Sky and Sea #1
by Adrienne Young
Nikki’s Rating: 8 out of 10
Summary: On the battlefield, Eelyn sees her beloved brother, Iri but Iri has been dead for five years. As she races to catch up with him, her distraction causes her to be captured and taken prisoner by the Riki, the hated enemies of her people. Now a slave to the Riki, Eelyn must face some hard truths, including that her brother may not be who she thought he was and that her enemies may not be so different from herself.
8 Superb things about SKY IN THE DEEP by Adrienne Young (OwlCrate Book May 2018)
(May Contain Spoilers)
1. Vikings
As far as my memory serves me, “Sky in the Deep” is the first novel I’ve read that revolves around the Vikings and it was amazing! I love many aspects of the Viking culture, especially their spirituality and religious views, as well as their art and aesthetics. While I don’t necessarily condone violence, I enjoy that Vikings were complete badasses especially in battle and that they had women warriors as well.
2. Battle Scenes
Being set in Viking times, “Sky in the Deep” offered some great battle scenes! In all honesty from books I expect battles to be mentioned in the past tense from characters or minimally narrated in the present. But with “Sky in the Deep” we get first person accounts of battle as Eelyn fights her enemies. The very 1st chapter opens with a battle scene, drawing us straight into the action and into the bloody violent world of the Vikings.
3. Reunited
Being a sister who absolutely loves her older brother, I couldn’t even imagine that amount of joy and emotion Eelyn experienced when she realized her brother was alive and seeing him for the first time after five years. While I wanted to punch Eelyn once her pigheadedness overshadowed her joy, it was this premise of Eelyn being reunited with her brother that really made me love “Sky in the Deep.”
4. Viking Knight
Fiske was my absolute favorite character in this book. He helps his mother and family in every possible way that he can. He is protective of his adopted brother Iri and both loves him and treats him like real family. He is also a badass warrior who is feared and respected amongst his clan. And then he also saves Eelyn a few times, even though she hates him. Fiske is basically a Viking knight!
5. Eelyn
An accomplished female warrior, Eelyn first appears to be rather dense and bullheaded in her ways, preferring violence and force over observation and thinking. Obviously a product of her upbringing and education, as we all are, Eelyn is extremely closed-minded and wholeheartedly believes that the Riki are vile and her enemies simply because they are Riki and she is Aska. In “Sky in the Deep” we see her progress from this barbaric thinking into realizing that they are not so different, to actually caring about and helping some of the Riki and then finally wanting to have the Riki and Aska living together in harmony. Wonderful character development and a beautiful lesson.
6. Frenemies
“Sky in the Deep” is about how our hatred for another group of people is often misplaced and wrong. We all share way more things in common than differences, we each experience pain, grief, love, happiness, etc. And while there may be “bad” people in every group, they do not represent the group as a whole. With the threat of annihilation, the Riki and Aska eventually realize this and the enemies team up to become frenemies.
7. Fiske and Eelyn
OMG! The tension between Fiske and Eelyn was absolutely delicious! The whole time I was reading “Sky in the Deep”, I was praying that they would get together and thankfully Young delivered. These two finally embraced their love and eventually got their happily ever after. Together, they permanently moved to Eelyn’s village where Fiske’s mother eventually joined them, Riki and Aska living side by side in peace.
8. The Girl the Sea Gave Back
While Eelyn’s story is finished, Adrienne Young takes us back to the Viking world in “The Girl the Sea Gave Back”, Book 2 of the Sky and Sea series.
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