Sky in The Deep Summary & Review

Looking for a Sky in The Deep Summary & Review? If so, you’ve come to the right place.

Since I love writing and reading young adult fantasy, finding top-notch books in the genre is a delight. So I had high hopes for Sky in the Deep. I mean, who wouldn’t want to read a book with such a striking image on the front? The dark, the gleams of the gold, the single blue eye lit up, the battle ax–it’s compelling.

The cover and blurb promise a dramatic mix of Viking battles, kidnappings, and an enemies-to-lovers romance. And with “New York Times Bestseller” parading boldly across the top, I figured it must be a quality book.

But is it?

In the following Sky in The Deep Summary & Review, I’ll break down what I liked and didn’t like in this book and why you may want to read it (or not). Or maybe you’ve read it already and are looking for validation on why you either hate or love it. Perfect!

Besides reviewing the book as a reader, I’ll also offer my perspective as a writer on the quality of the writing, plot, dialogue, character arcs, sentences, and more.

Word nerds, we’re going to have a blast!

This post is a 13-minute read.

Sky in The Deep Summary

Adrienne Young’s debut novel, Sky in The Deep, follows 17-year-old Eelyn in her Viking-esque society.

Eelyn is a warrior among her clanspeople, the Aska, who have a centuries-long blood feud with their enemies, the Riki.

The gods of the Riki and the Aska are ferocious rivals. They require their followers to engage in bloody warfare every five years in order to win honor and entrance into their respective afterlives.

When the story opens, Eelyn is fighting fiercely against the Riki only to come face to face with the brother she thought had died five years prior.

Only this time, he’s fighting on the wrong side.

Eelyn follows him, seeking answers, but is captured and taken into Riki territory. There, she’s forced to reevaluate her assumptions and begins to see the humanity of her enemies. She also develops an interest in Fiske, a Riki warrior who helped capture her.

Then, a mysterious and lethal clan called the Herja attacks both the Riki and the Aska, threatening the survival of both groups.

Eelyn and Fiske embark on a quest to overcome thousands of years of hate and prejudice and join the clans against their common enemies.

Sky in the Deep is listed as a Teen & YA epic myths & legends fantasy with swords.

Is It Worth Reading Sky in The Deep? My Quick Take

Honestly, I wouldn’t 100% recommend Sky in The Deep. I’ll go into a detailed why in a minute, but to summarize: the plot, character development, emotional depth, believability, and writing quality weren’t my favorites. I struggled to finish reading this book.

That said, there are plenty of people who disagree with me. The 20,000+ five-star reviews on Goodreads make that abundantly clear.

So if you still think this book sounds awesome, give it a try and decide for yourself.

Sky in the Deep Review *There May Be Spoilers*

Alright, on to the fun stuff. Let’s get into the nitty-gritty of what I liked and didn’t like about this epic Viking story.

Sky in the Deep Summary of What I Liked:

Finding Humanity in the Enemy

First off, Sky in the Deep has an intriguing concept. I like the idea of two people from rival clans falling in love and then acting as bridges to bring their clans together and save them from devastation.

In a world where ideologies often lead us to dehumanize each other, go to war, or even just leave scathing social media comments, this is an important theme—one I’d love to see more of in fiction and fantasy.

Books that help us see the humanity in people who are different are worth reading.

Do you enjoy reading books where ideologies and cultures collide? If so, check out Enchantment by Orson Scott Card and The Heart of Betrayal by Mary E. Pearson.

Presence of Family

Another aspect I liked about Sky in the Deep is the presence of family. Let’s face it, in a lot of fantasy books, the adolescent characters are solo.

They go through the wardrobe alone, their parents are missing, or their parents are dead. (Even my work in progress is guilty of this stereotype). So it’s always refreshing to read a story where the young adults have more realistic relationships with adults, parents, and siblings.

Side note: One of the reasons I love Brandon Sanderson’s adult fantasy books is that he does such an amazing job of portraying realistic relationships. His YA series (Skyward and The Reckoners) lean toward the solo teen stereotype, but with some influence from parents and mentor adults.

Sky in the Deep Summary of What I Didn’t Like:

First, a disclaimer: It’s really really HARD to write a book. Please take my critique as observations with a big scoop of salt. Every writer’s preferences and style is different. My aim here isn’t to offer a scathing review or drag Adrienne Young through the mud. Instead, I’m sharing what I didn’t love in the book because noticing these kinds of things help me improve as a writer and (hopefully) notice and fix these things in my own writing. I’m sure that my novel has plenty of faults, pitfalls, and problems of its own.

Please also keep in mind that addressing some of my critiques would require major rewrites, and potentially a totally different scope. That kind of rewrite doesn’t always match a writer’s vision for their work. At some point, you have to stop editing and publish the darn thing.

Also, because I’m a writer, I’m bothered by things that someone who is reading for pleasure might not notice or care about.

With those caveats in mind, here’s where I felt Sky In the Deep showed room for improvement.

Lack of Emotional Depth

When I read, I’m looking for an emotional experience. I want to feel with the characters. Moreso, I want to understand why they feel the way they do, how the events of the story affect them, and how they change over time.

While Eelyn experiences anger, fear, attraction, battle lust, etc, I often had to fill in the blanks of what she was feeling and why based on what she did or said.

The psychological reasons behind her actions and emotions remained largely unexplored.

For example, Young never really shows why Eelyn and Fiske are attracted to each other, especially considering the enemies-to-lovers trope. They act like they like each other but why? They have no meaningful or deep conversations. They don’t get to know each other. They take steps in their romance without addressing the prejudice and hatred of their clans or even regretting the physical injuries they caused each other.

Eelyn’s relationship with her brother is similar, with both of them side-stepping their issues.

Believability

There were several points in the story where I had trouble suspending disbelief. Eelyn sustains a LOT of injuries throughout the book, and while they slow her down, I don’t think they slow her down enough.

I’m no warrior, but I’m pretty sure having broken ribs, a sliced open arm, and an arrow wound in my shoulder would put me out of the fight for a good long while, if not make it physically impossible to wield an ax.

Another aspect that I found hard to believe was how quickly and easily Eelyn trusts Fiske–even taking him to an uber-secret clan location that could jeopardize the safety of her people. She also doesn’t worry much about whether or not her clan will kill Fiske on sight—which seems highly probably given their feud.

The climax and resolution felt too easy

My first complaint was that the final battle feels too easy and straightforward. It’s bloody, but I knew they would win. Most of the action in the book was fairly predictable.

But my main “bone to pick” is that Young doesn’t really address the deep-held religious beliefs that led to the blood feud in the first place. The characters simply accept the change without any glimmers of worry about how their gods are going to react and whether it will impact their ability to enter the afterlife.

Although some of the characters (such as Eelyn’s friend and father) offer resistance at first, it melts away without much explanation. Even a simple explanation would have been better than nothing. For example since the two clans won the battle, they took it as a sign that their gods were not longer enemies.

Writing Style

Young has a way with words. I loved some of her descriptions. However, I think the prose could have been tighter. The dialogue was a bit “on the nose” for my tastes, and I found several of the action sequences confusing or disorienting.

Two sources of my confusion could have been easily fixed.

First, Young often left out the dialogue tags without providing an action beat to indicate who was talking. There were many occasions when I wasn’t sure who was speaking or to whom.

Second, Young often used pronouns instead of characters names, even when switching back and forth between characters, so I wasn’t sure who she was talking about or referring to on multiple occasions.

Superfluous Comings and Goings

Although the story is interesting, there’s a lot of needless traveling from one place to another, which affects the pace. In my opinion, Young could have left out a lot of the traveling to and fro to give a more in-depth treatment to the emotionally charged moments.

Content & Trigger Warnings

Although this book is classed as young adult, readers should know that it is on the older range of the spectrum. The main character is 17 years old and as a Viking warrior, she is violent.

Not only does she kill without remorse, but she also tortures a man for information by scooping out his eyeball.

The content and trigger warnings for this book include gore, murder, violence, physical abuse, sexual assault, slavery, war themes, and loss of loved ones.

What to Read Instead of (Or After) Sky in The Deep

If you’re looking for alternatives to Sky in The Deep or have already read it and are looking for your next read, check out this list of books with points of similarity to Adrienne Young’s novel.

These are all books I’ve read and enjoyed.

Crown Duel

* Strong Female Lead * Enemies to Lovers * Magic * Rebellion * Swordplay *

For a clean fantasy with an enemies-to-lovers subplot, check out Crown Duel by Sherwood Smith. This is one of my favorite young adult books. I’ve read it MANY times, and it doesn’t get old.

The story follows Meliara, a barefoot countess who goes raring into a rebellion against an evil king and ends up captured and on the run from an entire army, makes mistakes, falls in love, and shepherds the kingdom into a new era.

I love character-driven fiction and spunky protagonists with positive transformation arcs.

Sorcery of Thorns

* Strong Female Lead * Enemies to Lovers * Magic * Demons * Sorcerers *

Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson follows Elisabeth, an orphan who grew up among the dangerous magical books of a royal library.

When the books start coming to life as ferocious monsters, Elisabeth must team up with her nemesis–a sorcerer named Nathaniel Thorne– to uncover an evil plot, fight off monsters and demons, and save the world.

This book had me laughing out loud and does a great job with the character arcs, romance, and emotions.

City of Bones

* Strong Female Lead * Magic * Demonslayers * Romance *

City of Bones is the first book in the Mortal Instruments Series by Cassandra Clare.

The story is about Clary Fray, a fifteen-year-old artist and New Yorker. Her world goes topsy-turvy the night she visits a club, witnesses what she thinks is a murder, and is thrust into a world of demons and demon hunters.

 It’s a paranormal book with demons, werewolves, vampires, magic, and romance.

The Hunger Games

* Strong Female Lead * Dystopian * Gladiator-style * Evil Dictatorship * Romance *

Probably everyone has heard of The Hunger Games series by now, so I’ll be brief.

This is a great series to read if you’re looking for a strong female lead who has to confront a very complex political situation and suffers from the realistic effects of trauma.

Sky in the Deep FAQs

Is Sky in the Deep a romance?

Sky in the Deep isn’t listed as romance on Amazon, but it does have a slow-burn romance subplot between the main character and her captor Fiske. It’s an enemies-to-lovers trope.

Is the book Sky in the Deep a series?

Yes, Sky in the Deep is part of the Sky And Sea Book Series by Adrienne Young. It consists of two books: Sky in the Deep and The Girl the Sea Gave Back.

Note that although they are in the same series and set in the same world, both books follow different characters.

Sky in the Deep is about Eelyn, an Aska warrior, while The Girl the Sea Gave Back is about Tova, a girl who washed ashore on the mainland and was taken in by the Svell clan.

How many books are in the Sky in the Deep series?

There are two books in the Sky in the Deep series: Sky in the Deep and The Girl the Sea Gave Back.

Note that although they are in the same series and set in the same world, both books follow different characters.

Sky in the Deep is about Eelyn, an Aska warrior, while The Girl the Sea Gave Back is about Tova, a girl who washed ashore on the mainland and was taken in by the Svell clan.

Is Sky in the Deep a standalone?

Sky in the Deep is technically part of the two-book Sky And Sea Series by Adrienne Young. However, the book’s conclusion doesn’t leave readers hanging.

It can be read as a standalone.

Final Thoughts: Sky in The Deep Summary & Review

I hope you’ve found this Sky in The Deep Summary & Review helpful as you search for great reads. Although I didn’t love the book, it has a strong fan base who rave about the setting, romance, characters, and prose.

What about you? Have you read it? If so, what did you think of it? Do you agree with my assessment? Leave a comment to let me know.

Looking for more reviews? Check out The Thief, The Queen of Attolia, and The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner, and Beyond, by Mercedes Lackey. Alternatively, read some of my original fantasy stories by heading over to the Short Story Shelf. If you’re not sure where to start, you might like Shrike, a short sci-fi war story from my collection.

I love to connect with other lovers of the fantasy genre! If you’re as into chatting about books, reading, and words as I am, consider joining my mailing list and/or hopping over to my YA Fantasy Enthusiasts Facebook page.