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A review by 5c_sami
The Girl the Sea Gave Back by Adrienne Young
3.0
Context, I listened to the audiobook. I feel I need to give this a second chance and read the book because that might fix the couple issues I did have, but I can't speak to that since I have just listened to it.
The good: the story is great. I love the Viking vibes and bringing back some great characters from the first book. I love Tova and Halvard both as separate characters on their own and as two people being drawn together. The conflict between all the tribes and the characters within keeps everything interesting. And, as props to the audiobook, the narrators were pleasant and not overdramatic (although Iri's voice may have been a little too throaty and deep) the rest was very good.
I also think that this could easily be read as a stand-alone. Sky in the Deep is a great story and if you read the series in order, all the better, but I think enough context was given and enough time had passed that it could easily stand alone or Sky in the Deep could be read second as somewhat of a prequel. Props to that.
The bad: I just feel like there were a few too many names to keep track of who was who. This is where I think the audiobook format doesn't shine in a story with this many people, but there are a couple names that I kept forgetting who they were or mismatching who I thought they were and then getting confused when it was not that person. It might be easier to track in a written form and then listening wouldn't be an issue, but doing a cold-listen it was kind of rough to track.
The flashbacks also created a little confusion. I didn't notice any audible clues of when a flashback was happening and there might be more visual clues while reading, but it always took way too long for me to figure out where it fit in the story, especially since there are 2 narrators (which I love) but when both narrate flashbacks and their present situations, without some more noticeable clue, it was hard to track and I feel I disconnected each time someone flashed back.
If I get around to reading the book instead of just listening, I'm guessing the cons wouldn't be as big of a hit on the experience, but both noted just made it hard to stay engaged because being confused about which characters were which and what time frame was being told was frequently jarring.
The good: the story is great. I love the Viking vibes and bringing back some great characters from the first book. I love Tova and Halvard both as separate characters on their own and as two people being drawn together. The conflict between all the tribes and the characters within keeps everything interesting. And, as props to the audiobook, the narrators were pleasant and not overdramatic (although Iri's voice may have been a little too throaty and deep) the rest was very good.
I also think that this could easily be read as a stand-alone. Sky in the Deep is a great story and if you read the series in order, all the better, but I think enough context was given and enough time had passed that it could easily stand alone or Sky in the Deep could be read second as somewhat of a prequel. Props to that.
The bad: I just feel like there were a few too many names to keep track of who was who. This is where I think the audiobook format doesn't shine in a story with this many people, but there are a couple names that I kept forgetting who they were or mismatching who I thought they were and then getting confused when it was not that person. It might be easier to track in a written form and then listening wouldn't be an issue, but doing a cold-listen it was kind of rough to track.
The flashbacks also created a little confusion. I didn't notice any audible clues of when a flashback was happening and there might be more visual clues while reading, but it always took way too long for me to figure out where it fit in the story, especially since there are 2 narrators (which I love) but when both narrate flashbacks and their present situations, without some more noticeable clue, it was hard to track and I feel I disconnected each time someone flashed back.
If I get around to reading the book instead of just listening, I'm guessing the cons wouldn't be as big of a hit on the experience, but both noted just made it hard to stay engaged because being confused about which characters were which and what time frame was being told was frequently jarring.