Title: Sky In The Deep
Series: Standalone
Author: Adrienne Young
Release date: April 24, 2018
Rating: 5 stars
SYNOPSIS
OND ELDR. BREATHE FIRE.
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.
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About the Author
Adrienne Young is a born and bred Texan turned California girl. She is a foodie with a deep love of history and travel and a shameless addiction to coffee. When she’s not writing, you can find her on her yoga mat, scouring antique fairs for old books, sipping wine over long dinners, or disappearing into her favorite art museums. She lives with her documentary filmmaker husband and their four little wildlings beneath the West Coast sun.
REVIEW
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
It was the same sea. The same beach. But then I looked back to the village and the truth resurfaced in my mind. Nothing would ever be the same again.
Adrienne Young is an exciting new voice in the fantasy genre. Her words are evocative and powerful, connecting you to the pulse of the character's hearts and the deep reaches of their minds. Making you feel things you hadn't anticipated feeling, and aren't entirely sure you want to feel. Nothing is glossed over, or romanticized about Viking life, yet I loved it all the more for its unmerciful honesty.
Sky in the Deep is about a war that spans centuries and generations. It nurtures a hatred between the Riki and the Aska clans with no conceivable end in sight. Every five years like clockwork they meet, and prepare for the eventuality that their loved ones may be leaving them for the afterlife. Eelyn is one of the fierce who fight to defend her people, and uphold their honor. She's raised to be strong, and her pride for the Aska courses through every inch of her veins. Her strength and courage will soon be all she has to hold on to, and not once does she let it slip. I loved Eelyn so, so much. The betrayal that broke her heart laid heavy on my chest, and made me suffer right along with her. She brushes off stab wounds, arrow punctures, countless indignities, and the loss of her freedom. But it was the betrayal that wounded her so visibly, more than anything else could.
I’d felt the absence of my mother as soon as she stopped breathing. As if with that last breath, her soul had let go of her body. But with Iri, it had never been that way. I still felt him. Maybe I always would.
In the last fighting season, she lost her beloved brother, Iri. The memory of his broken body beneath the cliffs feeds the fire burning in her blood. Vengeance sits at the end of her battle axe, but nothing soothes the ache that's left from his loss. The last thing she expected was to see him once again. Walking, breathing, and possibly most shocking of all, fighting with their sworn enemy against their people. When she sees him run out of the fog and lock eyes with her, she has no idea in that moment what his return will bring about.
In her confusion, Eelyn is captured, and her life is forever changed while living with Iri's new family. The family that took her and her father's place. Eventually, when she can see past her bitterness and anger, she faces some hard truths about her way of life, and the prejudices she's been raised on. I'm going to be honest, I can't say that I completely forgive her brother. For the most part, I understand it, and even agree with his ability to see past the old beliefs. It's even admirable. What I can't wrap my mind around is that he turned against his family and clansmen.
Fiske seems harsh and brutal at first, certainly not someone I could imagine ever pairing with Eelyn. But as time wears on, you see that his actions are motivated by his need to protect Iri and the rest of his family. If her identity is discovered, no one's safety is guaranteed. She suffers cruelty there, but also sees the love. The families. Eelyn begins to thaw, her hardened heart softening a little bit more every day. But when a powerful enemy rains terror and destruction upon the land, their plan may be their salvation or the end of life as they know it.
My heart pulsed in my veins as the fear pressed down on me, making me feel heavier. It was terrifying—that feeling—like there was something tying me to him. Because if one of us fell into the darkness, the other would too.
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