Sky in the Deep
Adrienne Young’s Sky in the Deep follows seventeen-year-old Eelyn, a young warrior from the Aska clan. Her life is brutal but simple: fight the Riki clan and survive. Until she sees her brother, who she watched die five years ago, fighting with the Riki. Faced with her brother’s betrayl, she must survive the winter in the mountains with the Riki. She’s given no choice by to trust Riske, her brothers’ friend, who sees her as a threat. They must do the impossible: unite their clans to fight together against a threat of a ruthless clan determined to destroy both the Aska and Riki. 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.
I love the way Young writes. Her style just drew me in from the beginning. I felt as if I was Eelyn, torn between loyalty to my clan and devotion to my new family. Young did an amazing job immersing me in Eelyn’s emotions. Eelyn feels everything deeply, from grief to love, and you really got the sense as the reader that she did everything with her whole heart. I love that about Eelyn, especially since as a warrior one would imagine her as battle hardened and without feelings, besides that of anger and bloodlust. But that wasn’t the case with Eelyn, and Young did a great job making the reader see just how loving Eelyn was.
Young’s style also transferred wonderfully to writing battle scenes. She painted the picture of those terrifying moments brilliantly. It can be a struggle to write convincing battles, mainly because there’s so much action going on, but Young did it in a way where I was completely drawn into those scenes and didn’t want to skip over them, like I do in some books.
The romance between Eelyn and Fiske had the perfect build up from enemies to friends to lovers. Seeing the pair go from Fiske shooting Eelyn with an arrow to them fighting side by side to protect their clans – and fight for their future together – warmed my heart. I was especially pleased that Fiske didn’t make Eelyn choose between him and her clan. He was willing to live on the Aska lands and build a new life with her, even if that meant leaving the only home he knew. Eelyn showed her devotion to Fiske’s family when she helped rescue his brother, letting the reader see how her mindset had changed throughout the story.
Sky in the Deep is a captivating story about a young woman determined to fight for those she loves.
Sky in the Deep Rating: ★★★★
I love the way Young writes. Her style just drew me in from the beginning. I felt as if I was Eelyn, torn between loyalty to my clan and devotion to my new family. Young did an amazing job immersing me in Eelyn’s emotions. Eelyn feels everything deeply, from grief to love, and you really got the sense as the reader that she did everything with her whole heart. I love that about Eelyn, especially since as a warrior one would imagine her as battle hardened and without feelings, besides that of anger and bloodlust. But that wasn’t the case with Eelyn, and Young did a great job making the reader see just how loving Eelyn was.
Young’s style also transferred wonderfully to writing battle scenes. She painted the picture of those terrifying moments brilliantly. It can be a struggle to write convincing battles, mainly because there’s so much action going on, but Young did it in a way where I was completely drawn into those scenes and didn’t want to skip over them, like I do in some books.
The romance between Eelyn and Fiske had the perfect build up from enemies to friends to lovers. Seeing the pair go from Fiske shooting Eelyn with an arrow to them fighting side by side to protect their clans – and fight for their future together – warmed my heart. I was especially pleased that Fiske didn’t make Eelyn choose between him and her clan. He was willing to live on the Aska lands and build a new life with her, even if that meant leaving the only home he knew. Eelyn showed her devotion to Fiske’s family when she helped rescue his brother, letting the reader see how her mindset had changed throughout the story.
Sky in the Deep is a captivating story about a young woman determined to fight for those she loves.
Sky in the Deep Rating: ★★★★