I have been on a Young Adult kick this year and been consuming a lot of books by popular Authors. One among them is ‘Sky in the deep’. I have never read any viking story nor from Adrienne Young and thus was curious to get into the book. I was really not sure if I would like it or not, but was rather surprised.

The story is about how different clans have always been lead to believe that they need to maintain animosity without any consideration of the fact that blood is red in color irrespective of who bleeds.

Aska and Riki clans have been against each other since long. Their root of vengeance is more mythical in nature than actual cause. They have been fighting under the assumption that since their respective gods were at war and against each other, being their follower they should do their bidding. But they have missed to realize that they were not actually being asked to fight, but its more an assumption. That said, in battle there is always loss, once you loose your loved one, we want revenge and thus even though the fights started with no human reason, it continued under the pretext of love and loss.

Evelyn is the main protagonist of the story. She is a strong willed 17 year old who has been mourning the loss of her brother or so she assumed. During one of the yearly battles between the clans, she witnesses her dead brother fighting with their rival Riki clan and chooses to follow him and unravel the mystery. Little did she know that her life is about to turn 180 degree with a slight miss turn on her part.

She gets captured by Riki, but in due process understands that there does not need to be any bad blood between the two clans and that they need to learn to live in peace for the greater good. She also falls in love with Fiske, who saves her brother in the battle he was said to have died in.

The book is short in comparison to some of the other Young Adult ones but is to the point. The focus is on Evelyn and how she understands life and how she grooms herself to rise and be a leader. Liked the family dynamics between father, daughter and son. Irrespective of the clan, blood is blood and people will go to any lengths to support their own.

My rating is yet again 5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐