A review by billies_not_so_secret_diary
The Girl the Sea Gave Back by Adrienne Young

adventurous dark medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

The Girl the Sea Gave Back 
by Adrienne Young 
Sky and Sea #2 
YA Norse Mythology 
Scribd (Everand) Audio 
Ages 16+ 

Found as a young child by a tribesman of the Svell, Tova grew up in fear for her life because the symbols tattooed on her skin marked her as a member of a warrior tribe who lived far in the north. The only thing keeping her alive is one mark that proclaims her as a Truthtongue, gifted with the power to use the Runes to see into the future. 

With a cast of those stones, Tova's custodian twists what she said the Runes say, and he gives their chieftain's brother the excuse to go to war with the newly 'allied clans' who dwell both on the fjord and the mountains. 


Don't be like me and expect this to start where the first left off. 

Taking place about ten years after the previous book, this story centers mostly on Tova and the tribe that took her in as a child, the Svell. The other MC is Halvard, a minor character from the first book. 

The main plot in this story is a war against tribes in order to take what the other has, and to have more power. Other subplots have to do with family, fate, and romance. This book does not spend a lot of time deep diving into the characters, but there's enough for the reader to feel some connection with them, but I wish there were more about the reasons why Halvard was selected for (spoiler). I get the one reason, but that can't be the only one, there are missing details. 

And Tova's real tribe I'm curious about and there could be another story here. 

Overall, a great listen/read, but I wish it was a little bit longer to get more story about the 'allied tribe' and their struggles to get where they were. That information would give readers, especially those who didn't read the first book or did years before, a deeper connection with them so to feel the importance of what they were fighting for. 

Those details would have given this book one more star... 

3 Stars