eelyn lost her mother to the common enemy when she was young, and then lost her brother to the Riki a few years later. Little did she know, though, that her brother survived and was nursed back to life by the Riki and now lives among them.

The scenery is stunning. At one point, it was as if I could hear the snow crunch, the ice creak, and smell the cold, snowy air. And while much of the description was placed at the feet of the fjord, Adrienne Young did not cheap out her characters. Eelyn, Fiske, and all the others are fully fleshed out, loveable, and easy to identify with. 

Then the epic battles. This book is anything but slow. You are thrown into a battle from the very beginning, and each battle afterward is treated with the same finesse, action, and attention to fighting detail.

Though it certainly read like a standalone, I can't help but hope for more.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Adrienne Young for this beautiful, free ARC in exchange for an honest review.