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michellemaas's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I was pretty conflicted about my feelings for this book. I went back and forth on whether I wanted to give it 3 or 4 stars since the pacing was not that great and there wasn't much that ultimately happened, but I was entertained.
I am going to start with the pacing. My version of this book was 300 pages on the dot, and I read it in two sittings with 150 pages read per sitting. While the first chapter jumps right into the action (maybe one of the best opening chapters I have ever read), the next half of the book just focuses on our main characters with nothing interesting happening. Then you get onto the last 100 pages or so and the pacing is perfect with an ideal mix between action and characters development. While I didn't necessarily mind reading the first half (I was still entertained enough to finish the book, after all) I have found that pacing problems, especially in a book this short, could spell disaster. Luckily Adrienne Young made up for it in a hell of an ending, but the inconsistent pacing was inconvenient and something to note.
Next, I want to discuss our main love interests: Fiske and Eelyn. Their relationship was enemies-to-lovers and also a slow-burn supreme. I enjoyed the development of their relationship (especially with the pacing of the plot being a bit off I was worried their relationship might feel a little rushed, but that was not the case at all). Their interactions and falling in love all felt like a very natural progression and also a realistic portrayal of love between the ages of 16 and 24. There was passion and loyalty between them but they were responsible enough to not neglect their duties to their clans in favor of their happiness. I also liked that they were true enemies-to-lovers (down to him shooting her with an arrow) instead of an "I kind of dislike you for no good reason other than it serving the plot"-to-lovers situation. The resolution of their relationship-based conflict was also masterfully done in my opinion since we would usually see the girl giving up everything to be with the guy in a situation like theirs but it wasn't the case this time.
Overall I enjoyed this book even if I felt it could have been better. There were a lot of times that it felt like there was more of a concept than necessarily a plot. Young did a great job of capturing Viking mythology and incorporating their ways of life, beliefs, and rituals into her storytelling but I wish she would have skipped out on the world-building a little to flesh out the actual plot more. Since there are only two books in this series with neither of them being super long the world-building isn't as important as it would be in something like Throne of Glass or From Blood and Ash which are both series with 4+ books with each book clocking in with more than 500 pages.
Finally, I just want to put a disclaimer that I read this book right off of a reading slump, so I was kind of forcing myself to read it since I have been wanting to read it and wanted to get over my reading slump. I don't know if that affected my reading experience and therefore rating. I try to be very fair and unbiased when reviewing the books I've read but I did want to put the disclaimer out there. If you love YA, enemies-to-lovers books with a bit of gore and a few emotional plotlines I think this will be right up your alley. For me, I was just hoping for a more plot-driven book this time around (meaning that there was more stuff happening in the book instead of just focusing on the characters for long periods), but with that being said I still really enjoyed it, and would probably reread in the future so please do not take my criticisms as hate towards the author since there were several redeeming qualities to Sky in the Deep despite its flaws.
I am going to start with the pacing. My version of this book was 300 pages on the dot, and I read it in two sittings with 150 pages read per sitting. While the first chapter jumps right into the action (maybe one of the best opening chapters I have ever read), the next half of the book just focuses on our main characters with nothing interesting happening. Then you get onto the last 100 pages or so and the pacing is perfect with an ideal mix between action and characters development. While I didn't necessarily mind reading the first half (I was still entertained enough to finish the book, after all) I have found that pacing problems, especially in a book this short, could spell disaster. Luckily Adrienne Young made up for it in a hell of an ending, but the inconsistent pacing was inconvenient and something to note.
Next, I want to discuss our main love interests: Fiske and Eelyn. Their relationship was enemies-to-lovers and also a slow-burn supreme. I enjoyed the development of their relationship (especially with the pacing of the plot being a bit off I was worried their relationship might feel a little rushed, but that was not the case at all). Their interactions and falling in love all felt like a very natural progression and also a realistic portrayal of love between the ages of 16 and 24. There was passion and loyalty between them but they were responsible enough to not neglect their duties to their clans in favor of their happiness. I also liked that they were true enemies-to-lovers (down to him shooting her with an arrow) instead of an "I kind of dislike you for no good reason other than it serving the plot"-to-lovers situation. The resolution of their relationship-based conflict was also masterfully done in my opinion since we would usually see the girl giving up everything to be with the guy in a situation like theirs but it wasn't the case this time.
Overall I enjoyed this book even if I felt it could have been better. There were a lot of times that it felt like there was more of a concept than necessarily a plot. Young did a great job of capturing Viking mythology and incorporating their ways of life, beliefs, and rituals into her storytelling but I wish she would have skipped out on the world-building a little to flesh out the actual plot more. Since there are only two books in this series with neither of them being super long the world-building isn't as important as it would be in something like Throne of Glass or From Blood and Ash which are both series with 4+ books with each book clocking in with more than 500 pages.
Finally, I just want to put a disclaimer that I read this book right off of a reading slump, so I was kind of forcing myself to read it since I have been wanting to read it and wanted to get over my reading slump. I don't know if that affected my reading experience and therefore rating. I try to be very fair and unbiased when reviewing the books I've read but I did want to put the disclaimer out there. If you love YA, enemies-to-lovers books with a bit of gore and a few emotional plotlines I think this will be right up your alley. For me, I was just hoping for a more plot-driven book this time around (meaning that there was more stuff happening in the book instead of just focusing on the characters for long periods), but with that being said I still really enjoyed it, and would probably reread in the future so please do not take my criticisms as hate towards the author since there were several redeeming qualities to Sky in the Deep despite its flaws.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Religious bigotry, Slavery, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Medical content, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, War, and Xenophobia
Minor: Chronic illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, and Terminal illness
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