A review by junghoseok
The Girl the Sea Gave Back by Adrienne Young
5.0
Thanks to Goodreads and the publisher for sending me an advanced copy
The rumors are true, folks--people actually do win giveaways on Goodreads! I almost fell out of my chair when I got an email saying I'd won (and had totally forgotten I'd even put my name in for this giveaway). ANYWAY, winning this book made me read Sky in the Deep, and I would recommend reading that book first even though you can technically read them in any order. But you will recognize and appreciate more characters if you read Sky in the Deep first.
Without going into too much detail, this book is about Tova, a Kyrr girl who washed up on the shores of the Svell people twelve years ago. The Svell use her to foretell the future by casting the stones of the Spinners of fate. When she casts the stones at the beginning of this book, she sets into motion a brutal war with Halvard's people, a war she might have started--and one perhaps only she can stop.
I liked this book better than Sky in the Deep, but they are very similar in vein and style. The writing is also excellent. It took me a bit to get my footing in the first few chapters because there were a lot of names and gods and different clans thrown around, but once I figured out what was going on the story really pulled me in. I was fascinated by the character of Tova and her role as a seer. She was sort of a Cassandra figure, but instead of no one believing her prophecies, they blamed her for the bad things she foretelled even though it wasn't really her fault--she was just the messenger. Seeing her grow as a character and confront the people who abused her while claiming to be her family all along was fascinating. There's a subtle romance that happened a little quickly, but I found I didn't mind it.
If you love Vikings and discussions of fate vs choosing your own destiny, pick this one up. Also the cover is beautiful (and I was more than a little bitter that my ARC didn't have the official cover yet, but I'll get over it).
The rumors are true, folks--people actually do win giveaways on Goodreads! I almost fell out of my chair when I got an email saying I'd won (and had totally forgotten I'd even put my name in for this giveaway). ANYWAY, winning this book made me read Sky in the Deep, and I would recommend reading that book first even though you can technically read them in any order. But you will recognize and appreciate more characters if you read Sky in the Deep first.
Without going into too much detail, this book is about Tova, a Kyrr girl who washed up on the shores of the Svell people twelve years ago. The Svell use her to foretell the future by casting the stones of the Spinners of fate. When she casts the stones at the beginning of this book, she sets into motion a brutal war with Halvard's people, a war she might have started--and one perhaps only she can stop.
I liked this book better than Sky in the Deep, but they are very similar in vein and style. The writing is also excellent. It took me a bit to get my footing in the first few chapters because there were a lot of names and gods and different clans thrown around, but once I figured out what was going on the story really pulled me in. I was fascinated by the character of Tova and her role as a seer. She was sort of a Cassandra figure, but instead of no one believing her prophecies, they blamed her for the bad things she foretelled even though it wasn't really her fault--she was just the messenger. Seeing her grow as a character and confront the people who abused her while claiming to be her family all along was fascinating. There's a subtle romance that happened a little quickly, but I found I didn't mind it.
If you love Vikings and discussions of fate vs choosing your own destiny, pick this one up. Also the cover is beautiful (and I was more than a little bitter that my ARC didn't have the official cover yet, but I'll get over it).